Darbyshire, Iain A.
Job TitleKrukoff Curator of African Botany
DepartmentHerbarium, Library, Art and Archives
SectionRegional Teams
Science Teams:
Joined Kew: 2002
Foreign Language(s): French (basic); Portuguese (basic)
Qualifications & Appointments
BSc (Hons), Geography, Univ. Wales (Aberystwyth), 1997
PhD, Univ. Wales (Aberystwyth), 2001.
Role
Taxonomy of African Acanthaceae; African floristics; African plant conservation
Taxonomic research focuses upon the Acanthaceae (Shrimp Plant) family in Africa, with a particular interest in the genus Barleria. Further specialist interests include African Linderniaceae, Ochnaceae and Orobanchaceae. Generalist botanical research interests include regional baseline plant survey and inventory work, particularly in under-collected regions, and its application to plant conservation.
Projects
- African Plants Initiative
- Assessing Plant Conservation Priorities in Angola
- Atlas of the Acanthaceae of East Africa
- The Plants of Bali Ngemba Forest Reserve, Cameroon: A Conservation Checklist
- Annotated Checklist of the Plants of Sudan and South Sudan
- Coastal Forests of Northern Mozambique
- Conservation of the Eastern Africa Afromontane Flora
- Monitoring and Managing Biodiversity Loss in South-East Africa's Montane Ecosystems
(project completed 2009) - Eastern African Virtual Herbarium
- e-Floras
- Collaborative Fieldwork and Vegetation Studies in Ethiopia
- Flora of Tropical East Africa
- Flora Zambesiaca
- Global Plants Initiative
- Gateway to African Plants
- The Plants of Kupe, Mwanenguba and the Bakossi Mountains, Cameroon: A Conservation Checklist
- Sierra Leone: Surveys and Capacity Building
- Tropical Plant Families: An Identification Handbook
- Latin American Plants Initiative
Selected Recent Publications
- Darbyshire, I. (2009). Notes on the genus Dicliptera (Acanthaceae) in Eastern Africa. Kew Bulletin 63: 361-383.
- Darbyshire, I. (2009). A reassessment of the status of Barleria sect. Cavirostrata (Acanthaceae) in tropical Africa, with a new species, B. richardsiae, described from the Tanzania-Zambia border region. Kew Bulletin 63: 601-611
Malombe, I. & Darbyshire, I. (2010). Barleria compacta: a new species in Barleria sect. Prionitis (Acanthaceae) from Somalia. Kew Bulletin 65: 443-447.
Darbyshire, I., Saltmarsh, A. & Malcolm, P. (2010). Application of the Aluka African Plants Resource to African Flora Projects. In X. van der Burgt, J. van der Maesen & J.-M. Onana (eds.), Systematics and conservation of African plants. (Proceedings of XVIII AETFAT Congress, Yaoundé). RBG Kew. pp. 771–779.
Darbyshire, I., Vollesen, K. & Ensermu Kelbessa (2010). Acanthaceae (part II). In H. Beentje (ed.) Flora of Tropical East Africa. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Darbyshire, I. (2011). Acanthaceae. In M. Cheek, Y. Harvey & J.-M. Onana (eds.) The Plants of Mefou Proposed National Park, Yaoundé, Cameroon: a conservation checklist. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. pp. 117–120.
Selected Earlier Publications
- Lamb, H., Darbyshire, I. & Verschuren, D. (2003). Vegetation response to rainfall variation and human impact in central Kenya during the past 1100 years. The Holocene 13 (2): 285–292.
- Darbyshire, I., Lamb, H. & Mohammed, U. (2003). Forest clearance and regrowth in northern Ethiopia during the last 3000 years. The Holocene 13 (4): 537–546.
- Cheek, M., Pollard, B.J., Darbyshire, I., Wild, C. & Onana, J.-M. (2004) The Plants of Mwanenguba, Mt Kupe and the Bakossi Mts, Cameroon. A Conservation Checklist. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
- Darbyshire, I. & Harris, T. (2006). Notes on the genus Rhinacanthus (Acanthaceae) in Africa with a synopsis of the R. nasutus - R. gracilis complex and a key to the African members of the genus. Kew Bulletin 61: 401–418.
Darbyshire, I. (2006). Gesneriaceae. In Beentje, H. & Ghazanfar, S.A. (eds.) Flora of Tropical East Africa. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Darbyshire, I. & Vollesen, K. (2007). The transfer of the genus Peristrophe to Dicliptera (Acanthaceae) with a new species described from Eastern Africa. Kew Bulletin 62: 119–128.
