With over 40 books and hundreds of papers to his name, Gideon F Smith is South Africa's most prolific author on aloes and other succulent plants. He is Chief Director for Biosystematics and Collections at the South African National Biodiversity Institute, professor of plant science at the University of Pretoria, and a research associate at the University of Coimbra, Portugal and the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Through his interests in the biology and classification of succulent plants, as well as landscaping and horticulture, he is involved in various national and international environmental research associations.