Biography

British botanist at the University of Toronto. Peter Ball has studied the genera Salicornia L. and Carex L. in Europe and Canada respectively. Born in Croydon, Ball was sent to Lewes in 1939 during the Second World War and when he was old enough (about nine or ten years old) began to help out with the gardening on a small estate just south of town. At this time he took an interest in Lepidoptera, obtaining a second-hand guide book which allowed him to identify the local species.

After completing his O-Levels in 1948, Ball returned to Croydon and at Whitgift School was taught by C.T. Prime (at that time the recent author of a British flora for schools). Here he undertook several projects on the local flora, including the seed production of Vicia L. and hybridisation in oaks and peas. In 1952 Ball entered Leicester University, keen to study under Tom G. Tutin who had published Flora of the British Isles with A.R. Clapham and E.F. Warburg that same year. Awarded a BSc in 1955 he went on to postgraduate studies, working with Tutin on a revision of Salicornia for the second edition of the flora and received a PhD in 1960.

While studying for his doctorate, Ball was also the recipient of a Leverhulme fellowship which allowed him to work on the Flora Europaea project at the University of Liverpool (1957-1959). This led directly to a research fellowship on the project and he wrote accounts, edited manuscripts and worked at the secretariat of the project until 1969. As part of this Ball was also involved in producing a checklist for the flora of Albania, at the time there was no published flora giving reliable records for that region. For both his Salicornia work and for the Flora Europaea Ball undertook many collecting trips in both Britain and in southern Europe, visiting Greece in 1961, former Yugoslavia (south-west Serbia in particular) in 1963 and Spain (Almeria) in 1967.

From 1970 Ball has worked as a professor of botany at the University of Toronto at its Mississauga campus. Interested in the flora of Ontario and the genus Carex in particular he is involved in collecting and documenting rare species in this relatively poorly explored region. From his work on the carices Ball has published numerous papers over the years and is also responsible for contributing to and co-editing the Cyperaceae section of the Flora of North America with A.A. Reznicek and D.F. Murray. He has also authored accounts of Salicornia, Sarcocornia A.J. Scott and Arthrocnemum Moq. for volume four of this publication. Ball is a member of the Botanical Society of the British Isles, the Canadian Botanical Association and the American Society of Plant Taxonomists. At the time of writing (2011) he is officially retired but continues some of his research and collecting.

Sources:
Personal communication, February 2011.