Martin Cheek

Martin Roy Cheek (born 1960) is a botanist and taxonomist at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.^[1]

Cheek attended the University of Reading, graduating with a B.Sc. in 1981 and a M.Sc. in 1983. He earned his DPhil at the University of Oxford in 1989.^[1]

Research

With Matthew Jebb, Cheek revised the pitcher plant genus Nepenthes in two major monographs: a skeletal revision in 1997^[2] and a more in-depth treatment of the Malesian species for Flora Malesiana in 2001.^[3]

In these and other works, Cheek has described a number of species new to science, often in collaboration with Jebb. These include: N. abalata,^[4] N. abgracilis,^[5] N. alzapan,^[6] N. argentii,^[2] N. aristolochioides,^[2] N. cid,^[5] N. danseri,^[2] N. diatas,^[2] N. extincta,^[7] N. hurrelliana,^[8] N. kitanglad,^[7] N. kurata,^[7] N. lamii,^[2] N. leyte,^[7] N. mira,^[9] N. murudensis,^[2] N. negros,^[10] N. ramos,^[11] N. robcantleyi,^[12] N. samar,^[13] N. thai,^[14] and N. ultra.^[15] Cheek and Jebb also raised N. macrophylla to species rank.^[2]

Cheek and his research are featured in the documentary The Mists of Mwanenguba.^[16]