from the linked FB post - ‘Last week [in March] we trekked 20km up and down steep mountains to one tiny population of Penaea formosa’ - which has only 4 obs.
https://www.inaturalist.org/people/don_k was Curator of Stellenbosch University Botanical Garden
That is sad news. May he rest in peace.
Thanks, Diana.
Rhett Butler wrote a nice obituary for Donovan Kirkwood here:
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/08/donovan-kirkwood-protector-of-south-africas-rarest-plants-dies-at-51-in-search-for-one-of-the-worlds-most-endangered-species/
And Donovan Kirkwood wrote an article about his own work, published on nature.com, here:
https://www.nature.com/articles/d44148-025-00231-0
The article that Donovan wrote ends with this line: “Most of all, I just want to get people to fall hopelessly in love with plants and nature.”
Which is kind of what iNat is all about!
Donovan Kirkwood reminds me of Gerald Durrell. Gerald Durrell transformed zoos into conservation institutions, by breeding endangered species for re-release into the wild. Gerald Durrell died in 1995, but today — 30 years later — his methods still shape conservation worldwide. Donovan Kirkwood was the plant version of that.
Thank you for those 2 links. I never met him, and it is interesting to read both his own words, and another tribute.
Truly heartbreaking. Loss is always hard, but it’s even harder when it’s someone who contributed greatly to this planet and our environment.
What’s a sad story(