Peter Goldblatt

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Peter Goldblatt (born October 8, 1943 in Johannesburg ) is a South African-American botanist. His research focus is the taxonomy and cell biology of the iris family , of which he described numerous new taxa . Its official botanical author's abbreviation is " Goldblatt ".

Life

Goldblatt began working as a plant collector in 1962. From 1963 he studied at the Witwatersrand University , where he graduated in 1966 with a Bachelor of Science. In 1970 he received his Ph.D. from the University of Cape Town. In 1967 he worked as a lecturer in botany at Witwatersrand University. From 1968 to 1972 he lectured at the University of Cape Town. In 1972 he became a botanist and in 1990 a curator at the Missouri Botanical Garden . In 1978 he became a US citizen. In 2006 he was a research fellow at the Compton Herbarium , South African National Biodiversity Institute in Cape Town. Goldblatt collected around 12,600 specimens, mainly in the Cape Province but also in other regions of Africa as well as in Madagascar, the United States, Greece, Italy, Israel, Turkey and Iran. The International Plant Names Index lists 1307 taxa descriptions in which Goldblatt was involved either as first descriptor, co-author or auditor, including species from the iris families , Scilloideae (especially hyacinths), daisy and finial . In his descriptions and collecting expeditions, Goldblatt often collaborated with the botanist John Charles Manning .

Goldblatt is and was a member of the following societies: American Society of Plant Taxonomists, South African Association of Botanists, Association for the Taxonomic Study of Tropical African Flora (AETFAT) (where he served as Secretary General from 1982 to 1985) and the International Association of Plant taxonomists.

Works (selection)

Goldblatt published several books including:

  • The Moraeas of Southern Africa (Annals of Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens) (1986)
  • The Iris Family: Natural History and Classification (2008)
  • Gladiolus in Tropical Africa: Systematics, Biology and Evolution (2003)
  • The Genus Watsonia: A Systematic Monograph (Annals of Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens) (1995)
  • Crocosmia and Chasmanthe (Royal Horticultural Society Plant Collector Guide) (2004)
  • Gladiolus in Southern Africa (1999)
  • Cape plants: A Conspectus of the Cape Flora of South Africa (Strelitzia) (2000)
  • Wildflowers of the Fairest Cape (2000)
  • Complete Color Encyclopedia of Cape Bulbs (2002)
  • The Woody Iridaceae: Nivenia, Klattia & Witsenia: Systematics, Biology & Evolution (2003)
  • A Revision of the Southern African Genus Babiana, Iridaceae: Crocoideae
  • A revision of the genera Lapeirousia Pourret and Anomatheca Ker in the winter rainfall region of South Africa (1972)

Taxa named after Goldblatt

In 2001 Daniel Geerinck named the gladiolus species Gladiolus goldblattianus and in 1999 Robert Ornduff named the fever clover plant Villarsia goldblattiana in honor of Peter Goldblatt.

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

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Goldblatt, Peter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African-American botanist
DATE OF BIRTH October 8, 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH Johannesburg