“His interests were not just confined to lilacs by any means. He joined RBG in the aftermath of the construction of Highway 403, which destroyed our first lilac garden but which resulted in donations from a wealthy family that allowed a brand new lilac garden to be developed in the RBG Arboretum, and staffing to be increased to oversee its development and associated research.”
Pringle’s research was in plant genetics and plant taxonomy – the assigning of scientific names to species and studying the relationships among species – “what he is known for now”, said Galbraith.
“He (Pringle) represented an aspiration for RBG that it would one day be a research centre like other major botanical gardens.”
He was particularly passionate about the Gentian family of plants for which he is credited with establishing the taxonomy of more than 80 species, sub-species and sub-families.
Two plant species have been named in his honour: the Kuepferia pringlei, found in the eastern Himalayas and the Macrocarpaea pringleana, found in the wet, tropical regions of Ecuador, according to a write-up honouring him as a recipient of the prestigious Lawson Medal for Botany for his “outstanding” contribution to botanical knowledge.
Pringle “carried RBG’s name out into the world,” said Galbraith.
He also mentored and guided several of his younger colleagues who went on to pursue PhDs and university faculty jobs.
He was also widely regarded as an expert on the natural lands of RBG and of the plants and birds in the region, said Galbraith.
Pringle was working on his research projects until two months before his death on Sept. 3 at the age of 87.
Both men had immense institutional and local knowledge which is always something precious, said Galbraith.
“Both represented a focus on what biologists call whole organism knowledge that is hard to find now. Many academic researchers are going in different kinds of directions such as molecular biology. It’s a time of transitions.”
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