Dierdré "Dee" Anne Snijman is a South African

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

and plant taxonomist who is notable for studying and writing extensively on

bulb In botany, a bulb is a short underground stem with fleshy leaves or leaf basesBell, A.D. 1997. ''Plant form: an illustrated guide to flowering plant morphology''. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. that function as food storage organs duri ...

s. She has described over 120 species and has written comprehensive works on South African flora. She received the 1997

Herbert Medal The Herbert Medal is awarded by the International Bulb Society to those whose achievements in advancing knowledge of ornamental bulbous plants is considered to be outstanding.International Bulb Society The International Bulb Society was founded on May 31, 1933 and is an international society dedicated to informing the public about the science, Plant cultivation, cultivation, conservation ethic, conservation and botany of Storage organ, geophytic ...

for her research on ''

Amaryllis ''Amaryllis'' () is the only genus in the subtribe Amaryllidinae (tribe Amaryllideae). It is a small genus of flowering bulbs, with two species. The better known of the two, '' Amaryllis belladonna'', is a native of the Western Cape region of ...

''.

Early life and career

Snijman was born in a small town east of

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

and early on adopted the name "Dee" as easier to spell and pronounce. She was educated at Blessed Imelda Convent in

Brakpan Brakpan is a mining town on the East Rand of Gauteng, South Africa, approximately 38 kilometres (23.6 mi) east of Johannesburg. History The name Brakpan comes from a small pan on a farm called Weltevreden, which was filled with very brackish water ...

and at

Damelin College Damelin is a private college founded in 1943 by Benjamin Damelin. It has 6 campuses in South Africa and is owned by Educor (the Education Investment Corporation Limited) group. Damelin offers degrees, diplomas and other higher qualifications ...

in Johannesburg. Her initial interest in South African flowers was sparked by her parents' garden and the illustrations by

Cythna Letty Cythna Lindenberg Letty (1 January 1895, in Standerton – 3 May 1985, in Pretoria), was a South African botanical artist and is regarded as a doyenne of South African botanical art by virtue of the quality and quantity of her meticulously ex ...

and Aruiol Batten. She completed her BSc (Botany and Mathematics) at the

University of Natal The University of Natal was a university in the former South African province Natal which later became KwaZulu-Natal. The University of Natal no longer exists as a distinct legal entity, as it was incorporated into the University of KwaZulu- ...

. She obtained her MSc in 1973 and at the same time a Diploma in Education. Teaching proved to be not to her liking as proven by "a year of teaching unruly children." In 1974 she joined the Compton herbarium at the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens where she encountered the work of several South African botanists, including

Robert Harold Compton Robert Harold Compton (6 August 1886 in Tewkesbury – 11 July 1979 in Cape Town) was a South African botanist. The Compton Herbarium at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, which he founded in Cape Town in 1939, was named in his honour. ...

. W.F. Barker had completed a collection of monocots there prior to her retirement.

Peter Goldblatt Peter Goldblatt (born 1943) is a South African botanist, working principally in the United States. Life Goldblatt was born in Johannesburg, South Africa on October 8, 1943. His undergraduate studies (B.Sc.) were undertaken at the University ...

and John Rourke guided her early work. She and Pauline Perry made many field trips in the Southern African winter-rainfall region. In 1984 she published the Genus Haemanthus in conjunction with the botanical artist

Ellaphie Ward-Hilhorst Johanna Ellaphie Ward-Hilhorst (10 July 1920 Pretoria – 30 June 1994 Cape Town) was a South African botanical artist. She received her early education in Pretoria. After matriculating from Pretoria High School for Girls, Pretoria Girls' High S ...

, and this was followed work on Hessea and

Strumaria ''Strumaria'' is a genus of African plants in Amaryllidaceae, Amaryllis family, subfamily Amaryllidoideae. The genus is known in nature only from South Africa, Lesotho and Namibia. Almost all species flower in the autumn and are cultivated as or ...

, which formed part of her Ph.D. degree.

Works

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Snijman, Dierdré Anne Living people South African women botanists 20th-century South African botanists Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century South African women scientists 21st-century South African botanists 21st-century South African women scientists University of Natal alumni University of Cape Town alumni