Graham Duncan (botanist)

Graham Duncan was born in 1959^[2] and grew up in the Western Cape region amongst its wild bulbous plants. He obtained his early education at the Cape Town Technikon with a National Diploma in horticulture,^[1][3] and joined the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, Cape Town, South Africa in 1978, where he came under the influence of Winsome Fanny Barker (1907–1994), then curator of the Compton Herbarium at Kirstenbosch and a Lachenalia specialist. He earned his MSc (cum laude) in Botany at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg in 2005.^[4][5]

Graham Duncan is a specialist horticulturalist for geophytes and curates the indigenous South African geophytes collection at Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden. These are displayed in the Kay Bergh Bulb House at the Kirstenbosch Conservatory.^[6] He is considered an authority on the cultivation, conservation, propagation and biology of bulbs of the Cape region, and the leading expert on the genus Lachenalia.^[7][8][9] His research deals with the biology and taxonomy of Cape bulbs.^[5]

Other than his work on Lachenalia^[10][11] he is known for his expertise on Nerine,^[12] Eucomis and Agapanthus. As well as identifying a number of South African plants,^[9] he has also bred cultivars such as Clivia miniata 'Kirstenbosch Splendour', which illustrates the cover of the Kirstenbosch centenary book (2013).^[13][14]

He is the author of numerous books, including several titles in the Kirstenbosch Gardening Series, scientific papers and popular articles on South African bulbous plants.^[4] He is also a plant collector^[2] and plant photographer (see image) and his photographs illustrate his own books and have been published in The Smallest Kingdom: Plants and Plant Collectors at the Cape of Good Hope (2011).^[8][9][5]

In 1989, he was awarded the Recht Malan Prize for non-fiction (1989) from the Nasionale Boekhandel for his Bulbous plants of southern Africa ^[15] and in 2001 he was the recipient of the International Bulb Society's Herbert Medal.^[16][5]

Plants for which Duncan is the Botanical authority include many species of Lachenalia, together with W.F.Barker. The International Plant Names Index lists 54 taxa named by him, predominantly species of Lachenalia.^[17]

• Duncan, Graham (1988). The Lachenalia handbook: a guide to the genus, with introductory notes on history, identification and cultivation, with descriptions of the species and colour illustrations. Annals of Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens, vol. 17. Kirstenbosch, South Africa.: National Botanic Gardens of South Africa. ISBN 9780620119535.
• du Plessis, Niel; Duncan, Graham (1989). Bulbous plants of southern Africa: a guide to their cultivation and propagation. Cape Town: Tafelberg. ISBN 9780624026594. ASIN 0624026590.
• Duncan, Graham (2012). The genus Lachenalia. Botanical Magazine Monographs. Richmond, Surrey: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. ISBN 9781842463826.

• Duncan, Graham (2002). Grow Nerines: a guide to the species, cultivation and propagation of the genus Nerine. Claremont, South Africa: National Botanical Institute, Kirstenbosch. ISBN 9781919684338. Archived from the original on 25 November 2016. Retrieved 24 November 2016.
• Duncan, Graham (2008). Grow Clivias: a guide to the species, selected hybrids, cultivation and propagation of the genus Clivia (2nd ed.). Claremont, South Africa: South African National Biodiversity Institute, Kirstenbosch. ISBN 978-1-919684-51-2.
• Duncan, Graham; Brown Louise, Neville; Nurrish, Louise (2013). Grow Proteas: A Guide to the Cultivation and Propagation of South African Proteaceae (2nd ed.). South African National Biodiversity Institute. ISBN 978-1-919976-80-8.
• Crous, Hildegard; Duncan, Graham (2006). Grow Disas: a practical guide to the cultivation and propagation of evergreen and deciduous Disa species of Southern Africa. Claremont, South Africa: South African National Biodiversity Institute, Kirstenbosch. ISBN 9781919684505.^[19]
• Duncan, Graham (1998). Grow Agapanthus: a guide to the species, cultivation and propagation of the genus Agapanthus. Claremont, South Africa: National Botanical Institute, Kirstenbosch. ISBN 978-1919684147. ASIN 191968414X.
• Duncan, Graham (2010) [2000]. Grow Bulbs: a guide to the species, cultivation and propagation of South African bulbs (2nd ed.). Cape Town: National Botanical Institute, Kirstenbosch. ISBN 978-1919684260.^[4]

• Zonneveld, B. J. M.; Duncan, G. D. (March 2006). "Genome size for the species of Nerine Herb. (Amaryllidaceae) and its evident correlation with growth cycle, leaf width and other morphological characters". Plant Systematics and Evolution. 257 (3–4): 251–260. Bibcode:2006PSyEv.257..251Z. doi:10.1007/s00606-005-0381-x. S2CID 31666264.
• Zonneveld, B. J. M.; Duncan, G. D. (10 December 2009). "Genome sizes of Eucomis L'Hér. (Hyacinthaceae) and a description of the new species Eucomis grimshawii G.D.Duncan & Zonneveld". Plant Systematics and Evolution. 284 (1–2): 99–109. doi:10.1007/s00606-009-0236-y.

• Photograph of Duncan Graham photographing plants on location^{[permanent dead link]}