Leslie Edward Wostall Codd (16 September 1908 in Vants Drift, Dundee, District,

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...

– 2 March 1999 in

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

), was a South African plant taxonomist.

Life

Codd was born in 1908. He attended the

Natal University The University of Natal was a university in the former South African province Natal which later became KwaZulu-Natal. The University of Natal no longer exists as a distinct legal entity, as it was incorporated into the University of KwaZulu-N ...

College where he obtained an

M.Sc A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

in 1928. He continued his studies at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

in 1929, and the ''Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture'' in

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

in 1930, where he met his future wife, Cynthia. He worked with the Department of Agriculture in British Guiana between 1931 and 1936. In 1937 he was appointed to the Pasture Research Section of the Department of Agriculture in

. In 1941 he was awarded a

D.Sc Doctor of Science ( la, links=no, Scientiae Doctor), usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D., or D.S., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries, "Doctor of Science" is the degree used f ...

degree by the

University of South Africa The University of South Africa (UNISA), known colloquially as Unisa, is the largest university system in South Africa by enrollment. It attracts a third of all higher education students in South Africa. Through various colleges and affiliates, U ...

. In 1945 he assumed the post of Officer-in-Charge at the ''Prinshof Experiment Station'' in the ''Division of Botany'', where he was involved with the selection, growing and testing of pasture grasses. At the same time he was in charge of the ''Botanical Survey of South Africa.'' While stationed at Prinshof he frequently visited the Kruger National Park on plant collecting trips. He saw the need for an informal botanical guide to the reserve and in 1951 produced "Trees and Shrubs of the Kruger National Park", one of the most popular items in the series ''Memoirs of the Botanical Survey of South Africa''. With librarian Mary Gunn, he co-authored ''Botanical Exploration of Southern Africa'' in 1981, a history of the country's plant collecting, collectors and early botanical illustrations, with a follow up in 1985. Gunn was known for specialising in non-contemporary botanists. A student once asked her a question about a contemporary botanist to which she replied "...I only deal with dead botanists, either kill him off or ask Codd next door!" He succeeded Robert Allen Dyer as director of the ''Botanical Research Institute'' from 1963 until his retirement in 1973, and worked in the ''Flora Research Section'' thereafter. Codd is commemorated in numerous specific names including ''

Brachystelma The genus ''Brachystelma'' is represented by over a hundred species in the world, chiefly distributed in South Africa, South-East Asia and Australasia. In India, 17 species are known to occur, of which nine are endemic. Species The genus contain ...

coddii'' Dyer, ''

Agapanthus ''Agapanthus'' is a genus of plants, the only one in the subfamily Agapanthoideae of the family Amaryllidaceae. The family is in the monocot order Asparagales. The name is derived from Greek: ἀγάπη (''agapē'' – "love"), ἄνθος ('' ...

coddii'' Leighton etc. His specimens number more than 10,000 (PRE, K, SRGH) and are mainly South African, with about 500 having come from Caprivi and

Barotseland Barotseland ( Lozi: Mubuso Bulozi) is a region between Namibia, Angola, Botswana, Zimbabwe including half of eastern and northern provinces of Zambia and the whole of Democratic Republic of Congo's Katanga Province. It is the homeland of the ...

in 1952.

Awards & honours

*1957–58 President of Section B of SA Assoc. for the Adv. of Sc. *1961 President of the SA Biological Soc. *1977 SA Medal by SA Assoc. for the Adv. of Sc. *1979 SA Medal for Botany *1982 Senior Captain Scott Memorial Medal by the South African Biological Society.

Notes

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Codd, Leslie Edward Wostall 20th-century South African botanists South African taxonomists Agrostologists 1908 births 1999 deaths Botanists with author abbreviations South African expatriates in the United Kingdom