South African botanist. Born in Colesberg, Cape Province, Wessel Marais joined the National Herbarium in 1952, after obtaining his MSc in botany from Pretoria University, and undertook fieldwork in Kruger National Park, northern Transvaal, and in Namibia. He then spent several years in charge of the Albany Museum Herbarium (1953-1955) in Grahamstown, and from there made many collecting trips to Southwestern Cape Province, Natal, Lesotho, the Transkei, Pondoland, Griqualand East and elsewhere, mainly in connection with a revision of the South African Cruciferiae for the Flora of Southern Africa. In 1957 he left the country to become the Liaison Officer at Kew (1957-1965). After a short spell in the nursery trade he was offered a permanent position in the herbarium (1968), ultimately becoming Curator of Petaloid Monocots (1970), a post he held until his retirement in 1986. While at Kew he contributed and edited to Flore des Mascareignes, in collaboration with botanists at the Mauritius Sugar Industry Research Institute and ORSTOM (now IRD), and engaged in research on petaloid monocots in general. Crotalaria damarensis var. maraisiana Torre (= Crotalaria podocarpa DC.) was named after him.

Sources:
Personal communication, October 2006.