Exploration by Rubber Duck
Expert Talk – Dr. Ernst van Jaarsveld
Sunday 23 September – 11:00

This is a free event. No booking required.

Dr. Ernst van Jaarsveld has been interested in succulents since a young boy collecting and growing succulent plants. He has authored or co-authored more than one hundred succulent plant species. He is especially interested in the classification Gasteria and Aloe and other monocotyledonous succulents. His other interests include the Mesembryanthemaceae and Crassulaceae. He is a keen explorer regularly traveling to remote parts of South Africa, Angola and Namibia. Some of the expeditions include rubber canoe expeditions investigating remote river valleys. Ernst also regularly travels abroad and lectures on succulent plants. Ernst was a horticulturist at Kirstenbosch for more than 40 years. He built and curated the Botanical Society Conservatory. He was appointed extraordinary senior lecturer at the University of the Western Cape in 2012. He is the author of more than two hundred articles (popular, semi-scientific and scientific) and several books. He is a keen explorer and for his latest study (cliff dwelling succulent plants), has visited cliff habitats throughout southern Africa.

Ernst has been at Babylonstoren since 2015 where he continues to build display gardens, green houses and educate the public about botanical things.