Robert Dunlop Royce was an Australian botanist. He was curator

Curator

A curator is a manager or overseer. Traditionally, a curator or keeper of a cultural heritage institution is a content specialist responsible for an institution's collections and involved with the interpretation of heritage material...

 of the Western Australian Herbarium

Western Australian Herbarium

The Western Australian Herbarium is the State Herbarium in Perth, Western Australia, Western Australia. It is part of the State government's Department of Environment and Conservation, and has responsibility for the description and documentation of the flora of Western Australia.The Herbarium is...

 from 1960 to 1974.

Born in Perth

Perth, Western Australia

Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

, Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

, he began his botanical career with the Department of Agriculture in 1937. He transferred to the Western Australian Herbarium in 1944, and was appointed curator in 1960. One of his main research interests was the application of botany to agriculture, and to this end he undertook substantial research into toxic plants. He published numerous papers on a range of subjects, but does not appear to have described any new taxa. He also oversaw the planning and construction of the current herbarium building. He retired in 1974.

The genus Roycea and the species Eucalyptus roycei (Shark Bay Mallee) were named in his honour.