Anna Amelia Mauve (née Obermeyer) (1907 – 2001) was a South African

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

who worked at the Botanical Research Institute in

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends ...

. She catalogued more than 4,000 plant specimens from the

Kalahari The Kalahari Desert is a large semi-arid sandy savanna in Southern Africa extending for , covering much of Botswana, and parts of Namibia and South Africa. It is not to be confused with the Angolan, Namibian, and South African Namib coastal de ...

and

Soutpansberg The Soutpansberg, (formerly ''Zoutpansberg'') meaning "Salt Pan Mountain" in Afrikaans, is a Mountain range, range of mountains in far northern South Africa. It is located in Vhembe District Municipality, Vhembe District, Limpopo. It is named for ...

regions. She made major contributions to the journals ''

Flowering Plants of Africa ''Flowering Plants of Africa'' is a series of illustrated botanical magazines akin to ''Curtis's Botanical Magazine'', initiated as ''Flowering Plants of South Africa'' by I. B. Pole-Evans in 1920. It is now published by the South African Nati ...

'' and ''

Bothalia ''African Biodiversity & Conservation'', formerly known as ''Bothalia'' is a South African peer-reviewed open access scientific journal covering the fields of botany, zoology and biodiversity, produced by the South African National Biodiversity In ...

''.

Early life and career

Obermeyer was born on 30 July 1907 in Pretoria and attended Oost Eind Skool (East End School). She obtained her BSc in 1928 and MSc in 1931 from the

Transvaal University College Transvaal University College was a multi-campus public research university in South Africa which gave rise to the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of Pretoria. History In 1896 the South African School of Mines was founded in K ...

, Pretoria, under C.E.B Bremekamp. She was appointed botanist in the

Transvaal Museum The Ditsong National Museum of Natural History, formerly the Transvaal Museum, is a natural history museum situated in Pretoria, South Africa. It is located on Paul Kruger Street, between Visagie and Minnaar Streets, opposite the Pretoria City Ha ...

from 1929 to 1938. She married Anton Mauve in 1938 and did not return to her professional career until 1957 when she joined the National Herbarium. She had, in effect, returned to her original job as the botanical collections of the Transvaal Museum had been transferred to the National Herbarium in 1953. Her area of responsibility at the National Herbarium was

petaloid monocots Lilioid monocots (lilioids, liliid monocots, petaloid monocots, petaloid lilioid monocots) is an informal name used for a grade (biology), grade (grouping of taxa with common characteristics) of five monocot order (biology), orders (Petrosavial ...

and she retained this position until she reached retirement age in July 1972. In October 1972, after a brief vacation, she returned to the National Herbarium in a temporary capacity and, twelve years later, in 1984 she was promoted to Temporary senior agricultural researcher. In August 1985 she finally retired and moved to

Pinelands, Cape Town Pinelands is an affluent garden city suburb located on the edge of the southern suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa, neighbouring the suburb of Thornton, and is known for its large thatched houses and green spaces. The suburb is primarily resident ...

. She died on 10 October 2001 in Cape Town.

Areas of study

At the Transvaal Museum she worked mostly on ''

Acanthaceae Acanthaceae is a family (the acanthus family) of dicotyledonous flowering plants containing almost 250 genera and about 2500 species. Most are tropical herbs, shrubs, or twining vines; some are epiphytes. Only a few species are distributed in te ...

'' and in particular ''

Barleria ''Barleria'' is a genus of plants in the family Acanthaceae. Some species include: * '' Barleria acanthoides'' Vahl * '' Barleria aculeata'' Balf.f. * '' Barleria albostellata'' C.B.Clarke, the grey barleria * '' Barleria compacta'' Malombe & I. ...

'', '' Blepharis'' and '' Petalidium''. She catalogued a large collection of plants from the Vernay-Lang expedition to the

, creating one of the first records of the flora of this region. She was also part of an expedition, with Schweickerdt and Verdoorn, to the

Salt Pan and wrote an account of the specimens of flora collected. Odontonema flwrs.jpg, ''Acanthaceae'' Starr 050517-1490 Barleria cristata.jpg, ''Barleria'' Blepharis attenuata 1.jpg, ''Blepharis'' Petalidium oblongifolium, blom, Voortrekkerbad, c.jpg, ''Petalidium'' In 1957 she started working on ''

'', describing individual new species and she provided texts for images published in the journal ''

''. Volume 42 of this journal was dedicated to her. She also completed revisions of ''

Anthericum ''Anthericum'' is a genus of about 65 species, rhizomatous perennial plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae. It was formerly placed in its own family, Anthericeae. The species have rhizomatous or tuberous roots, long narrow leave ...

'', ''

Dipcadi ''Dipcadi'' is a genus of bulbous flowering plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae (also treated as the family Hyacinthaceae).Stevens, P.F. (2001 onwards),Asparagales: Scilloideae, ''Angiosperm Phylogeny Website'', retrieve ...

'' and ''

Lagarosiphon ''Lagarosiphon'' is a genus of aquatic plants described as a genus in 1841. It is native to Africa and Madagascar. It is dioecious, with male and female flowers produced on separate plants. Description These branched, aquatic herbs are covere ...

''. She collected more than 4,000 specimens on various field trips in South Africa and

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...

(now

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

) in the company of V.F.M. FitzSimons. Anthericum ramosum 250605.jpg, ''Anthericum'' Dipcadi serotinum-IMG 4331.jpg, ''Dipcadi''

Awards and honours

She was awarded the

South African Association of Botanists South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz' ...

(SAAB) senior medal for botany with the citation that she had made more contributions to that project than any other single botanist. She was a member of the

South African Biological Society South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz' ...

and edited the journal of the South African Biological Society. She was a founding member of the South African Association of Botanists, a member of ''Association pour l'Étude Taxonomique de la Flore d'Afrique Tropicale'' (AETFAT) and a member of S₂A₃ (the South African Association for the Advancement of Science).

Eponyms

Obermeyer is commemorated in the following plant names: * ''Asparagus obermeyerae'' * ''Barleria ameliae'' * ''Blepharis obermeyerae'' * ''Hemizygia obermeyerae'' * ''Lachenalia ameliae''

Selected publications

Some of the more than 4,000 specimens of flora catalogued by Obermeyer are covered in the following list of publications: * Bremekamp, C.E.B. & Obermeyer, A.A. 1935 Serum Kalahariense, a list of plants collected. ''Annals of the Transvaal Museum'' 16: 399-442 * Ellis, R.P., Manders, R. & Obermeyer, A.A. 1979. Anatomical observations on the peduncle of ''Xyris capensis'' (Xyridaceae). ''Bothalia'' 12: 637-639. * Lewis, G.J., Obermeyer, A.A. & Barnard, T.T. 1972. ''Gladiolus'': a revision of the South African species. ''Journal of South African Botany'', Suppl. vol. 10: 1-316. * Lewis, J. & Obermeyer, A.A. 1985. Xyridaceae. ''Flora of southern Africa'' 4,2: 1-8. * Mauve A.A. 1966a. Flowering aquatic plants in South Africa. ''Fauna & Flora'' 17: 19-23. * Mauve A.A. 1967. Water-lilies in South Africa. ''Fauna & Flora'' 18: 31-35. * Obermeyer, A.A. 1959. ''Petalidium bracteatum.'' ''The Flowering Plants of Africa'' 33: t. 1317 * Obermeyer, A.A. 1933a. Notes on the distribution of ''Copaifera mopane'' Kirk. ''South African Journal of Science'' 30: 266-269. * Obermeyer, A.A. 1960. ''Choananthus cyrtanthiflorus''. ''The Flowering Plants of Africa'' 34: t. 1340. * Obermeyer, A.A. 1961a. Notes and new records of South African plants: ''Barleria argillicola'' Oberm. ''Bothalia'' 7: 444, 445. * Obermeyer, A.A. 1962a. A revision of the South African species of ''Anthericum'', ''Chlorophytum'' and ''Trachyandra''. ''Bothalia'' 7: 669-767. * Obermeyer, A.A. 1963a. A new ''Haemanthus'' and a new ''Tritonia'' from southern Africa. ''Kirkia'' 3: 22-24. * Obermeyer, A.A. 1964a. ''Aponogeton''. ''Journal of the Limnological Society of South Africa'' 1: 12. 13. * Obermeyer, A.A.1965a. ''Potamogeton''. ''Journal of the Limnological Society of South Africa'' 2: 27-35. * Obermeyer, A.A. 1967a. Two new species of ''Bulbine'' (Liliaceae). ''Bothalia'' 9: 342-344. * Obermeyer, A.A. 1968a. ''Dietes vegeta''. ''The Flowering Plants of Africa'' 39: t. 1524. * Obermeyer, A.A. 1970a. ''Droseraceae. Rondulaceae. Podostemaceae. Flydrostachyaceae''. ''Flora of southern Africa'' 13: 187-213. * Obermeyer, A.A. 1971a. Two new ''Ornithogalum'' species from South-West Africa. ''Bothalia'' 10: 355-358. * Obermeyer, A.A. 1972a. ''Clivia gardenii''. ''The Flowering Plants of Africa'' 42: t. 1641. * Obermeyer, A.A. 1973a. A note on ''Laurembergia repens'' (Flalorrhagidaceae). ''Bothalia'' 11: 116. 117. * Obermeyer, A.A. 1974a. New taxa in the ''Tumeraceae''. ''Bothalia'' 11: 288-290. * Obermeyer, A.A. 1976a. ''Elatinaceae. Frankeniaceae. Tamaricaceae''. ''Flora of southern Africa'' 22: 23-39. * Obermeyer, A.A. 1977a. ''Babiana pygmaea''. ''The Flowering Plants of Africa'' 44: t. 1731 * Obermeyer, A.A. 1978a. ''Ornithogalum'': a revision of the southern African species. ''Bothalia'' 12: 323-376. * Obermeyer, A.A. 1980a. The genus ''Sypharissa'' (Liliaceae). ''Bothalia'' 13: 111-114. * Obermeyer, A.A. 1981a. A new species of ''Strumaria'' (Amarvllidaceae). ''Bothalia'' 13' 435. * Obermeyer, A.A. 1982a. A new species of ''Gladiolus'' (Iridaceae). ''Bothalia'' 14: 78. * Obermeyer, A.A. 1984. Revision of the genus ''Myrsiphyllum'' Willd. (Liliaceae). ''Bothalia'' 15: 77-88. * Obermeyer, A.A. 1985a. The genus ''Protasparagus'' (Asparagaceae) in southern Africa. ''Bothalia'' 15: 548, 549. * Obermeyer, A.A. 1992a. ''Sansevieria''. ''Flora of southern Africa'' 5,3: 5-9. * Obermeyer, A.A. & Bogner, J. 1979. ''Gonatopus rhizomatosus''. ''The Flowering Plants of Africa'' 45: t. 1782. * Obermeyer, A.A. & Du Toit, P.C.V. 1976. ''Ochnaeeae''. ''Flora of southern Africa'' 22: 1-13. * Obermeyer, A.A. & Faden, R.B. 1985. ''Commelinaceae''. ''Flora of southern Africa'' 4,2: 23-60. * Obermeyer, A.A. & Immelman, K.L. 1992. ''Asparagaceae''. ''Flora of southern Africa'' 5,3: 11-82. * Obermeyer, A.A. & Nicholas, A. 1984. ''Drosera hurkeana''. ''The Flowering Plants of Africa'' 48: t. 1886. * Obermeyer, A.A., Schweickerdt, H.G. & Verdoorn, I.C. 1937. An enumeration of plants collected in the northern Transvaal. ''Bothalia'' 3: 223-258. * Obermeyer, A.A. & Strey, R.G. 1969. A new species of ''Raphia'' from northern Zululand and Mozambique (Arecaceae). ''Bothalia'' 10: 29-37.

References

External links

* *
S₂A₃ websiteBothalia official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Obermeyer, Anna Amelia 1907 births 2001 deaths 20th-century South African botanists South African women botanists 20th-century South African women scientists