Peter S. Wyse Jackson

2017 Distinguished Service Medal

For lifelong leadership in plant discovery and conservation, world-renowned advancement of horticulture, and guidance of major botanical gardens to greater prominence locally and internationally.

Proposed by: Ladue Garden Club, Zone XI

Peter S. Wyse Jackson is known for his tireless conservation efforts and for promoting the role of gardens and gardeners as primary partners in saving the Earth’s botanical heritage. He is a leading scientist, a skilled organizational leader, and a passionate conservationist. Peter has played an influential role in reshaping and leading the international botanic garden community around the globe. He is the author of numerous scientific books and papers on plant conservation, gardening, and horticulture. For two decades, Peter has organized a worldwide collaboration of 500 botanic gardens, combining efforts to collect, conserve, and cultivate samples of all the world’s plants. As the director and president of the Missouri Botanical Garden since 2010, he initiated World Flora Online, which aims to be the ultimate source of knowledge on the world’s plant diversity by 2020. This online horticultural resource is free to all and accessed over one million times a month.

The Distinguished Service Medal is awarded for distinguished service in the field of horticulture.

The Distinguished Service Medal was endowed in 1953 by Priscilla Sleeper Sterling (Mrs. Robert D. Sterling), Garden Club of Dublin and Monadnock Garden Club, both Zone I. Although Priscilla’s primary interest was in conservation, she believed that horticulture played an integral part in the quality of life. Elizabeth Rhodes Reynolds designed the medal first awarded in 1955.

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