Gwendoline Joyce Lewis (1909–1967) 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 ...

Life

She graduated from the University of Cape Town, with a PhD. She was active in the description and classification of

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

of the

Iridaceae Iridaceae is a family of plants in order Asparagales, taking its name from the irises, meaning rainbow, referring to its many colours. There are 66 accepted genera with a total of c. 2244 species worldwide (Christenhusz & Byng 2016). It include ...

. She was an accomplished plant collector and added over 8000 plant specimens to herbaria. She was botanist at the Bolus

Herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sheet of paper (called ...

of the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

for 2 years and then was appointed curator of the South African Museum Herbarium. In 1956 this herbarium and its staff moved to

Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden Kirstenbosch is an important botanical garden nestled at the eastern foot of Table Mountain in Cape Town. The garden is one of 10 National Botanical Gardens covering five of South Africa's six different biomes and administered by the South A ...

. Lewis was appointed a Research Officer with the National Botanical Gardens. She was a

Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa The Royal Society of South Africa is a learned society composed of eminent South African scientists and academics. The society was granted its royal charter by King Edward VII in 1908, nearly a century after Capetonians first began to conceive o ...

. She died in Cape Town on 11 April 1967. The following plants were named after her: ''Babiana lewisiae'' B.Nord., ''

Geissorhiza ''Geissorhiza'' is a genus with 103 species described to date of deciduous perennial flowering plants in the family Iridaceae first described as a genus in 1803. The entire genus is endemic to Cape Province of western South Africa. The genus name ...

lewisiae'' Forester; ''

Muraltia ''Muraltia'' is a genus of plants in the milkwort family ( Polygalaceae) which is native to Southern and Eastern Africa. Most of the species are endemic to South Africa, and one species is naturalized in Australia. It is named after Johannes von ...

lewisiae'' Levyns; ''Psilocaulon lewisiae'' Lbol and ''

Thamnochortus ''Thamnochortus'' is a group of plants in the Restionaceae described as a genus in 1767.Bergius, Peter Jonas. 1767. Descriptiones Plantarum ex Capite Bonae Spei 353 The entire genus is endemic to Cape Province in South Africa South Africa ...

lewisiae'' Pillans.

Works

Books

* Gwendoline J. Lewis, A. Amalia Obermeyer, T. T. Barnard (1972). ''Gladiolus: A Revision of the South African Species.'' Purnell. 316 pp. colour illustrations by Gwendoline Joyce Lewis. (published posthumously) * Gwendoline J. Lewis. 1954. ''Some Aspects of the Morphology, Phylogeny and Taxonomy of the South African Iridaceae''. Volume 40, Splits 2 of Annals. Edition reimpresa of Ann. of the South African Museum, 99 pp.

References

Sources

* Brummitt, RK; CE Powell. 1992. ''Authors of Plant Names.'' Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Gwendoline Joyce Botanists with author abbreviations 20th-century South African botanists South African women botanists 1967 deaths 1909 births Fellows of the Royal Society of South Africa 20th-century South African women scientists