Prof Ben-Erik van Wyk

Research Professor
Name: Ben-Erik van Wyk
Location: D2 LAB 233 Auckland Park Kingsway Campus
Botany & Plant Biotechnology Academic Staff  Staff Members

Contact Details:
Tel: +27 (0)11 559 2412

Email: bevanwyk@uj.ac.za

About Prof Ben-Erik van Wyk

Prof Ben-Erik Van Wyk is the SARChI Chair in Indigenous Plant Use at the University of Johannesburg and is based in the Department of Botany and Plant Biotechnology. He is a plant taxonomist with a research interest in ethnobotany and economic botany. He has authored and co-authored more than 390 scientific papers, 23 books (including ca. 50 editions and translations), 30 taxonomic revisions, and more than 100 new plant species and other taxa. He is best known for his series of international full-colour reference books on useful plants, co-produced by leading international publishers and translated into several languages. These include global reviews of Medicinal Plants, Food Plants, Herbs and Spices, Mind-altering and Poisonous Plants, Phytomedicines, Cut Flowers and Garden Succulents. His Google h-index is 63 (19 947 citations), Scopus h-index 44 (7128 citations) and Clarivate Web of Science h-index = 41 (6725 citations). In 2013 he was awarded the NRF/SARChI National Research Chair in Indigenous Plant Use, to focus on ethnobotanical research and the documentation of plant-related indigenous knowledge. He was a recipient of the two highest national awards for botanists, from the South African Association of Botanists (the SAAB Gold Medal, in 2015) and from the South African Academy of Science (the M.T. Steyn Award for Natural Sciences and Technology Research and Excellence, in 2020). He also received the Lifetime Award (all sciences) from the National Science and Technology Forum (the “Science Oscars of South Africa”) in 2024: “For his contribution as a botanist and an authority on traditional and commercial uses of plants, with numerous books and publications covering all or most of the socially relevant and commercialised plant species of the world”. He has supervised 32 MSc and 25 PhD students to completion, many of whom received prestigious awards and 10 becoming professors themselves. He is an editorial member of the South African Journal of Botany (Elsevier), Subeditor-in-Chief of Diversity (MDPI) and Associate Editor of Economic Botany (Springer), and regularly reviews manuscripts, theses and grant applications. He served on various NRF committees, contributed to research and development of natural products and government policy. Organized conferences include three international conferences and 26 annual conferences of the Indigenous Plant Use Forum, of which he has been re-elected as chairman every year since 1996.

Primary Expertise: Plant taxonomy, Ethnobotany, Indigenous plant use
Secondary Expertise: Classificaiton and identification of plants; useful plants; medicinal plants; edible plants; plant chemistry; plant toxicology (poisonous plants); traditional medicine, indigenous knowledge

DST/NRF SARChI National Research Chair in Indigenous Plant Use, Tier 1 (2013–2022)
Expertise: Plant taxonomy, Ethnobotany, Indigenous plant use (classification and identification of plants; medicinal plants; edible plants; plant chemistry; plant toxicology; traditional medicine, indigenous knowledge).

NRF Rating: B1
H-factor: Scopus = 40 (6083 citations, ca. 400-600 citations per year); Google Scholar = 60 (including academic books; 17 877 citations, ca. 1 400 per year)

Visiting Professor: Center for Biotic Products, National Polytechnic Institute, Mexico (2014–)
Supervised 25 MSc and 16 PhD students

Google Scholar Profile

Research activities:

1.Taxonomy, systematics and chemosystematics of African plant families, mainly Apiaceae (Umbelliferae), Fabaceae (African genistoid legumes) and Asphodelaceae (Aloe and related genera).

2.Medicinal plants and ethnobotany, including Khoi-San and Cape Dutch ethnobotany, quality control, product and crop development.​

Other activities:

Chairman of the Aloe Council of South Africa (Pty) Ltd.

Chairman of the Indigenous Plant Use Forum

Member of the Association for African Medicinal Plant Standards (AAMPS)
Member of Briza Publications CC

Member of the Presidential Task Team on African Traditional Medicine
Commercialisation of indigenous African plants
Member of Editorial Boards: South African Journal of Botany (Elsevier), Phytotaxa and Biodiversity
Book author