Alberta Maria Wilhelmina "Bep" Mennega (July 29, 1914 – December 20, 2009) was a Dutch

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

renowned for her studies into the anatomy of wood and plant systematics.

Biography

Mennega studied biology at the

Utrecht University Utrecht University (UU; nl, Universiteit Utrecht, formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2018, it had an enrollme ...

, earning her

Ph.D A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

in 1938.Stafleu, F. A., Cowan, R. S., & Mennega, E. A. (1979)
Taxonomic literature: A selective guide to botanical publications and collections with dates, commentaries and types.
Utrecht: Bohn, Scheltema & Holkema. In 1946, she accepted a position at the Utrecht University Botanic Gardens. The university was in need of people who were able to assess the quality of imported wood, and although her educational background was in

physiology Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...

, she was retrained in wood anatomy. While working at the university, she started a world renowned wood collection.Alberta Mennega Stichting (Dutch)
/ref> Mennega's research also contributed significately to the flora of

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...

. Mennega retired from the university in 1977. In 1988, she founded the Alberta Mennega Foundation as a scholarship for students and researchers in the field of botany, prioritizing the funding of fieldwork in the tropics. Botanist Erik Albert Mennega was Mennega's nephew.

Honors

In 2007, Mennega was awarded as a knight of the

Order of Orange-Nassau The Order of Orange-Nassau ( nl, Orde van Oranje-Nassau, links=no) is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands. The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has ...

. The genus ''

Mennegoxylon ''Mennegoxylon'', commonly referred to as snakewood, is a genus of now extinct trees exhibiting a cell structure resembling snake skin when viewed in cross section. ''Mennegoxylon'' is found in the Eocene age Yegua Formation of Texas and Louisi ...

'' and the species ''

Salacia mennegana In ancient Roman mythology, Salacia ( , ) was the female divinity of the sea, worshipped as the goddess of salt water who presided over the depths of the ocean. Neptune was her consort. That Salacia was the consort of Neptune is implied by Varr ...

'' were named in her honor.Lombardi, J. A. (2009). Three New Species of Salacia from Mesoamerica (Celastraceae, Salacioideae). Novon: A Journal for Botanical Nomenclature, 19(3), 372-379. doi:10.3417/2007005

References

External links

*
Alberta Mennega Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mennega, Alberta 1914 births 2009 deaths 20th-century Dutch botanists Knights of the Order of Orange-Nassau