The public image of botanists got a bit of a boost this week, at a conference in Durban, where they demonstrated their significance in fields from agriculture to social development.
Those who thought botanists were stuffy academics who squashed flowers, would have had their perceptions re-wired after attending sessions of the South African Association of Botanists’ 30th annual meeting, said Patricia Berjak from the biological sciences department at the University of KwaZulu-Natal where the conference is being held.
The main address focused on applying science to the greater world, said Berjak.
The speaker, Dr Bruce Page, showed that ”science is for the people, not just for academic purposes”, said Berjak.
She said botanists (or plant scientists, as she prefers to be called) were constantly approached for scientific input into projects such as the proposed N2 toll road on the Wild Coast, and the Roedefontein golf course development.
Botany is influential in the commercial, scientific and governmental spheres, said Berjak.
She said the work of botanists ranged from research on the pharmacologically active ingredients in medicinal plants and saving threatened plant species, to working with communities to ensure sustainable resource use. The presentations at the conference represented the range of applications.
”It showed that there was a real meaning for plant sciences out there, the students got very excited,” she said.
The conference was a good place for students to ”cut their teeth”, and get introduced to the scientific community, said Berjak.
”We are attracting more and more students,” she said.
There were special sessions on such global issues as biodiversity, and genetic engineering, on using plants to restore land damaged by mining/farming, and on ethnobotany, which looks at the science behind plant utilisation in traditional cultures.
Mike Sutcliffe, eThekwini city manager, talked on developing a sustainable city.
”We hope that this conference has put some fire into plant sciences,” said Berjak. ”We are delighted to be hosting the first national congress.”
The South African Association of Botanists is headed by Professor Ted Botha of the Botany Department at Rhodes University,
Grahamstown. — Sapa