Melva Noeline Philipson

Melva Noeline Philipson (née Crozier; 22 December 1925 – 29 April 2015) was a New Zealand botanist.

Biography Philipson was born Melva Noeline Crozier in Palmerston North on 22 December 1925, the daughter of Gladys Crozier (née Eberhard) and Guy Neville Crozier. She was educated in Christchurch, at St Albans Primary School, Christchurch Girls' High School and Avonside Girls' High School. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from Canterbury University College (now the University of Canterbury) in 1948. She remained in the Department of Microbiology until 1955 to carry out research on bacteria responsible for producing brightly coloured stains in wool fleeces. She also isolated an actinomycete from fleeces which in culture was able to cause degeneration of both wool fibre and human hair.

After her retirement in 1990, Philipson returned to the establishment of the Rhododendron herbarium, and her husband Bill Philipson joined her in studying the genus. Together, the couple produced three major joint publications and their research became the largest embryological survey of a plant genus. In 2003, Philipson moved to Stoke to be near her daughter, taking most of her Rhododendron collection with her. She died on 29 April 2015.