Martin Cheek

Martin is part of RBG, Kew’s Africa team for plant taxonomy, based in the Kew Herbarium. The team’s focus is on plant conservation through Tropical Important Plant Areas (IPAs or TIPAs, in French ZTIPs) as well as completing Floras and taxonomic revisions, and capacity building. He first visited tropical Africa as a PhD student for fieldwork on the Meliaceae, travelling through Cameroon, CAR, DRC and Uganda to Kenya, and on to Madagascar. He concentrates on W and W-C Africa, and Malvales, Sapindales, Rubiaceae, Podostemaceae and achlorophyllous mycotrophs. He has attended every AETFAT congress in tropical Africa.