Margaret Mee in search of flowers of the Amazon forests

Margaret Mee had two species of bromeliad named after her, Aechmea meeana and Neoregalia margaretae. Both are tough, leathery plants whose broad leaves are edged with fearsome spines. Anyone reading these diaries of her journeys, without seeing a photograph of her, would reasonably assume that the

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plants resembled their namesake, a veritable English Amazon on the loose in Amazonia. In her search for botanical treasures she travelled thousands of kilometres, usually alone, through remote and dangerous regions. She survived several shipwrecks, shot innumerable rapids in shaky old boats, nearly died of hepatitis and malaria, and came close to starvation a few times.

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