Dr John Manning

JOHN MANNING trained at the University of Natal (Pietermaritzburg) and has worked at the SA Biodiversity Institute in Cape Town since 1998. Although primarily a plant taxonomist, his wide-ranging interests include pollination biology, anatomy, evolution and speciation, and popular botany. He has written or co-authored over 200 scientific papers and several southern African wild flower guides, mostly illustrated with his photographs. He has a particular interest in popularising southern Africa’s wild flowers. He works in close association with Peter Goldblatt of the Missouri Botanic Garden and together they have described over 200 new species, mostly in Iridaceae but also in Asphodelaceae, Asteraceae, Geraniaceae, Hyacinthceae, Molluginaceae, Ranunculaceae, Scrophulariaceae and Tecophilaeaeceae. Among their more important works in the field are new, molecular-based phylogenetic classifications of Iridaceae and Hyacinthaceae. They have collaborated on several significant works on the South Africa flora, including Gladiolus in southern Africa (1998), Cape Plants: A conspectus of the Cape flora of South Africa (2000) and the updated Plants of the Core Cape Flora (2012), the Color Encyclopedia of Cape Bulbs (2002), Crocosmia and Chasmanthe (2004), The Botany and Horticulture of Freesia (2010), and Systematics and Biology of the Cape genus Sparaxis  (2013). John Manning is an FRD B-rated scientist and his awards include the Botanical Society of South Africa Marloth Medal (2005) and the University of KwaZulu-Natal Convocation Award for Outstanding Contribution to Science, Industry and Technology (2006). He has ranked among the universities top 30 published scientists for the past three years.