Marinda Koekemoer

Marinda was born in Johannesburg on 17 September 1961. She attended primary schools in Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Krugersdorp, and high school in Phalaborwa. Whilst moving around the country, it was always one of the family’s objectives to explore new areas extensively and enjoy what nature had to offer. A career in botany was an obvious choice.

She studied at the Rand Afrikaans University and obtained a BSc (1983), Teaching Diploma (1984), MSc (1991), and finally a PhD (2002). The topics for both her MSc and PhD were in the Asteraceae, in the tribe Gnaphalieae. Her research efforts are still focused on this large and very interesting family.

Marinda started working at the National Botanical Institute in 1987, after teaching for a year at schools in Groblersdal and Middelburg. At the NBI (now SANBI) she started off as technician working on the Poaceae with Dr Beth Gibbs Russell, Lyn Fish, and other grass experts. This involvement culminated in the publication of "Grasses of southern Africa" in 1990. Thereafter she waved the grasses goodbye and started working on the Asteraceae, also becoming involved in management as Assistant Curator and later Curator (1992).

Today, most of her time is consumed by management duties, but she enjoys the occasional field trip with the staff to explore new and undercollected areas and to build up the Asteraceae collections. Her collections number 2,525 and cover areas all over South Africa. She also had the privilege to join the SABONET Nyika Expedition to Malawi in 2000. Her involvement in plant collecting expeditions combines many of her interests—camping and outdoor life, hiking, travelling, and photography—and she hopes to continue collecting for many more years.

Her hope for SABONET is that the network it created will long outlive the life of the SABONET Project.

Marinda pressing specimens on the Nyika Plateau.

SABONET News 7.3: 170