Desmond Thorne Cole

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Desmond Thorne Cole (born October 30, 1922 in Mafeking ; † May 25, 2018 ) was a South African linguist and specialist in the plant genus Lithops . Its official botanical author abbreviation is " DTCole ".

Life

Desmond T. Cole studied from 1946 to 1952 at the Witwatersrand University linguistics. In 1948 he obtained his first academic degree as a bachelor's degree and received his doctorate in 1952 with a thesis on the language of the Tswana . From 1949 to 1953 Cole worked as a lecturer in the department for Bantu languages . In 1954 he was appointed professor and headed the department for African languages ​​at the Witwatersrand University. On June 26, 1967, he married Naureen Adele Lambert. In late 1982, Professor Cole retired.

Around 1954, Cole's fascination with the succulent plant genus Lithops began . In his free time he traveled to the locations of the plants , first alone and later with his wife, and began to study and cultivate them systematically. Over the years he built up one of the largest collections of the Lithops genus . He documented the locations with a consecutive field number , which became known as the Cole number . He published his research results in the journals Aloe , Excelsa , National Cactus and Succulent Journal and British Cactus and Succulent Journal . In 1987, in the first edition of the Madoqua Memoir , he published an extensive overview of the species of the genus Lithops native to South West Africa and Namibia . A year later, the first current complete presentation of the genus Lithops followed for over 40 years.

Cole has been a member of numerous organizations involved in research into succulents. In 1971 he became a member of the International Organization for Succulent Research . He was Honorary Vice President of the British "National Cactus and Succulent Society" (1971-1982), the "Cactus and Succulent Society of Zimbabwe" (1974), the British "African Succulent Plant Society" (1974-1976) and the "Succulent Society of South Africa "(1976).

Honor taxon

Steven A. Hammer (* 1951) named the plant species Lithops coleorum in honor of him and his wife in 1994 .

Fonts (selection)

  • Introductory Notes on the Tswana language . Johannesburg, 1952 - Dissertation
  • An Introduction to Tswana grammar . Longmans, Green & Co., London 1955.
  • Some features of Ganda linguistic structure . Witwatersrand University Press, Johannesburg 1967.
  • Contributions to the History of Bantu Linguistics . Witwatersrand University Press, Johannesburg 1969 - with Clement Martyn Doke
  • Motšwasele II . Witwatersrand University Press, Johannesburg 1970 - with LD Raditladi
  • Rramalebanya . Witwatersrand University Press, Johannesburg 1984.
  • Lithops: Flowering Stones . 1st edition, Acorn Books, Randburg 1988.
  • Lithops: Flowering Stones . 2nd edition, Cactus & Co. 2005, ISBN 88-900511-7-5 - with his wife Naureen A. Cole

proof

literature

  • Desmond T. Cole, Naureen A. Cole: Lithops: Flowering Stones . Cactus & Co. 2005. ISBN 88-900511-7-5
  • Mary Gunn, LEW Codd: Botanical Exploration of Southern Africa: An Illustrated History of Early Botanical Literature on the Cape Flora. Biographical Accounts of the Leading Plant Collectors and Their Activities in Southern Africa from the Days of the East India Company Until Modern Times . CRC Press, 1981. ISBN 0-86961-129-1

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Professor Desmond T. Cole - A Personal Tribute. Retrieved December 16, 2018 .
  2. ^ Lithops of SWA / Namibia . In: Madoqua Memoir Volume 1, pp. 1-46, Windhoek 1987
  3. ↑ Aloe. Journal of the South African Aloe and Succulent Society . Volume 31, No. 2, p. 36, Pretoria 1994

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Cole, Desmond Thorne
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cole, Desmond T.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African linguist and specialist in the plant genus Lithops
DATE OF BIRTH October 30, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Mafeking
DATE OF DEATH May 25, 2018