Margaret Rutherford Bryan Levyns (née Michell, 24 August 1890

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

– 11 November 1975 Cape Town) was an eminent South African phytogeographer, botanist and

taxonomist In biology, taxonomy () is the scientific study of naming, defining ( circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxa (singular: taxon) and these groups are give ...

Early life and education

Margaret Levyns was initially educated at home by her mother and later attended Ellerslie Girls' School. She obtained a first class matriculation and was awarded two bursaries. In 1908 she enrolled at the

South African College The South African College was an educational institution in Cape Town, South Africa, which developed into the University of Cape Town (UCT) and the South African College Schools (SACS). History The process that would lead to the formation of t ...

intending to study mathematics, geology and chemistry, with botany for her honours year. Prof. Harold Pearson persuaded her to take botany as a major subject. After winning two scholarships, the Queen Victoria Scholarship and the 1851 Exhibition Memorial Scholarship and spending 1912-14 at

Newnham College Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millice ...

, she returned to South Africa and was promptly awarded another scholarship to the John Innes Institute where she chose to study genetics. On returning to South Africa for the second time, she took up a lecturing post in the Botany Department at the

which later became 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 ...

. She was the first woman to receive 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 from

, for her 1932 thesis 'A taxonomic study of ''Lobostemon'' and ''Echiostachys. Her publications included ''A Guide to the Flora of the Cape Peninsula'' in 1929, and substantial sections of ''Flora of the Cape Peninsula'' by Adamson & Salter in 1950. After her retirement in 1945, she remained active in the botanical field and published numerous papers on

taxonomy Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

and

phytogeography Phytogeography (from Greek φυτόν, ''phytón'' = "plant" and γεωγραφία, ''geographía'' = "geography" meaning also distribution) or botanical geography is the branch of biogeography that is concerned with the geographic distribution ...

. She revised a number of South African genera e.g. ''Muraltia''. In 1923 she married John Levyns, later Assistant Provincial Secretary of the Cape Province and who served on the council of the Botanical Society of South Africa. Margaret Levyns is commemorated in ''

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 ...

levynsiae'' Pillans, '' Nivenia levynsiae'' H. Weimarck and ''

Crassula ''Crassula'' is a genus of succulent plants containing about 200 accepted species, including the popular jade plant (''Crassula ovata''). They are members of the stonecrop family (Crassulaceae) and are native to many parts of the globe, but cu ...

levynsiae'' Adamson. Some 12 000 of her collected specimens are lodged with the Bolus Herbarium (BOL) in Cape Town, the National Herbarium (PRE) in Pretoria, the

Royal Botanic Gardens Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,100 ...

(K) and other herbaria. This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation Levyns when citing a

botanical name A botanical name is a formal scientific name conforming to the ''International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (ICN) and, if it concerns a plant cultigen, the additional cultivar or Group epithets must conform to the ''Internat ...

Honours and awards

* President of Section B of the South African Association for Advancement of Science 1952/53 * South African Medal 1958 * President 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 ...

1962/63 (first woman to hold this seat)

References

External links

*
Royal Society of South Africa

University of Cape Town Libraries
{{DEFAULTSORT:Levyns, Margaret 1890 births 1975 deaths 20th-century South African botanists South African women botanists 20th-century South African women scientists Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge Botanists with author abbreviations Fellows of the Royal Society of South Africa South African taxonomists Women taxonomists University of Cape Town academics

Early life and education

Honours and awards

See also

References

External links