Louise Guthrie (October 10, 1879 – February 20, 1966) was a South African botanist and botanical artist.

Early life and education

Isobel Louise Sophie Guthrie was born in

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 ...

Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when i ...

in 1879, the daughter of English-born botanist and mathematics professor

Francis Guthrie Francis Guthrie (born 22 January 1831 in London; d. 19 October 1899 in Claremont, Cape Town) was a South African mathematician and botanist who first posed the Four Colour Problem in 1852. He studied mathematics under Augustus De Morgan, and ...

and his wife, Isabella Grisbrook. She attended Rustenburg Girls High School.John P. Rourke
"A Passion for Proteas: The Botanical Art of Louise Guthrie"
''Veld & Flora'' 87(September 2001): 120-123.

Career

Louise Guthrie was a botanical assistant at the

Bolus Herbarium The Bolus Herbarium was established in 1865 from a donation by Harry Bolus of his extensive herbarium and library to the South African College, which later became the University of Cape Town. Its collection of specimens numbers over 320 000, mak ...

, beginning in 1918, until 1927. While there, she developed her skill as a botanical illustrator, best known for a series of 264 depictions of

protea ''Protea'' () is a genus of South African flowering plants, also called sugarbushes (Afrikaans: ''suikerbos''). Etymology The genus ''Protea'' was named in 1735 by Carl Linnaeus, possibly after the Greek god Proteus, who could change his form a ...

species found in South Africa, begun in 1925, with the last dated 1947. She donated the set to Bolus Herbarium in 1948.

Personal life and legacy

The ''guthriae'' plant name honors Louise Guthrie.Urs Eggli and Leonard E. Newton, eds.
''Etymological Dictionary of Succulent Plant Names''
(Springer Science & Business Media 2013): 100. Her art is archived at 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 ...

. The Hermanus Botanical Society held an exhibit of 76 paintings by Guthrie in 2000, at the Fernkloof Nature Reserve. Some of her watercolors are on display at

South Africa House 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 ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guthrie, Louise 1879 births 1966 deaths 20th-century South African botanists South African women botanists South African artists South African women artists Place of death missing Scientists from Cape Town 20th-century South African women scientists