Jenny Must (above)

Jenny Purdie (below)

Must, Jennifer L. (Jenny)   (fl. 1957 - 1982

Under her maiden name, 'Must', Jenny made the bulk of her herbarium collections, from the earliest in 1957 until about 1982.

Purdie, Jennifer L. (Jenny)   (fl. 1978 - 2020s)

After getting married and adopting her husband's surname, 'Purdie', she used that name for herbarium collections from about 1982.
Note
Most of her specimens using her married name appear to be listed in AVH with the initials (J.L.) before the surname.

Jenny has a Diploma of Horticulture from Burnley College of Horticulture, Melbourne.

She spent 10 years (as Jenny Must) as a technical officer in the Northern Territory Herbarium (Alice Springs, initially under John Maconohie, and at Darwin) and, after retirement many more years as a volunteer at the Northern Territory Herbarium (Alice Springs).

For some time she was based in Darwin as the Principal Inspector (Meat).

Jenny was Department of Primary Industry, Fisheries and Mines (DPIFM) Regional Director from 1999 for five years during which time she assisted with various scientific studies across the region.

She had lived in the Territory for 39 years [in 2008] and before moving to the Barkly region had visited it on many occasions collecting plants for the herbarium, surveying dung beetles and inspecting abattoirs.

It wasn't until her retirement in 2004 that Jenny had enough time to compile the Barkly field guide, along with crucial input from Chris Materne and Andrew Bubb, titled 'A Field Gide to the Plants of the Barkly Region of the Northern Territory' (2008).

She has been on the board of Olive Pink Botanic Garden.

She has been a member of the Australian Plant Society Alice Springs for more than 17 years [in 2025].

A keen photographer, her main focus is on NT native flora and her photos have appeared in several publications by other authors.

Source: Extracted from: "Working with John Maconochie (1941-1984)" by Des Nelson
Australasian Systematic Botany Society Newsletter 150 (March 2012)
https://asbs.org.au/newsletter/pdf/12-march-150.pdf
Author profile in 'A Field Gide to the Plants of the Barkly Region of the Northern Territory' (2008)
https://daf.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/227725/0001_ar_dpif.pdf
Author profile in: Anne Urban's 'Wildflowers and Plants of Central Australia' (2025)
Portrait Photo: 1978, from: George Chippendale photo collection at ANBG.
Portrait Photo: 2025, The Centralian Today, 7/5/2025

Collecting localities for 'Must, J.' from AVH (2021)

Data from 1,801 specimens

Collecting localities for 'Purdie, J.L. and J.L. Purdie' from AVH (2025)

Data from 210 specimens