Writing


Books

I am writing my first non-academic book - Murder Most Florid. I have also contributed academic book chapters on fungal evolution, the history of botany and environmental change.


MURDER MOST FLORID

Crime scene investigations capture the imagination. This first-hand account will explore how I came to be involved in the world of forensics, what it is like to encounter human remains for the first time and how I undertake my work. The book will also draw on earlier case history such as the famous murder of the aviator Charles Lindburgh’s son, Charles Lindburgh Jr. In 1932. This book should be available in the autum of 2019.

Forthcoming for Quadrille Publishing


Academic papers

The majority of my academic publications are taxonomic or nomenclatural. My other publications have focused on museology, environmental change, the history of botany and the wild plants of Britain and Ireland. Some of my publications are also available via my Research Professional page


Taxonomy and Nomenclature

Calvo, J., Spencer, M.A. & Aedo, C. (2014) Proposal to conserve the name Senecio macrophyllus against S. orientalis (Compositae). Taxon 63(6): 1377-1378.

Journal article

Calvo, J., Spencer, M.A. & Aedo, C. (2014) Lectotypification of names of Eurasian African Senecio (Compositae). Taxon 63(2): 423-426.le of paper

Journal article

Brown, J.M., Brummitt, R.K., Spencer, M.A. & Carine, M.A. (2009) Disentangling the bindweeds: hybridization and taxonomic diversity in British Calystegia (Convolvulaceae) Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 160 (4): 388-401.

Journal article

Typification of the names of Cyclamen hederifolium Aiton, C. coum Miller, C. orbiculatum Miller, C. persicum Miller, C. purpurascens Miller and C. vernale Miller (Myrsinaceae)

Grundmann, M., Rumsey, F.J., Ansell, S.W., Russell, S.J., Darwin, S.C., Vogel, J.C., Spencer, M.A., Squirrell, J., Hollingsworth, P.M., Ortiz, S. & Schneider, H. (2009). Phylogeny and taxonomy of the bluebell genus Hyacinthoides, Asparagaceae [Hyacinthaceae]. Taxon 59(1): 68-82.

Journal article

Jarvis, C.E., Reduron, J.-P., Spencer, M.A. & Cafferty, S. (eds) (2006). Typification of Linnaean plant names in Apiaceae. Taxon 55(1): 207-216.

Journal article

History of Botany

McMillan, P.D., Blackwell, A.H., Blackwell, C. and Spencer, M.A. (2013). The vascular plants in the Mark Catesby collection at the Sloane Herbarium, with notes on their taxonomic and ecological significance. Phytoneuron 7: 1–37.

Phytoneuron article

Jarvis, C., Spencer, M. & Huxley, R. (2012). Sloane’s plant specimens at the Natural History Museum (with a supplementary account of Sloane’s fossils by C. Delmer). In: Walker, A. & Hunter, M. (eds.), From Books to Bezoars. London: British Library.

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Miscellaneous

All the other 'stuff' that does not quite fit!


Book Chapters

Essay in 'Field Studies: Walking Through Landscapes and Archives' by Chrysel Lebas (2017). The British botanist Sir Edward James Salisbury left behind a large collection of glass plate negatives, discovered in an anonymous stack of boxes in the attic of London's Natural History Museum. Brought to the attention of Chrystel Lebas, for whom walking has always been a part of her objective approach (she brings two cameras, one for quick snapshots and another with tripod for panoramic views), they instigated a turning point in her career. This enticingly beautiful, complex book is both an artistic research project and a scientific inquiry. Tracing Salisbury's footsteps, Lebas observes environmental changes in the British landscape by photographing the same locations a century later.

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