Illtyd Buller Pole Evans

Illtyd Buller Pole-Evans (born September 3, 1879 in Llanmaes , Wales , † October 16, 1968 in Umtali , Rhodesia ) was a Welsh botanist in the field of mycology and spermatophytes , who first described numerous plant species in Africa . His name is " Pole-Evans ".

Life

Pole-Evans was born in Llanmaes near Cardiff in 1879 to the Anglican pastors Daniel Evans and Caroline Jane Poles .

After graduating from the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire with a Bachelor of Science in 1903 , Pole-Evans studied mycology and plant pathology at the University of Cambridge with Harry Marshall Ward , where he graduated in 1905 with a Master of Arts .

Pole-Evans was appointed as a mycologist and plant pathologist in the newly established Ministry of Agriculture of the Transvaal State . Despite the rudimentary laboratories, Pole-Evans carried out a research program and began regular publications. In 1912 he was appointed head of the mycology and plant pathology department. This later became part of the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology.

After settling in Pretoria , he turned his attention to the rich flora of his new home. He was particularly interested in aloes . He established a rich collection of great value and planted it on the department's premises. Some new species were described by him in 1915 and 1917 in the communications of the Royal Society of South Africa .

As 1916 Lemon cancer (Xanthomonas axonopodis) - epidemic , the citrus industry threatened to destroy the Transvaal, Pole-Evans conducted a dramatic program that called for the complete destruction of infected plantations and nurseries. This timely intervention saved the industry.

On his travels through South Africa , he collected photographs and data on the main types of vegetation in this region. From this, a preliminary "The Plant Geography of South Africa" report was written ( German  plant geography of South Africa ) in which he described 19 botanical regions, each with different ecological characteristics.

Its classification with the accompanying vegetation map on a scale of 1: 3,000,000 remained standard until it was replaced by the system of John Phillip Harison Acocks in 1953 . He initiated the founding of the Botanical Survey Advisory Committee ( German  association for the advice of botanist exploration ). This led to the publication of the Botanical Survey Memoirs series, first published in 1919. He also started the Flowering Plants of South Africa series in 1920 and Bothalia in 1921.

One of his main areas of interest was pasture grasses . He was instrumental in collecting many of these grasses from different parts of Africa and bringing them to South Africa. These grasses were planted and examined in the Prinshof and Rietondale experimental stations.

In 1922 he married Mary RH Thompson, who had previously worked with him as a mycologist.

In 1930 Pole-Evans accompanied John Hutchinson and Jan Smuts on a two-month expedition through southern and northern Rhodesia to Malawi and Lake Tanganyika . In 1938, at the invitation of the Kenyan government, accompanied by CJJ van Rensburg, an agrostologist , and J. Erens, a plant and seed collector, he carried out an even more demanding expedition of around 20,000 km. This journey through southern Rhodesia and Tanganyika to Kenya led north to the borders of Sudan and Ethiopia , and back via Uganda , the Ruwenzori Mountains and the Belgian Congo . The result of his expedition was published in the Botanical Survey Memoir No. Published 22 of 1948.

During his creative time, Pole-Evans collected all over southern Africa, i.e. in the Belgian Congo , Kenya , Tanganyika , northern Rhodesia , the Bechuanaland protectorate , South Africa and southern Rhodesia . Its collections are widespread (including the USA ). His commitment to botany during his work in the South African Ministry of Agriculture set high standards for a whole generation of South African botanists and gave botany science an incomparable boost.

Pole-Evans played a key role in the expansion of the Dongola Reserve, which was created in the northern Transvaal in the 1920s and dissolved by the government in 1948.

In 1955 Pole-Evans retired to Umtali in Rhodesia. There he continued his collections and died on October 16, 1968 at the age of 89.

Features and awards

• Fellow of the Linnean Society of London
• Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa
• Founding member of the South African (SA) Biological Society
• 1911, 1919, 1926 President of SA Biological Society
• 1916 President of Section C of the SA Association for the Advancement of Science
• 1920 President of the SA Association for the Advancement of Science
• 1921 Awarded the Order of St. Michael and St. George
• 1922 Medal and Honorary Award from the SA Association for the Advancement of Science
• 1933 LLD (honorary) from Witwatersrand University

Honors

The plant genus Polevansia B. de Winter from the sweet grass family (Poaceae) is named after Illtyd Buller Pole-Evans. Numerous plant species such as Streptocarpus pole-evansii Verd. for example Dinteranthus pole-evansii , Gladiolus pole-evansii Verd. , Nananthus pole-evansii N.E.Br. , Conophytum pole-evansii N.E.Br. have been named after him and other plant names are synonyms, for example, Aloe pole-evansii Christian is a synonym for Aloe dawei A. Berger .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Pole-Evans, Illtyd (Iltyd) Buller (1879–1968). In: The International Plant Names Index. Accessed March 23, 2016 .  
2. ^ ^{A b} Memoir of the Botanical Survey of South Africa . 1919 ( online [accessed March 23, 2016]).
3. ^ Graphics & Editing. (No longer available online.) In: www.sanbi.org. Archived from the original on March 25, 2016 ; accessed on March 23, 2016 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ^ The journal Bothalia changes to African Biodiversity & Conservation. (No longer available online.) In: www.sanbi.org. Archived from the original on March 25, 2016 ; accessed on March 23, 2016 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
5. ^ The Site. (PDF; 3.64 MB) University of Pretoria, accessed on March 23, 2016 (English). 
6. ↑ Mapungubwe National Park. In: South African National Parks. Retrieved March 23, 2016 . 
7. ^ The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg: Honorary Degrees - Wits University. (No longer available online.) In: www.wits.ac.za. Archived from the original on March 25, 2016 ; accessed on March 23, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
8. ^ Pole-Evans in biodiversitylibrary.org .
9. ↑ M. Charters: The Eponym Dictionary of Southern African Plants Plant Names PS .

Web links

• Author entry and list of the described plant names for Illtyd Buller Pole-Evans at the IPNI