Gillian Maggs-Kölling

The National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI) in Windhoek is one of the most dynamic and progressive research institutes in Namibia. At the helm of this flagship of the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Rural Development in Namibia, is Gillian Maggs-Kölling, a taxonomist who has done much in promoting botany and its appropriate applications in a previously livestock-orientated agricultural research system.

Gillian was born in East London, South Africa, on 17 November 1962 and received most of her schooling in Cape Town at Wynberg Girls Junior and later High Schools. Already in these formative years, she displayed a keen interest in botany and in 1979 received the J.W. Matthews Trophy in the Flora Conservation Competition organised annually by the National Botanical Society of South Africa. Her winning entry was entitled “Indigenous plants and their medicinal uses”—in the years before ethnobotany and indigenous plant use became an extensively explored subject.

In 1981, she registered at the University of Stellenbosch for a B.Sc. degree, majoring in Botany and Zoology. Her consistent interest in botany saw her awarded the Jordaan Class Prize for botany at the end of her third year. By this stage, she has developed a keen interest in taxonomy and she worked for the next three years as part of the research group revising the taxonomy of the genus Pelargonium. Multidisciplinary studies within the section Polyactium earned her not only an M.Sc. Cum Laude in 1987, but she was awarded the Junior Captain Scott Medal at the end of that year. This prestigious award is given annually to the best M.Sc. thesis in Natural Sciences admitted at any University in South Africa.

Upon completion of her studies in 1987, Gillian took up the position of research officer at the South West African Herbarium in Windhoek. Her first practical experience of herbarium work, under the guidance of Curator M.A.N. Müller, was short-lived, as the herbarium was packed up and translocated around Windhoek for a subsequent period of almost five years. However, never to be easily deterred by such obstacles, Gillian concentrated her collecting efforts in the Eastern and Western Caprivi, working in close collaboration with the local Nature Conservation officials. A local herbarium was established in Katima Mulilo, which is still maintained and utilised by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism.

Shortly after independence in 1990, Gillian assumed responsibility as Curator of the National Herbarium of Namibia (WIND), resorting under the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Rural Development. Expanding interests within the botanical and agronomic fields resulted in the establishment of a National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI), divided into three subsections, of which the herbarium remains the pivotal unit.

For years Gillian has maintained an interest in the indigenous Cucurbitaceae in Namibia. Initial collections to supplement existing herbarium holdings developed into the formulation of a project proposal. Funding was received from Danida (Danish International Development Agency). The project “Genetic resources and agricultural potential of indigenous Cucurbitaceae in Namibia” will endeavour to fully describe and delimit cucurbit taxa occurring in Namibia. Certain species showing clear agricultural potential like Citrullus lanatus will be further tested and characterised in order to be introduced into crop improvement programmes. Her research resulted in a Ph.D at the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Gillian represents the Government of Namibia, not only as SABONET Steering Committee member but is also the Namibian representative on the Board of the SADC Plant Genetic Resources Centre (SPGRC).

Besides being interested in official and general botanical issues, she enjoys botanical illustration. Spare time, what little there is of it, is spent enjoying the unique and spectacular Namibian outdoors and various other physical activities.

Gillian and her team of enthusiastic and dedicated colleagues anticipate to make a significant contribution to the understanding of the local flora and promote the development and sustainable use thereof to benefit the Namibian people, now and in the future.

SABONET News 1.2: 2