John Kenneth Bartlett

John Kenneth Bartlett (7 December 1945 – 1 May 1986) was a New Zealand plant collector and botanist who specialised in mosses, liverworts, and lichens. In 1975, he found Bartlett's rātā growing south-east of Cape Reinga.

Biography Bartlett was born in Hamilton, New Zealand, on 7 December 1945, and was an only child. He attended the Marist Brothers school (now St John's College) in Hamilton, where he became dux. He studied mathematics at Auckland University, the University of Queensland in Brisbane, and finally Sydney University, where he gained his Master's degree. On his return to New Zealand, Bartlett worked as a teacher at Auckland Grammar School and at Sacred Heart College where, at his death on 1 May 1986, he was Head of Science.

Plant collecting

Bartlett was an enthusiastic plant collector, who specialised in collecting New Zealand mosses, liverworts, and lichens. He was a self-taught amateur botanist, and began collecting plants when he was in his twenties. He collected specimens for professional botanists. and there are Bartlett specimens in the Natural History Museum, London. Bartlett added some fifty species of mosses to the New Zealand flora. In 1985, a new family of mosses, the Hypnobartlettiaceae, was named in his honour (based on specimens he collected in North West Nelson). In addition to collecting specimens, Bartlett published around 24 scientific publications.

Bartlett's rātā

While searching for liverworts in 1975, Bartlett came across an unusual species of rātā growing at Radar Bush, 9.5 km south-east of Cape Reinga. His attention was drawn to the tree's distinctive bark, which is spongy, whitish and flakes easily, but he was unable to reach any branches. He took bark fragments to Victoria University botanist John Dawson, who was unconvinced that the tree was unusual. Bartlett returned to the area with a rifle, with which he was able to shoot off a branch. It was ten years before its white flowers were seen by scientists in 1984, appearing 'like snow over the tree crowns' and allowing the new species to be formally described and named Metrosideros bartlettii, known as Bartlett's rātā, or rātā moehau in Māori. Bartlett's rātā is now grown as a garden plant, but only 13 adult Bartlett's rātā are known to still exist in the wild.

Eponymy As well as Metrosideros bartlettii, numerous other taxa were named after Bartlett, including:

Hypnobartlettia fontana Ochyra 1985 Bryobartlettia costata Buck 1981 Bryobeckettia bartlettii Colura pulcherrima var. bartlettii Enterographa bartlettii Megalospora bartlettii Pseudocyphellaria bartlettii Diploschistes muscorum ssp. bartlettii Stenocybe bartlettii

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