Jessie Prebble, Botanist

Jessie Prebble

I’m a botanist, specialising in systematics and taxonomy, which means I research how many species of plants there are and how they are related to each other.

I get to spend time out in the hills, in the lab extracting DNA, in the herbarium measuring plants, and in front of the computer analysing data and writing it up.

What was it that led you into this field?

I love plants, and being outside in the bush, and especially being above the treeline in the alpine. My parents took us tramping as children and taught me the names of many native plants, I think that’s probably what started it.

What did you study at university?

I didn’t know what I wanted to study when I started at uni, so I did lots of different subjects – music history, English, chemistry, economics, zoology, and a botany paper. My favourite by far was botany, so I specialised from there.

“Being out in the hills hunting for a particular rare plant is the best treasure hunt you can do.”

Who inspires you?

The early female botanists, who had to go plant hunting in ridiculous dresses, and without the help of a GPS. I am very appreciative of the high-tec rain and safety gear available today!

Dr Jessie Prebble in the Allan Herbarium

What exciting about the work you do?

I love the plants. Being out in the hills hunting for a particular rare plant is the best treasure hunt you can do. I also really care about the threatened native plants of New Zealand. How can we protect them if we don’t even know what we have?

What would be the biggest challenge you’ve faced?

The biggest challenge for me was completing my PhD. It’s a lot of work, and has to be mostly self motivated. I really like working in a team and bouncing ideas off other people. Luckily, I had lots of help from my supervisors, but I’ve certainly appreciated working in teams since moving on from study to work.