[1] Van Wyk was born in 1952 in Wolmaransstad, North-West Province, South Africa and grew up on a maize (corn) and cattle farm.
[2] He then went on to the University of Pretoria where he obtained his PhD in botany with a thesis on the classification of the genus Eugenia (Myrtaceae) in southern Africa.
[2] Van Wyk enjoys making biology accessible to the public and has participated in a weekly science programme on radio for 18 years.
[4] Van Wyk's research project areas include Myrtaceae, Celastraceae, Icacinaceae, Chenopodiaceae and Araceae and are conducted in KwaZulu-Natal, Pondoland, Maputaland, Sekhukhuneland and the northeastern Drakensberg Escarpment.
[3] Van Wyk has published, often with his postgraduate students, in a number of botanical subdisciplines, including anatomy, biography, bibliography, taxonomy, nomenclature, embryology, phytogeography, palynology, reproductive biology, phytosociology, systematics, floristics and ecology.