Lifelong Auckland resident Joan Dingley was a mycologist and plant pathologist, and was among the first female professionals in plant science in New Zealand. After completing her MSc in botany at Auckland University College in 1940 (with a thesis on tree ferns), Dingley joined the Plant Diseases Division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR). Based at the Mount Albert Research Centre, she remained working there right up until her retirement in 1976, at which time she was Head of Mycology.
The first project Dingley worked on was part of the war effort and involved finding ways to rot-proof canvas for use in the Pacific theatre of war. Specialising in mycology from this point forwards, she studied the taxonomy of plant pathogenic fungi. As part of this research she spent a period at the Commonwealth Mycological Institute at Kew in England, and became the resident expert in her field at DSIR Among her most important work was the identification of an eczema-causing fungus on sheep (1959) and her publication of a list of plant diseases found in New Zealand (1969). She specialised in the taxonomy of ascomycetes and published a series on the Hypocreales in the Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand in the 1950s, among other papers. In addition, Dingley developed the Fungal Herbarium of Plant Diseases Division; she was described by her colleague G.H. Cunningham as the best collector he knew. Indeed, by the time she downed tools at the Division, the herbarium had grown from a mere 4,000 specimens to comprise 35,000.
As well being an authority on fungi, Dingley had an extensive knowledge of New Zealand's native and introduced plants. An enthusiastic gardener and hiker, she was an active member of the Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture, Auckland Botanical Society, Auckland Tramping Club and the Alpine Sports Club. She taught horticulture students at evening classes and was elected an Associate of Honour of the RNZIH in 1969. Among the other honours bestowed on her in recognition of her services to horticulture and botany were an OBE and an honorary DSc from Massey University.
Dingley was long involved with the Auckland Regional Botanic Gardens and in 1981 was appointed chair of the advisory body, the New Zealand Native Plant Evaluation Panel. The genus Dingleya Trappe is named in her honour, as are a number of fungus species with the epithet dingleyae. In 2004, the New Zealand organisation Landcare Research commemorated her in the the J.M. Dingley Microbiology Laboratory in Auckland.
Sources:
S. Davison and R. Ferguson, 2008, "Joan Marjorie Dingley OBE, MSc, DSc (h.c.), AHRIH. 14 May 1916 - 1 January 2008", New Zealand Garden Journal, 11(2): 18-19.
