Assistant secretary to the Horticultural Society since 1822, in 1829 Lindley was appointed to the chair of botany at University College, London, which he retained until 1860. He also lectured on botany from 1831 at the Royal Institution, including delivering the 1833 Royal Institution Christmas Lecture, and from 1836 at the Chelsea Physic Garden, starting the society's flower show in the late 1830s. described the plants collected on Thomas Livingstone Mitchell's expeditions of 1838 and wrote an Appendix to "Edwards's Botanical Register" of 1839, describing plants collected by James Drummond and Georgiana Molloy of the Swan River Colony in Western Australia. According to John Ryan, Lindley's 1840 ‘Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony’ provided ‘the most succinct portrait to date of the flora of the Swan River Settlement’, which had been established in 1829. The Sketch, which was published during November 1839 and January 1840 in Edwards’ Botanical Register and separately on its completion, was illustrated by nine hand-coloured lithographs and four wood-cuts. He also played a large part in having Charles Moore appointed as Director of the Sydney Botanical Gardens.