In Memoriam G.J. de Joncheere (1909—1989)

On 8 January 1989 Gerardus Johannes de Joncheere died at the age of 79. He was an honorary staff member of the Fern section at the Rijksherbarium from 1974 to 1988, but his interest in Ferns dated already from before World War II. He always told that the purchase in 1939 of Backer & Posthumus, Fern Flora of Java, had started him, more or less by accident, on this group. In the course of time he acquired a sound knowledge of Ferns and after he had retired from his position as a director of a shipping-company, he still further developed his scientific interest. At the Rijksherbarium he became accepted as a knowledgeable colleague, although he did not publish much in the line of original research. He played, however, an important role in the identification of incoming Ferns and in reorganising the Ferns in the herbarium.