Ann Conolly

Ann P. Conolly (1917–2010) was a British botanist and teacher who contributed to quaternary botany and conducted important early work on the history and spread of Japanese Knotweed in the UK.

Academic career She attended the University of Cambridge (Newnham College) from 1936 to 1940 and studied Natural Sciences. However, it was the university's policy at that time to not award degrees to women. She undertook doctoral studies on quaternary botany between 1940 and 1943, supported by a Rigby and a Francis Maitland Balfour studentships, under the supervision of Professor Harry Godwin. Her work contributed to Godwin's landmark book History of the British Flora published by CUP in 1956. until she retired in 1982. Her teaching of plant geography and taxonomy, especially the annual field course, were an inspiration to future botanists. This expertise led to her becoming part of the management and recording of the natural history of Bardsey Island.

Research on Japanese knotweed Japanese knotweed (Reynoutria japonica), native to Asia, is one of the most damaging invasive alien plants in the world. It became her major research focus and led to publication of a groundbreaking analysis of the history and distribution of this invasive weed in 1977. She continued with this research for a further 20 years during her retirement. She used specimens from herbaria and information from the horticultural literature in Europe to show how the group of plants now called Japanese Knotweed changed from prizewinners in the Netherlands in 1847 to notifiable weeds in the UK in 1981. Her distribution maps showed how the Knotweed hybrids spread across the UK.

An unusual hybrid knotweed, Conolly's knotweed, ×Reyllopia conollyana (syn. Fallopia × conollyana) was named in her honour in 2001 for her 84th birthday. This is a hybrid between Japanese knotweed and Russian vine (Fallopia baldschuanica).

Personal life Conolly attended the private Montessori school in Purley followed by Eothen Girls School in Caterham (head girl 1934–5). She contracted polio in her teens when visiting continental Europe that resulted in impairment to her right leg.

Non-Academic Work During the Vietnam War, Ann Connolly and other professors from the University of Leicester and 26 other institutions wrote to The Times. They intended to reverse British support for the United States of America's occupation of Vietnam.

Significant publications

Bailey, J. P. Conolly, A. P. (2000) Prize-winners to pariahs – A history of Japanese Knotweed s.l. (Polygonaceae) in the British Isles. Watsonia 23 (1) 93–110 Bailey, J. P. Child, L. E. Conolly, A. P. (1996) A survey of the distribution of Fallopia X bohemica (Chrtek and Chrtkova) J. Bailey (Polygonaceae) in the British Isles. Watsonia 21 (2) 187–198 Beerling, DJ, Bailey, JP, Conolly AP (1994) Fallopia japonica (Houtt) Ronse, Decraene (Reynoutria japonica Houtt, Polygonum cuspidatum Sieb and Zucc). J Ecology 82 (4) 959–979 A Conolly (1994) Castles and abbeys in Wales: refugia for 'mediaeval' medicinal plants. Botanical Journal of Scotland 46 (4) 628–636 Conolly, A.P. (1977) The distribution and history in the British Isles of some alien species of Polygonum and Reynoutria. Watsonia 11 291–311 Conolly, AP, Dahl, E (1970) Maximum summer temperature in relation to the modern and Quaternary distributions of certain arctic-montane species in the British Isles Part 1. The modern relationships in Studies in the vegetational history of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press. p175 Conolly, AP, Dickson, JH. (1969) A note on a late Weichselian splachnum capsule from Scotland. New Phytologist 68 (1) 197- Conolly, A.P., Godwin, H. and Megaw, E.M. (1950) Studies in the Post-Glacial History of British Vegetation. XI. Late-Glacial Deposits in Cornwall. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 234 (615) p397- DOI: 10.1098/rstb.1950.0006