Harriet Margaret Louisa Bolus

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Harriet Margaret Louisa Bolus (born Kensit; born July 31, 1877 in Burgersdorp , † April 5, 1970 in Cape Town ) was a South African botanist . Their official botanical author abbreviations are " L.Bolus " and " Kensit ". She was the wife of Frank Bolus (1870-1945), whom she married in 1912, the younger son of Harry Bolus (1834-1911).

Live and act

After training at the Girls' Collegiate School in Port Elizabeth from 1891 to 1899, Harriet Margaret Louisa Bolus studied literature at the South African College in Cape Town between 1899 and 1902, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts. In 1903 the botanist Harry Bolus hired her as a curator in his private atelier. After Harry Bolus' death in 1911, the Bolus Herbarium was transferred to the University of Cape Town . Harriet Margaret Louisa Bolus worked here until her retirement in 1955. In the early years of her career, Harriet Margaret Louisa Bolus conducted extensive studies of the Cape flora, with a special focus on the orchids and heather plants . While working with Harry Bolus, she assisted him with his publications on these two plant families. In addition, she specialized in the families of the iris family and the ice plant . She concentrated on the latter especially from 1955 onwards. In addition to numerous scientific publications, she also described the Cape flora in popular scientific works. These include the magazine South African Gardening and Country Life and the two-volume A Book of South African Flowers . She also studied herbaria outside of South Africa, including Kew (1909, 1910, 1925, 1935), the Thunberg Herbarium in Uppsala and the type collection of Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin in Vienna in 1925.

In 1920 she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa .

Taxa named after Bolus

Gustav Schwantes named the genus Bolusanthemum (today a synonym for Bijlia ) from the plant family of the ice herb plants (Aizoaceae) after her. The plant genus Kensitia Fedde and the iris species Moraea louisabolusiae Peter Goldblatt were named in honor of Harriet Margaret Louisa Bolus.

Fonts (selection)

  • The Annals of the Bolus Herbarium , 1915
  • Elementary Lessons in Systematic Botany , 1919
  • Notes on Mesembrianthemum and Allied Genera , 1928
  • A First Book of South African Flowers , 1928
  • A Second Book of South African Flowers , 1936

literature

  • Mary Gunn, Leslie Edward Wostall 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 978-0-86961-129-6

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymic plant names. Extended Edition. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin, Free University Berlin Berlin 2018.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Bolus, Harriet Margaret Louisa
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kensit, Harriet Margaret Louisa (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African botanist
DATE OF BIRTH July 31, 1877
PLACE OF BIRTH Burgersdorp
DATE OF DEATH April 5th 1970
Place of death Cape Town