Jaap Vermeulen

A very, very tall, skinny Dutch guy – it is ‘an education’ watching him fold himself up in order to jackknife his body into a seat on a kijang (Indonesian minibus, built for smaller-sized passengers)! Born in 1955, JJV studied geology, then earned his PhD in plant taxonomy at the University of Leiden. He spent one year collecting in Borneo, which resulted in Orchids of Borneo Vol. 2, Bulbophyllum (1991) and a still-unfinished book on Borneo snails. From 2000–2006 he was the Orchid Taxonomist at the Singapore Botanic Gardens; during this time he collaborated with Peter O’Byrne to produce the material for Bulbophyllum of Sulawesi (2011) and described many new species. Currently resident in Leiden (and intermittently in Copenhagen), JJV spends a lot of time working on Bulbophyllum species and illustrates land snails for fun. He is justifiably well-known for his precise illustrative technique.