Proffessor Johannes van Staden, the Oudtshoorn-born botanist whose research helped explain how smoke can make seeds sprout, died on Saturday, 17 October 2026, at the age of 87. His work earned him international recognition, and many of his former students went on to teach and do research at universities around the world.
Born in Oudtshoorn on 12 October 1939, Van Staden grew up in Ladismith. As a schoolboy, he grew vegetables and seedlings to sell and taught himself English with books he borrowed from the library. He matriculated at Ladismith High School in 1957.
In 1964 he earned a master’s degree in botany at Stellenbosch University. Three years later, he joined the University of Natal as a botany lecturer and went on to complete his doctorate there in 1970.
From 1987 to 1998, he headed the Department of Botany before becoming the founding director of the Research Centre for Plant Growth and Development in 1999.
Among the questions that interested him was why some seeds germinate when exposed to smoke. In 2004, Van Staden and his colleagues reported that they had isolated a compound from water infused with smoke that helps seeds sprout. He also studied how plant hormones influence growth and flowering and how threatened South African plants can be grown from small pieces of plant tissue.
Van Staden wrote or co-wrote more than 1 500 peer-reviewed papers. In 2013, he topped the Thomson Reuters worldwide list of highly cited researchers in pharmacology and toxicology.
Recognition from fellow scientists had come decades earlier. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa in 1990 and received the South African Association of Botanists’ Gold Medal in 1994, its highest award for excellence in botany.
Over his career, he supervised 101 master’s students, 119 doctoral students and 83 postdoctoral researchers. He took pleasure in seeing them succeed, and former students often stopped by the research centre to thank him for his guidance.
His students knew that if they handed him a draft paper or a chapter of their thesis, they could expect it back on their desks the next morning.
At home, he enjoyed gardening and spent much of his free time in his carpentry workshop. His woodwork won prizes at the Royal Agricultural Show, and he often turned pieces of scrap wood into toys for children.
“More than the accolades, we will remember the look in your eyes,” his children wrote. “You had this wonderful, playful, and slightly mischievous glint; a quiet spark that reminded everyone around you not to take life too seriously, even while doing serious work. You brought a sense of wonder and a bit of magic to the everyday.”
Van Staden is survived by his wife, Louise, to whom he was married for more than 60 years, their children and five grandchildren. (MALISSA SPIES)
Be the first to comment on "Oudtshoorn-born botanist who helped shape plant science worldwide dies at 87"