Joyce Hyon was like a mentor to me. She introduced me to the world of plants. I once found a species of gentian at Stuyvesant Cove with my Newcomb book. Joyce was interested and from my drawing thought it was worth investigating. It might be Sabatia deformis. She visited the Cove with a very advanced book, but alas it was a common gentian species. Her next project was to identify the wild flowers of Stuyvesant Town and Cove. Three of us participated in this educational adventure. I learned from this experience the importance of detail in identifying plants. I was inspired. Because of Joyce I was able to (with participation of others I assume) prevent the application of very toxic herbicides, which also included an additional chemical to cover the toxic odor of the herbicides. This spring I walked the interior of the project and identified all the “weeds”. I saw that there was no explosion of these plants. I wrote a comprehensive letter to the management. The management was supportive. I noticed that the weeds, such as Galansoga and others were manually removed. I am so grateful to Joyce for expanding my appreciation of nature. I miss her. — by Anne Lazarus
Whenever someone would come up to me in Central Park and ask me to identify a flower or shrub or tree, my automatic reply would be “Go ask Joyce.” Beneath Joyce Hyon’s quiet demeanor lurked an extensive knowledge of flora of all types. Not only could she make a positive identification of a particular flower, she would go on to explain why it was that species and not something else. And Joyce was always willing to share her knowledge. She will be missed. — by Richard Zaineldeen
Joyce Hyon was a member of The Linnaean Society of New York from 1992 to 2017.