Chew, Wee-Lek   (1932 -  )

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Born in Singapore in 1932.

He did his B.S. in botany at the University of Malaya under Richard Eric Holttum, and following his graduation in 1956 he began working at the Singapore Botanic Gardens in October.

In June 1960 he went to the United Kingdom on a Singapore government fellowship to pursue a Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge, where his advisor was E. J. H. Corner.

He completed his studies in 1960, and returned to the Singapore Botanic Gardens that year.

From 1963 he was Keeper of the Singapore Herbarium and Botanist at the Botanic Gardens.

He took part in two Royal Society expeditions to Mt Kinabalu under Prof. Corner..

His research on Laportea and allied genera was enhanced by the opportunity in 1964 to visit the herbaria of Cambridge, Kew, British Museum, Paris, Geneva, Leiden and Utrecht on a Royal Society Nuffield Foundation Commonwealth Bursary gained through Corner's support.

He became the director and ex officio chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Singapore Botanic Gardens in 1969 following the retirement of H. M. Burkill.

He resigned the following year and moved to Australia to work from 1 April 1970 at the Herbarium of the Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney.

In 1975 he resigned from his post at the National Herbarium of New South Wales to take up a position with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in Morges, Switzerland.

His main interests were Urticaceae and Piperaceae of Malesia, and lianas of Malaya and Singapore.

He revised the Australian species in the genus Ficus in 1989 for the Flora of Australia.

Litsea chewii Kosterm. was named after him.

Source: Extracted from:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wee-Lek_Chew
https://www.nationaalherbarium.nl/FMCollectors/C/ChewWL.htm
https://www.nparks.gov.sg/sbg/research/publications/gardens-bulletin-singapore/-/media/sbg/gardens-bulletin/gbs_64_01_y2012_v64p1_gbs/64_01_001_y2012_v64p1_gbs_pg_1.pdf
Corresp. K.Mair-M.E.Pillips CBG 13/4/1970
Portrait Photo: Flora Malesiana ser. 1, 8: Cyclopaedia of collectors, Supplement II.

Collecting localities for 'Chew, W.L.' from AVH (2025)

Data from 728 specimens in Australian herbaria