Flora of Southern Africa East Cape Photo Gallery

Photo Identifications L-R: Barberetta aurea, Alepidea thodei, Crocosmia masonorum, Talinum caffrum, Vernonia natalensis, Drimia sphaerocephala, Wahlenbergia campanulata.



Plant Names P-Z


Note: The generic names in italics are outdated names, and where applicable their new names are given at the bottom of the entry.


pageae
(Muraltia): see Pagella.

Pagella (Crassulaceae): honors the English botanical artist Mary Maud Page (1867-1925), botanical explorer and plant collector, associated with the Bolus Herbarium at the University of Cape Town, died in South Africa.

Palmstruckia (Scrophulariaceae): named for the Swedish botanical artist Johan Wilhelm Palmstruch (1770-1811).

Pancovia (Sapindaceae): dedicated to a certain Thomas Panckow (1622-1665), author of Herbarium portatile.

Pandorea (Bignoniaceae): commemorates Pandora, according to Greek mythology the first mortal woman sent to earth.

Pappea (Sapindaceae): named after a German physician and plant collector Carl Pappe (1803-1862). He studied medicine and botany at Leipzig before moving to Cape Town in 1831, initially practising as a doctor. He was the first colonial botanist and South Africa's first professor of botany, 1858, and he was an international government adviser on botanical issues. (Darwin Correspondence Online Database)

pappei (Aster, Anthericum, Gladiolus): see Pappea.
    Anthericum pappei = Trachyandra flexifolia.
    Aster pappei = Felicia amoena ssp. amoena.

patersonia (Erica): see patersonii.

patersoniae (Ceropegia, Relhania): after Florence Mary Paterson (neé Hallack) (1869-1936), plant collector in South Africa, married Mr. T.V.Paterson.
    Ceropegia patersoniae = Ceropegia zeyheri.
    Relhania patersoniae = Relhania decussata.

patersonii (Erica): named in honor of Lieutenant William Paterson (1755-1810) who made four collecting journeys into South Africa. He was sent by Sir Joseph Banks to make observations on the natural history of the land. (PlantzAfrica)

patriciae (Ceropegia): after Patricia Hardy, wife of David Hardy, collector of plants from South Africa
    Ceropegia patriciae = Ceropegia mafekingensis.

Pauletia (Fabaceae): honors the French botanist and physician Jean Jacques Paulet (1740-1826), mycologist and author.

Paullinia (Sapindaceae): named for Simon Paulli (1603-1680), professor of botany, physician to King Christian V of Denmark.

pavelkae (Othonna): collected in South Africa in 1993 by a P. Pavelka, possibly Petr Pavelka (fl. 2000), but named after ?

Pavonia (Malvaceae): honors the Spanish botanist José Antonio Pavón y Jiménez (1754-1840), traveller and explorer, was with Joseph Dombey in Chile and Peru.

pavonia (Othonna): possibly after the previous.

paynei (Haworthia): after a George Payne (fl. 1930), succulent plant collector. (Eggli & Newton)
    Haworthia paynei = Haworthia herbacea var. paynei.

peacockiae (Lampranthus): after a Mrs W. Peacock who found the plant in Darling 1917-1918. (Hugh Clarke)

peacockii (Haworthia): after John T. Peacock, English succulent plant collector. (Eggli & Newton)
    Haworthia peacockii = Haworthia coarctata var. coarctata.

pearsii (Crocosmia): after Reginald Oliver Pearse (1900-1995), mountaineer, educator, author and the first to collect this plant. (Elsa Pooley)

Pearsonia (Fabaceae): dedicated to the British-born South African botanist Professor Henry Harold Welch Pearson (1870-1916), British-born South African botanist and the first director of the former National Botanical Institute of Southern Africa, worked at the Cambridge Herbarium, professor of botany at South African College, Cape Town, plant collector and botanical explorer, founder of the Kirstenbosch National Botanic Gardens, Fellow of the Linnaean and Royal Societies, made several expeditions to Southwest Africa to study the monotypic Welwitschia.

pearsonii (Aloe, Asparagus, Geigeria, Heliophila, Lobostemon, Notobubon, Peucedanum, Protoasparagus, Sarcostemma, Senecio, Stapelia): see Pearsonia.
    Geigeria pearsonii = Geigeria brachycephala.
    Heliophila pearsonii = Heliophila minima.
    Peucedanum pearsonii = Notobubon pearsonii.
    Protoasparagus pearsonii = Asparagus pearsonii.

Pechuel-Loeschea (Asteraceae): named for the German naturalist and geographer M. Eduard Pechuël-Loesche (1840-1913), plant collector in the Cape and elsewhere. (CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names)

pechuelii (Aerva, Berkheyopsis): see Pechuel-Loeschea.
    Aerva pechuelii = Calicorema capitata.
    Berkheyopsis pechuelii = Hirpicum gazanioides.

Peddiea (Thymelaeaceae): honors the plant collector and soldier John Peddie (?-1840), sent South African plant specimens to William H. Harvey at Dublin.

Peersia (Mesembryanthemaceae): named for the Australian botanist born New South Wales Victor Stanley Peers (1874-1940), amateur archeologist who found ancient skeletons at a location since named Peers Cave, collected succulents and other plants, died in Cape Town, South Africa.

peersii (Lachenalia, Nerine, Pleiospilos): see Peersia.
    Nerine peersii = Nerine humilis.

Peglera (Erythroxylaceae): named for plant collector Alice Marguerite Pegler (1861-1929) who died in South Africa.

peglerae (Aloe, Aster, Brachymeris, Gomphocarpus, Phymaspermum, Schizoglossum, Stapelia): Aloe peglerae was named after an early plant collector, Alice Pegler (1861-1929), a teacher and botanist.
    Brachymeris peglerae = Phymaspermum peglerae.
    Gomphocarpus peglerae = Stapelia hirsuta var. tsomoensis.
    Stapelia peglerae = Stapelia hirsuta var. tsomoensis.

pehlemannia (Haworthia): see ingeae.

pehlemanniae (Haworthia): after Mrs. Inga Pehlemann (fl. 2002), succulent plant enthusiast in Namibia. (Eggli & Newton) (see also ingae)
    Haworthia pehlemanniae = Haworthia nortieri var. pehlemanniae.

Penaea (Penaeaceae): honors the French physician and botanist Pierre Pena (c. 1520/1535-1600/1605), assistant to Mathias de L'Obel, physician to Henri III.

pentheri (Coleus, Diascia, Gnaphalium, Microloma, Ornithogalum, Rhus, Searsia): see pentherianus.
    Gnaphalium pentheri = Gnaphalium declinatum.
    Microloma pentheri = Microloma sagittatum.
    Rhus pentheri = Searsia pentheri.

pentheriana (Brownleea): see pentherianus.

pentherianus (Streptocarpus): after Arnold Penther (1865-1931) who collected in South Africa and Zimbabwe. (Elsa Pooley)

Pentheriella (Asteraceae): see pentherianus.

pentlandii (Richardia, Zantedeschia): ???
    Richardia pentlandii = Zantedeschia pentlandii.

Pentzia (Asteraceae): named by Thunberg in 1800 after his student Carolus Johannes Pentz, author of De Diosma.

Pereskia (Cactaceae): named for the French numismatist Nicholas Claude Fabry de Peiresc (1580-1637), patron of botany, naturalist and archeologist.

perrottettii (Adenostemma, Calophanes, Dyschoriste): after its collector George (Georges Guerrard) Samuel Perrottet (1793-1870), Swiss-born French botanist and horticulturist, gardener at the Jardin des Plantes, naturalist on an expedition to Java and the Philippines, explorer in Senegambia (present-day Senegal and Gambia), co-author of Florae Senegambiae Tentamen, and longtime botanist at the botanical garden at Pondicherry.
    Adenostemma perrottetii = Adenostemma viscosum.
    Calophanes perrottetii = Dyschoriste perrottetii.

perryae (Bokkeveldia, Strumaria): after South African botanist Pauline Lesley Perry (1927- ), plant collector in southern Africa.
    Bokkeveldia perryae = Strumaria perryae.

persoonii (Calophanes, Chaetacanthus): possibly after South African-born botanical illustrator Christian Hendrik Persoon (1761-1836). Wikipedia says "He was apparently unemployed, unmarried, poverty-stricken and a recluse, although he corresponded with botanists throughout Europe. Because of his financial difficulties, Persoon agreed to donate his herbarium to the House of Orange, in return for an adequate pension for life." His two volumes of Synopsis Plantarum described 20,000 species of plants, but his major work was the Synopsis Methodica Fungorum on the subject of fungi.
    Calophanes persoonii = Chaetacanthus setiger.
    Chaetacanthus persoonii = Chaetacanthus setiger.

peschii (Australluma, Caralluma): for Mr. C. Pesch of Namibia.
    Caralluma peschii = Australluma peschii.

petersiana (Ancyclobotrys, Aristolochia, Hyphaene, Landolphia, Periploca, Senna): named after German naturalist and explorer Wilhelm Carl Hartwig (Hartwid or Hartwich) Peters (1815-1883), curator of the Berlin Zoological Museum, who botanized extensively in Mozambique.
    Aristolochia petersiana = Aristolochia albida.
    Landolphia petersiana = Ancyclobotrys petersiana.
    Periploca petersiana = Marsdenia macrantha.

petersianus (Strophanthus): see petersiana.

petersii (Eulophia): see petersiana.

petersii (Tecomaria, Vernonia): ???
    Tecomaria petersii = Tecoma capensis.
    Vernonia petersii = Vernoniastrum latifolium.

Peyrousea (Iridaceae): honors French navigator Jean François de Galaup, Comte de la Pèrouse (1741-1788), explorer and naturalist. He fought against the British off North America in the Seven Years War and was promoted to the rank of commodore. In 1785 he lead an expedition to the Pacific which included ten scientists, an astronomer, a botanist, a physicist and three naturalists. He went to Easter Island, Hawaii, Alaska, California, the Philippines, Korea, the Kurile Islands, Russia, Japan, the South Seas, Australia, but then he and all his men disappeared and were never seen again. Thirty-seven years later it was determined that both his shipsmhad been wrecked on reefs and sunk. (CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names)

pfeilii (Leucosphaera): after Joachim Friedrich Graf von Pfeil (1857-1924), a plant collector in Namibia and South Africa.
    Leucosphaera pfeilii = Leucosphaera bainesii.

Phaenohoffmannia (Fabaceae): named for the German botanist Heinrich Karl Hermann Hoffmann (1819-1891), mycologist, plant geographer, professor of botany, Director of the Botanic Garden at Giessen.

Pharnaceum (Molluginaceae) = after Pharnaces II (63-47 B.C.), son of Mithridates VI, king of Pontus (Hugh Clarke)

Phelypaea (Scrophulariaceae): named for the French politician Louis Phélypeaux de Pontchartrain (1643-1727).

Philippia (Ericaceae): honors the German botanist Rudolph Amandus Philippi (1808-1904), traveller, botanical explorer and plant collector, Director of the Museo Nacional de Chile, professor of botany and zoology at Santiago.

phillipsiae (Asclepias, Gomphocarpus): probably after Mrs. E. Lort Phillips, about whom I have no information.
    Asclepias phillipsiae = Gomphocarpus phillipsiae.

phillipsianum (Asplenium): ???

phillipsii (Metalasia): after plant collector Edwin Percy Phillips (1884-1967), South African botanist and taxonomist, noted for his monumental work The Genera of South African Flowering Plants first published in 1926, curator of the South African Museum, curator of National Herbarium, Pretoria. (Wikipedia)

pienaarii (Aloe): after Uys de Villiers Pienaar (1930- ), plant collector in South Africa.
Aloe pienaarii = Aloe cryptopoda

piersii (Huernia): after a Mr. C.P. Piers (fl. 1900-1931), South African government surveyor and field collector. (Eggli & Newton)

Pillansia (Iridaceae): see pillansii.

pillansii (Aloe, Caralluma, Duvalia, Euphorbia, Gasteria, Hermas, Hoodia, Huernia, Othonna, Pectinaria, Piaranthus, Pteronia, Quaqua, Senecio, Stapelia, Stapeliopsis, Tetragonia, Trematodon, Trichocaulon): commemorates Mr. Neville Stuart Pillans (1884-1964), a well-known botanist from the Bolus Herbarium who collected plants near Clanwilliam and grew this plant in his garden in Rosebank, Cape Town. (PlantzAfrica)
    Caralluma pillansii = Quaqua pillansii.
    Hoodia pillansii = Hoodia gordonii.
    Othonna pillansii = Othonna cacalioides.
    Pectinaria pillansii = Stapeliopsis pillansii.
    Piaranthus pillansii = Piaranthus geminatus ssp. geminatus.
    Trichocaulon pillansii = Hoodia pilifera ssp. pillansii.

Pisonia (Nyctaginaceae): dedicated to the Dutch physician and botanist Willem Piso (c.1611-1678), pharmacist, pioneer of tropical medicine.

plowesii (Huernia): after Darrel Charles Herbert Plowes (1925- ), South African-born plant collector in South Africa and Zimbabwe, naturalist, agricultural officer, specialist on Stapeliads, and co-author with Robert Bailey Drummond of Wild Flowers of Rhodesia.

Pluchea (Asteraceae): honors the French abbot Noël-Antoine Pluche (1688-1761), seminary teacher and naturalist. The following is quoted from a website page on Pluche at The Online Library of Liberty: "Noël-Antoine Pluche was born in 1688. After completing his studies, he became a professor first of humanities, then of rhetoric in his hometown of Rheims, before taking holy orders. The Bishop of Laon made him director of the collège (secondary school), an offer he accepted partly to escape the controversy that arose around him for his refusal to swear adherence to the bull Unigenitus (1713). After a lettre de cachet was prepared against him, he was provided with private tutorial positions by both Gasville (royal intendant of Rouen) and the Englishman Lord Stafford. After a chance discovery of information useful to the Crown, he was offered a lucrative priory by Cardinal Fleury—which he refused on principle because of his continued refusal to sign Unigenitus. Still, his teachings and writings began to gain some notoriety. He became deaf, retired in 1749 to Varenne-Saint-Maur, and died of apoplexy in 1761. His major work, Spectacle de la nature, was an eight-volume study of life and creation that was translated into virtually all European languages, still appearing in abridged editions in the early nineteenth century. His other works include Histoire du ciel (1739), La Méchanique des langues (1751), and Concorde de la Géographie des différents âges (1765), as well as works on Holy Scripture and French royal coronation ceremonies."

Plukenetia (Euphorbiaceae): dedicated to the British physician, Royal Professor of botany and gardener to Queen Mary II of England Leonard Plukenet (1641-1706). "[He] published Phytographia (London, 1691–1692) in four parts in which he described and illustrated rare exotic plants. It is a copiously illustrated work of more than 2,700 figures and is frequently cited in books and papers from the 17th century to the present. He collaborated with John Ray in the second volume of Historia Plantarum (London, 1686–1704). Paul Dietrich Giseke (1741–1796) compared Plukenet’s species with those of Linnaeus in Index Linnaeanus (Hamburg, 1779)." (Wikipedia)

Plukenetiana (Lebeckia): see Plukenetia.

Plukenetii (Erica):see Plukenetia.

plumieri (Scaevola): after Charles Plumier (1646-1704), a prominent French botanist, became royal botanist to Louis XIV, made several collecting expeditions to the Antilles and Central America. Wikidpedia says, "He is considered one of the most important of the botanical explorers of his time. All natural scientists of the 18th century spoke of him with admiration. At his death Plumier left thirty-one manuscript volumes containing descriptions, and about 6,000 drawings, 4,000 of which were of plants, while the remainder reproduced American animals of nearly all classes, especially birds and fish. The botanist Herman Boerhaave had 508 of these drawings copied at Paris; these were published later by Burmann, Professor of Botany at Amsterdam, under the title: "Plantarum americanarum."

pobeguinii (Hygrophila): after French botanist and plant collector Charles Henri Oliver Pobéguin (1856-1951), a colonial administrator in French Africa. (CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names)

pocockiae (Oxalis): after Reginald Innes Pocock, (1863-1947) naturalist, entomologist and arranger of the bird collection at the British Museum. Later he was Superintendent of the London Zoo. (Hugh Clarke in part)

Podalyria (Fabaceae): named for Podalirius or Podaleirios, in Greek mythology the son of Asklepios, the god of healing.

Poellnitzia (Liliaceae): named for German botanist Joseph Karl Leopoldt Arndt von Poellnitz (1896-1945), an agriculturist and specialist on succulent plants.

poellnitziana (Anacampseros): see Poellnitzia.

Pohlia (Bryaceae): named in 1789 by Transylvanian botanist Johann Hedwig for Dr. Johann Ehrenfried Pohl (1746-1800).

Poinciana (Fabaceae): named for Phillipe Blondel de Lonvilliers de Poincy (1584-1660), a patron of botany and French Governor in the West Indies.

poiretii (Adiantum): after J L M Poiret (1755-1834), a French clergyman, botanist and explorer and plant collect, mainly in Algeria; after the French Revolution he became professor of natural history at the Ecole Central of Aisne (Hugh Clarke)

Poivrea (Combretaceae): named to honor the French botanist Pierre Poivre (1719-1786), naturalist, plant collector and traveller In China, Indochina, the Philippines, and Madagascar.

poellnitziana (Haworthia): after German agriculturist and botanist Joseph Karl L.A. von Poellnitz (1896-1845). (Eggli & Newton)
    Haworthia poellnitziana = Haworthia minima var. poellnitziana.

Polemannia (Apiaceae): after the German chemist Peter Heinrich Poleman (c. 1780-1839), an apothecary and naturalist who died at Cape Town.

polemannii (Mystropetalon): see Polemannia.
    Mystropetalon polemannii = Mystropetalon thomii.

Polevansia (Poaceae): dedicated to the Welsh botanist Illtyd Buller Pole-Evans (1879-1968), mycologist, plant collector, traveller, Fellow of the Linnaean Society, Director of the Botanical Survey of South Africa 1918-1939.

Polhillia (Fabaceae): named for a Dr. Roger Marcus Polhill (1937- ), botanist at Kew Gardens and editor of Flora of Tropical East Africa 1966-1997.

Pollichia (Boraginaceae): honors the German physician and botanist Johann Adam Pollich (1740-1780), naturalist and author.

Polyxena (Hyacinthaceae): dedicated to the mythological daughter of Priam and Hecuba. Priam was the King of Troy during the Trojan War and was the father of Hector and Paris.

Pontederia (Pontederiaceae): named for the Italian botanist and physician Giulio (Julius) Pontedera (1688-1757), plant collector, professor of botany at Padua, and Praefectus of the Botanical Garden of Padua.

Popowia (Annonaceae): commemorates Johannes Siegmund Valentin Popowitsch (1705-1774), professor of botany in Vienna. (CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names)

poseideonis (Senecio): after Poseidon, God the Sea.

pottsii (Crocosmia, Gazania): named for botanist George Potts (1877-1948). (Elsa Pooley)
    Gazania pottsii = Gazania linearis var. ovalis.

Pouzolzia (Urticaceae): named for the French botanist Marie Casimir de Pouzolz (1785-1858).

powellii (Amaranthus): after John Wesley Powell (1834-1902), famed explorer and runner of the Colorado River through the American Grand Canyon. His research on Indians led to the creation of the Bureau of Ethnology and he became its Director. He also was appointed Director of the U.S. Geological Survey in 1881 and held that post until retiring in 1894. He was founder and President of the Anthropological Society of Washington, an early member of the Biological Society of Washington, an organizer of the Geological Society of Washington, and he helped establish the National Geographic Society and the Geological Society of America, receiving honorary degrees from several universities and becoming President in 1888 of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Few men in America have combined the qualities and accomplishments of exploration and science to the extent that he did, and he was buried in Arlington National Cemetary.
    Amaranthus powellii = Amaranthus hybridus ssp. hybridus.

Pozoi (Stegnogramma): name based on that of an Ecuadorian discoverer of an orchid species; further details unknown. (Hugh Clarke)

prageri (Felicia): ???

preslii (Lobelia): after Karel (Carl) Borivoj Presl (1794-1852), professor of botany at Prague University. (Elsa Pooley)

preussii (Asplenium): collected in 1891 in Cameroon by German botanist Dr. Paul Rudolf Preuss (1861- ), traveller and collector, participated in the 1888-1891 Zintgraff Expedition to Cameroon. (CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names, Aluka)

Priestleya (Fabaceae): honors the noted English chemist Joseph Priestley (1733-1804), clergyman, philosopher, Fellow of the Royal Society, best known for his work on the chemistry of gases.

princeae (Anthericum): after German plant collector Magdalene von Prince (fl. 1898-1899).
    Anthericum princeae = Chlorophytum sphacelatum var. milanjianum.

pringlei (Haworthia): for South African Victor L. Pringle, who first collected the species. (Eggli & Newton)
    Haworthis pringlei = Haworthia bolusii var. pringlei.

prinslooi (Aloe): after South African succulent grower Gerry Prinsloo (fl. 1965). (Eggli & Newton)

Printzia (Asteraceae): named for Swedish Jacob Printz (1740-1779), pupil of Linnaeus, author of Plantae rariores africanae (1760), which described 100 South African plants, based on a collection sent from the Cape of Good Hope. (CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names and the Imperial Encyclopaedic Dictionary, 1901). Elsa Pooley however says that Printzia is named for an H.C. Printz of Christiana, Mpumalanga, which is in accord with Hugh Clarke and Deon Kesting, so this one is up in the air.

priorii (Gladiolus): after Richard C. Prior, born Alexander (1809-1902), a British medical practitioner and amateur botanist who collected actively in the Eastern Cape and Karoo areas 1846-1848; author of British Plant Names. (Hugh Clarke)

prittwitzii (Cineraria): after Georg von Prittwitz und Gaffron (1861-1936).
    Cineraria prittwitzii = Cineraria deltoidea.

Puccinellia (Poaceae): named to honor the Italian botanist Benedetto Luigi Puccinelli (1808-1850), professor of botany, Director of the Botanical Garden of Lucca.

Pueraria (Fabaceae): honors the Swiss botanist Marc Nicolas Puerari (1766-1845), teacher, pupil of Martin Vahl in Copenhagen.

putterillii (Ruschia): after mycologist V.A. Putterill (fl. 1919), appointed government fruit inspector in 1917. (Elsa Pooley)

Putterlickia (Celastraceae): named for the Austrian botanist and physician Aloys Putterlick (1810-1845), bryologist and author, 1840-1845 in charge of the Natural History Museum of Vienna.


Quartinia (Fabaceae): the genus Quartinia in the Lythraceae was named after the French botanist and physician Léon Richard Quartin-Dillon (?-1841), explorer and plant collector.



Rabiea (Mesembryanthemaceae): named after the South African plant collector W.A. Rabie.

radlkoferi (Greyia): the species name is derived from Ludwig Radlkofer (1829-1927), professor of botany and Director of the Botanical Museum in Munich, also an authority on the sexual and asexual reproduction of plants and author of Die Befruchtung der Phanerogamen (1856). The Swazi name means 'dassie's ear.' A dassie is a small African mammal in the order Hyracoidea, the closest living relative to the elephant. (PlantzAfrica)

Radyera (Malvaceae): honors the South African botanist Robert Allen Dyer (1900-1987), Director of the Botanical Research Institute at Pretoria 1944-1963.

radyeri (Berkheya): see Radyera.

Rafnia (Fabaceae): named for the Danish botanist Carl Gottlob Rafn (1769-1808), school teacher and author.

Randia (Rubiaceae): dedicated to the British botanist Isaac Rand (?-1743), apothecary, gardener, Fellow of the Royal Society.

randii (Asclepias, Barleria, Helichrysum, Lopholaena, Schizoglossum, Sisyranthus, Vernonia): after Dr. Richard Frank Rand (1856-1937), surgeon trained at Edinburgh. His obituary in Nature says that he "served as medical officer with the pioneer column sent by Cecil Rhodes to Mashonaland in 1890. As medical officer to the Chartered Company's police, and later chief hospital surgeon at Fort Salisbury, he devoted himself specially to the treatment of malaria, the scourge of the early settlers and then not recognized as a mosquito-borne disease. The active period of Dr. Rand's long life was spent in practice in South Africa, chiefly at Salisbury and other places in Southern Rhodesia, and his great experience of tropical diseases was an important asset to the British forces in the Boer War and later in the Great War."
    Helichrysum randii = Helichrysum chionosphaerum.
    Lopholaena randii = Lopholaena coriifolia.
    Schizoglossum randii = Aspidoglossum restioides.
    Vernonia randii = Gymnanthemum amygdalinum.

rangeana (Caralluma, Heeria, Orbea, Ozoroa, Tetragonia): see rangei.
    Caralluma rangeana = Orbea maculata ssp. rangeana.
    Heeria rangeana = Ozoroa dispar.
    Orbea rangeana = Orbea maculata ssp. rangeana.
    Ozoroa rangeana = Ozoroa dispar.

rangei (Anthericum, Chlorophytum, Eriocephalus, Gutenbergia, Helichrysum, Osteospermum, Pteronia): after Paul Range (1879-1952), German government geologist in Namibia (= S.W. Africa) with passion for collecting plants in S. Namibia, who kept detailed records of collecting sites, place names, literature references. (Hugh Clarke)
    Anthericum rangei = Chlorophytum rangei.
    Gutenbergia rangei = Senecio niveus.
    Helichrysum rangei = Helichrysum arenicola.
    Osteospermum rangei = Chrysanthemoides incana.

Raspalia (Bruniaceae): commemorates the French botanist François Vincent Raspail (1794-1878), politician, chemist, naturalist.

rautanani (Senecio): see rautananii.
    Senecio rautanani = Senecio eenii.

rautanenianum (Crinum): see rautananii.

rautanenii (Anthericum, Barleria, Petalidium): after Finnish-born Martti Rautanen (1845-1926), Lutheran church missionary pioneer who went to South West Africa where he served more than 50 years. His most important work was the translation of the Bible into Oshindonga.
    Anthericum rautanenii = Chlorophytum anceps.
    Barleria rautanenii = Barleria lancifolia ssp. lancifolia.

Rauvolfia (Apocynaceae): named after the German physician and botanist Leonhart Rauwolff (1535-
1596), sometimes spelled Rauvolf or Rauvolff, a traveller, plant collector, and author. "He was a pupil of Guillaume Rondelet in 1560. In 1565 he set up a medical practice in Augsburg. In that year he married Regina Jung, daughter of the patrician, Doctor Ambrosius Jung, the Younger. He described several unknown plants in Occident. The standard botanical author abbreviation Rauwolff is applied to species he described. In 1573 he began a three year journey to the Near East. This journey was made possible by his brother-in-law Melchior Manlich. He hoped Leonhart would come back with new plants and drugs that could be traded profitably by his firm that already traded with the Levant. But in addition to his botanical investigations, Leonhart observed and recorded his impressions of the people, customs, and sights of these Levantine trading centers as well. For example, he was the first European to describe the preparation and drinking of coffee: "A very good drink they call Chaube that is almost as black as ink and very good in illness, especially of the stomach.This they drink in the morning early in the open places before everybody, without any fear or regard, out of clay or China cups, as hot as they can, sipping it a little at a time." Leonhart visited many countries such as Syria and Armenia. In 1573 he visited Constantinople, in 1574 he was in Baghdad and in 1575 he was in Jerusalem. Leonhard was the first botanist of the new era who had traveled this far into Asia. Circa 1576 he published the results of his botanic expeditions in his fourth herbarium "Viertes Kreutterbuech -- darein vil schoene und frembde Kreutter". In 1582 he published his travel journal "Aigentliche Beschreibung der Raiß inn die Morgenländerin" in German. It also appeared in English and Dutch. Written from the point of view of an early Protestant pilgrim, his depictions of Jerusalem and of religious life in the Near East, both Christian and Muslim, are of particular historical value. John Gill (theologian) refers to this work a number of times in his Exposition of the Bible to show the accuracy of biblical history. In 1588 the leaders of Augsburg reverted to Catholicism, and Rauwolff, a leader of the Protestant opposition, left. He next served as city physician in Linz for 8 years. In 1975 Linz named a street, the Rauwolfstraße, after him. In 1596 he joined the imperial troops fighting the Turks in Hungary, where he died." (Wikipedia)

ravenelii (Ricasolia): after Henry William Ravenel (1814-1887), American botanist and mycologist.
    Ricasolia ravenelii = Lobaria quercizans.

rawlinsonii (Gasteria): after S.I. Rawlinson, collector and succulent grower in RSA.

Rawsonia (Flacourtiaceae): honors the British pteridologist Sir Rawson William Rawson (1812-1899), traveller, colonial administrator, 1854-1864 Colonial Secretary of the Cape of Good Hope, Gov. of Bahamas 1864, Jamaica 1865, Windward Islands 1869-1875. (CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names)

rawsonii (Asplenium): see Rawsonia.
    Asplenium rawsonii = Asplenium adiantum-nigrum var. adiantum-nigrum.

rechingeri (Othonna): after Austrian plant taxonomist, phytogeographer and botanical collector Karl Heinz Rechinger (1906-1998) , author of Flora Aegaea, head of the Department of Botany and later Director-General of the Natural History Museum in Vienna and an academic teacher at Vienna University, son of botanist Karl Rechinger..

reddii (Haworthia): for Dr. V.B. Reddi (fl. 1994) of East London. (Eggli & Newton)
    Haworthia reddii = Haworthia cymbiformis var. reddii.

rehmanniana (Acacia, Rhus, Searsia): see rehmannii.

Rehmanniella (Funariaceae): see rehmannii.

rehmannii (Aizoanthemum, Anthericum, Aponogeton, Archidium, Berkheya, Berkheyopsis, Brachystelma, Bruchia, Coleus, Commiphora, Euryops, Hessea, Nerine, Ochna, Plectranthus, Plinthus, Polygala, Richardia, Rhus, Searsia, Sebaea, Senecio, Triaspis, Zantedeschia): after Anton Rehmann (Rehman) (1840-1917), Polish botanist and geographer who visited South Africa. (Elsa Pooley)
    Anthericum rehmannii = galpinii var. galpinii.
    Berkheyopsis rehmannii = Hirpicum bechuanense.
    Brachystelma rehmannii = Brachystelma foetidum.
    Bruchia rehmannii = Pleuridium pappeanum.
    Commiphora rehmannii = Commiphora angolensis.
    Hessea rehmannii = Nerine rehmannii.
    Rhus rehmannii = Searsia rehmannii.
    Richardia rehmannii = Zantedeschia rehmannii.

rehmii (Inula, Pentatrichia): after German botanist, mycologist and lichenologist Heinrich Simon Ludwig Friedrich Felix Rehm (1828-1916) OR German plant physiologist Sigmund Eugen Adolf Rehm (1911- ) who came to South West Africa in 1939, was interned in South Africa during WWII, and was appointed as a plant physiologist for the Horticultural Research Institute in Pretoria. Gunn & Codd list Cyperus rehmii, Wormskioldia rehmii and Pentratrichia rehmii as taxa commemorating S.E.A. Rehm, and Wikipedia lists Inula rehmii, Citrullus rehmii, Erica rehmii, Monsonia rehmii and Wormskioldia rehmii as taxa honoring H.S.L.F.F. Rehm. Gunn & Codd do not mention the former individual. Inasmuch as the Aluka website includes specimen records of the following collections, Cyperus rehmii (1946), Erica rehmii (1946), Inula rehmii (1939), and Wormskioldia rehmii (1939), all made by an S. Rehm, it seems that the commemoration here is for S.E.A. Rehm.

Reichardia (Fabaceae): there is a genus Reichardia in the Asteraceae that is named after the German physician and botanist Johann Jacob Reichard (1743-1782), supervisor of the botanical garden and library of the Senckenberg Foundation in Frankfurt, but I'm not sure whether the genus Reichardia in the Fabaceae is named for the same individual.

reinwardtii (Aloe, Haworthia): after Prussian-born Dutch botanist Caspar Georg Carl Reinwardt (1773-1854), professor of chemistry, pharmacy and natural science, collected in South Africa, founder and first director of agriculture of the botanic garden at Bogor (Buitenzorg) in Java. (Eggli & Newton, Wikipedia)
    Aloe reinwardtii = Haworthia reinwardtii var. reinwardtii.

reitzii (Aloe): named either for Afrikaaner farmer and politician Francis William Reitz, Sr. (1810- ) or his son, Francis William Reitz, Jr. (1844-1934), 5th President of the Orange Free State Republic.

Relhania (Asteraceae): named for clergyman Rev. Richard Relhan (1754-1823), born at Dublin, a botanist, plant collector, bryologist, lichenologist, and one of the founders of the Linnaean Society. (CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names)

Renauldia (Pterobryaceae): ???

rendallii (Ceropegia): after Dr. P. Rendall of Barberton (fl. 1857) who first collected this plant and sent samples to Kew Gardens. (Elsa Pooley)

Rendlia (Poaceae): named after the British botanist Alfred Barton Rendle (1865-1938), traveller and plant collector, Keeper of the Botany Department of the British Museum, Fellow of the Royal Society and President of the Linnaean Society.

Rennera (Asteraceae): commemorates the German botanist Otto Renner (1883-1960), a professor of botany, traveller, and director of the Botanical Garden of Jena. "Otto Renner was a German plant geneticist, following the work of Erwin Baur, Renner established the theory of maternal plastid inheritance as a widely accepted genetic "(Wilipedia)

Requienia (Fabaceae): honors the French botanist Esprit Requien (1788-1851), malacologist, traveller and botanical explorer, Director of the Botanical Garden of Avignon.

Retzia (Stilbaceae): named for the Swedish botanist Anders Jahan Retzius (1742-1821), lichenologist and bryologist, entomologist and professor of natural history at the University of Lund. In addition to these disciplines, he also did work on chemistry, zoology, minerology and paleontology.

rexii (Streptocarpus): commemorates a certain George Rex, on whose estate near Knysna this species was first found. (PlantzAfrica)

Reyemia (Scrophulariaceae): named for Dr. Heinrich Meyer who practiced medicine in Calvinia in the 1860's and collected in the Hantam Mts which are in the Namaqualand region of the Northern Cape Province. He came from Germany to the Cape in the mid-1860's, and later practised medicine at Cape Town in the 1880's. (Botanical Exploration of Southern Africa)

reynoldsii (Aloe, Dierama): the specific epithet honors Dr Gilbert W. Reynolds (1895–1967), author of Aloes of South Africa, who was an optician in Johannesburg before he moved to Swaziland in 1960, and studied and cultivated plants, mostly aloes, in his spare time. In the course of gathering material for his two classic volumes (Reynolds 1950, 1966), he travelled some 40,000 km and collected numerous plants in addition to his aloe specimens. He was an authority on the genus Aloe. (PlantzAfrica)

Reynoutria (Polygonaceae): my original entry stated that Reynoutria is uncertainly identified as being named after a somewhat obscure Dutch or French botanist and/or naturalist named either Reynoutre or van Reynoutre. Sources uncovered by David Hollombe relate to a man named Karen van Sint Omaars, alternatively spelled Charles Saint Omer (1533-1569), a Flemish botanist and humanist, and lord of among other towns one called Dranouter in West Flanders. The 16th century horticulturist Carolus Clusius helped him lay out a very extensive garden and also advised him in the compilation of a large illustrated book of watercolors he had commissioned to be entitled Centuriae Plantarum Rariorum. His death at the age of 36 aborted the book project, but his work was incorporated into another by the same title published by others many years later.

Rhadamanthus (Hyacinthaceae): named after Rhadamanthus, in mythology the son of Zeus or Jupiter, and Europa, who was made the judge of souls in the underworld.

ricasoliana (Podranea): after a certain V. Ricasoli.

Riccardia (Aneuraceae): ???

richardiana (Disa): probably after Achille Richard (1794-1852), who collected in Ethiopia and Madagas-car. He was one of the leading botanists of his day and wrote the first flora of Tropical East Africa, the Tentamen Florae Abyssinicae, printed in 1845 and 1851, and studied and described several genera of orchids.  (Hugh Clarke)

Richardia (Rubiaceae): see Richardsonia.

richardsiana (Begonia): possibly for Paul Westmacott Richards (1908-1995), British bryologist, rain forest authority, author of The Tropical Rain Forest and The Life of the Jungle.
    Begonia richardsiana = Begonia dregei.

Richardsonia (Rubiaceae): named after the English botanist and physician Richard Richardson (1663-1741), lichen collector who studied under Boerhaave, book collector, Fellow of the Royal Society, friend of Sir John Franklin. (CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names)

ridleyi (Nerine): the Aluka website has a specimen record for this species listing a G.H. Ridley as having collected it in 1913. He was I believe a Curator of Kirstenbosch Gardens.

Rikliella (Cyperaceae): honors the Swiss botanist Martin Albert Rikli (1868-1951), plant geographer, traveller and botanical collector, Curator of the Botanical Museum of the E.T.H. Zurich (Eldgenössische Technische Hochschule, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology).

ringoetii (Trichodesma): after plant collector Arthur Ringoet (1889-1952), collected in the Congo.
    Trichodesma ringoetii = Trichodesma physaloides.

Riocreuxia (Apocynaceae): after French artist Alfred Riocreux (1820-1912), a botanical illustrator. (CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names)

Ritchiea (Capparaceae): dedicated to the British explorer and traveler Joseph Ritchie (?-1821), surgeon and plant collector in Africa.

ritellii (Aspilia): ???

Rivina (Phytolaccaceae): named for the German botanist and physician Augustus Quirinus Rivinus (1652-1723), professor of botany and physiology.

robbinsii (Bryobartramia): after Mr. F. Robbins who collected sspecimens in 1941. (Australian Journal of Botany)
    Bryobartramia robbinsii = Bryobartramia novae-velasiae.

Robinia (Fabaceae): honors the French botanist Jean Robin (1550-1629), royal gardener and herbalist to King Henry IV of France, worked at the Jardin des Plantes in Paris.

Rochea (Crassulaceae): named for the Swiss botanist and physician Daniel de la Roche (1743-1813) and his son François (1780-1813), botanist and physician.

Rochelia (Boraginaceae): commemorates the Austrian botanist Anton Rochel (1770-1847), surgeon and officer in the Austrian army, traveler, and Curator of the Pest Botanical Garden.

Roella (Campanulaceae): named after Wilhelm Roell, 18th century professor of anatomy in Amsterdam and horticulturist.

Rogeria (Pedaliaceae): named after a Baron Jacques-Francois Roger du Loiret (died 1849), plant collector and governor of Senegal from 1821-1827. (Thanks to David Hollombe)

rogersii (Angolluma, Anisotes, Arctotis, Caralluma, Corymbium, Dyschoriste, Euryops, Felicia, Gazania, Helichrysum, Heliotropium, Hermbstaedtia, Huernia, Metalasia, Orbea, Pachycymbium, Rhus, Searsia, Sphaeranthus, Stapelia, Stylochaeton, Tripteris, Venidium, Vernonia): after its collector the British-born South African botanist and missionary Rev. Frederick Arundel Rogers (1876-1944) who collected plants in the South Africa, the Belgian Congo and Rhodesia. (CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names)
    Angolluma rogersii = Orbea rogersii.
    Caralluma rogersii = Orbea rogersii.
    Corumbium rogersii = Corymbium glabrum var. rogersii.
    Euryops rogersii = Euryops pedunculatus.
    Gazania rogersii = Gazania krebsiana ssp. arctotoides.
    Helichrysum rogersii = Helichrysum praecinctum.
    Heliotropium rogersii = Heliotropium nelsonii.
    Huernia rogersii = Huernia oculata.
    Pachycymbium rogersii = Orbea rogersii.
    Rhus rogersii = Searsia rogersii.
    Sphaeranthus rogersii = Sphaeranthus peduncularis ssp. rogersii.
    Stapelia rogersii = Orbea rogersii.
    Stylochaeton rogersii = Stylochaeton borumensis.
    Tripteris rogersii = Osteospermum rigidum var. rigidum.
    Venidium rogersii = Arctotis rogersii.
    Vernonia rogersii = Vernonia acuminatissima.

Rohria (Asteraceae): after Julius Philip Benjamin von Röhr (1737-1793), Prussian-born botanist and plant collector, naturalist, medical doctor and watercolourist, who emigrated to Denmark and who sent many plants to Europe from South America and the West Indies. (Wikipedia)

Romulea (Iridaceae): named for the legendary Romulus, founder and first king of Rome.

Rondeletia (Rubiaceae): honors the French physician and botanist Guillaume Rondelet (1507-1566), zoologist and ichthyologist, professor of medicine.

Roodia (Mesembryanthemaceae): named for the South African plant collector Petrusa Benjamina Rood (1861-1946).

rooperi (Kniphofia, Tritoma): named for Capt. Edward Rooper, botanical painter who sent this plant to England. (Elsa Pooley)
    Tritoma rooperi = Kniphofia rooperi.

rosenbrockii (Anthericum): possibly after Alexander Johann Rosenbrock (1880-1955) who collected in South Africa.
    Anthericum rosenbrockii = Chlorophytum crispum.

Rosenia (Asteraceae): commemorates the Swedish physician and botanist Eberhard Rosén (1714-1796) and his brother Nils Rosén (1706-1773). (CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names)

rosenii (Vernonia): ???

rossii (Eriosema): named for botanist Dr. James Ross, who worked on the Fabaceae of S.A. (Elsa Pooley)

rossouwii (Haworthia): possibly for a plant collector named Rossouw (fl. 1975).
    Haworthia rossouwii = Haworthia mirabilis var. triebneriana.

Rothia (Fabaceae): named for the German botanist and physician Albrecht Wilhelm Roth (1757-1834).

rothii (Cordia): ???
    Cordia rothii = Cordia sinensis.

Rothmannia (Rubiaceae): named in honor of the Swedish botanist and physician Dr. Georg Rothman (1739-1778) by his friend Thunberg. Both were pupils of Linnaeus, and Rothmann was a traveller and plant collector in North Africa. (CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names)

Rottboellia (Poaceae): commemorates the Danish botanist and physician Christen Friis Rottboell (1727-1797), traveler, pupil of Linnaeus, professor of medicine, Director of the Copenhagen Botanical Garden.

rourkei (Leucadendron): for Dr. John P. Rourke, South African botanist at Kirstenbosch (Egglie & Newton), author of The Proteas of Southern Africa.

roupelliae (Protea): after Mrs. Arabella Roupell who painted plants for a book on Cape flowers in 1840. (Elsa Pooley)

rouwenortii (Anthericum): ???
    Anthericum rouwenortii = Chlorophytum capense.

rowleyanus (Senecio): after British succulent enthusiast and author Gordon D. Rowley (1921- ).

Royena (Ebenaceae): named for the Dutch botanist and physician Adriaan van Royen (1704-1779), professor of botany and medicine, Director of the Botanic Garden at Leyden 1730-1754, friend of Linnaeus.

royenii (Codon): the specific name honors either David or Adriaan van Royen or both. They were Dutchmen who associated with Carl Linnaeus during the latter's years in Holland. (PlantzAfrica)

rudolfii (Helichrysum): ???

rudolfii (Phyllopodium): after Friedrich Richard Rudolf Schlecter (1872-1925), see schlecteri.

rudolphii (Amphiglossa): named by Dr. Marinda Koekemoer for her father Godlieb Rudolf Koekemoer (1936- ), who joined her on many collecting trips.

Ruellia (Acanthaceae): the very large genus Ruellia is named after French botanist and physician Jean Ruel (Jean de la Ruelle) (1474-1537), herbalist to François I of France, and author of De Natura Plantarum (1536) (CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names)

Rumohra (Davalliaceae): named in honor of the German art expert and writer Karl Friedrich Ludwig Felix von Rumohr (1785-1843), patron of botany.

Rungia (Acanthaceae): named for Friedlieb (Friedrich) Ferdinand Runge (1795-1867), a German analytical chemist, discoverer of caffeine and the blue dye aniline, and inventor of paper chromatography.

Ruppia (Ruppiaceae): honors the German botanist Heinrich Bernard Ruppius (1688-1719), author of Flora jenensis.

Ruschia (Mesembryanthemaceae): the genus name Ruschia, was named in honor of a Namibian farmer by the name of Ernst Julius Rusch (1867–1957). (PlantzAfrica)

Ruschianthemum (Mesembryanthemaceae): see Ruschianthus.

ruschiana (Caralluma, Ruschia, Stapelia, Tridentea, Tromotriche): I assume this is named for the aforementioned Ernest Julius Rusch.
    Caralluma ruschiana = Tromotriche umdausensis.
    Stapelia ruschiana = Tromotriche ruschiana.
    Tridentea ruschiana = Tromotriche ruschiana.

ruschianus (Elytropappus): see Ruschia.
    Elytropappus ruschianus = Seriphium plumosum.

Ruschianthus (Mesembryanthemaceae): the monotypic genus Ruschianthus was named to commemorate Ernst Julius Rusch's son Ernst Franz Theodor Rusch (1897–1964). (PlantzAfrica)

ruschii (Anacampseros, Avonia, Conophytum, Piaranthus): see Ruschia.
    Conophytum ruschii = Conophytum jucundum ssp. ruschii.
    Piaranthus ruschii = Piaranthus cornutus var. ruschii.

ruschii (Hoodia): after E.F.T. Rusch.

ruschiorum (Lithops): honors both father and son E.J. Rusch and E.F.T. Rusch. (see above)

Ruspolia (Acanthaceae): named for the Italian explorer Eugenio Ruspoli (1866-1893), ethnologist and naturalist, botanical and zoological collector, killed by an elephant.

rustii (Anthericum): possibly after Johann Conrad Rust (1865-1921), a plant collector in Southern Africa.
    Anthericum rustii = Chlorophytum crispum.

Ruttya (Acanthaceae): named for John Rutty (1697-1775), an 18th century physician and author in Dublin, naturalist, entomologist, and lichenologist. (CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names)

rycroftiana (Haworthia): after South African botanist Dr. Hedley Brian Rycroft (1918-1990), professor of botany at Cape Town University, and the third director (first South African-born director) of Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens, author of What Protea Is That? and Our Flower Paradise, collected in South Africa and Angola. (Eggli & Newton in part)
    Haworthia rycroftiana = Haworthia integra var. integra.



Saelania (Ditrichaceae): ???

Salacia (Celastraceae): after Roman goddess of the sea, wife of Neptune. (Elsa Pooley)

salmdyckiana (Gasteria): see salmiana.
Gasteria salmdyckiana = Gasteria bicolor var. bicolor.

salmiana (Agave): possibly after Joseph Maria Franz Anton Hubert Ugnatz Fürst zu Salm-Reifferscheid-Dyck (1773-1861), Prussian botanist, botanical artist and horticulturist who built up an extensive collection of succulents and a comprehensive library at Castle Dyck. He was the Prince and Earl of Salm-Reifferscheid-Dyck, a small principality in Prussia.
    Agave salmiana = Agave americana ssp. sisalana.

Saltera (Penaeaceae): named for the English botanist Terence Macleane Salter (1883-1969), traveler, at the Bolus Herbarium 1930-1960, plant collector in South Africa.

salteri (Anthericum, Bokkeveldia, Corymbium, Disa, Erica, Heliophila, Lachenalia, Oxalis, Stoebe, Strumeria): see Saltera.
    Anthericum salteri = Trachyandra tortilis.
    Bokkeveldia salteri = Strumaria salteri.
    Corymbium salteri = Corymbium glabrum var. glabrum.
    Heliophila salteri = Heliophila concatenata.
    Stoebe salteri = Stoebe schultzii.

saltii (Anthericum, Trachyandra): named for British traveller Henry Salt (1780-1827). (Elsa Pooley)
    Anthericum saltii = Trachyandra saltii var. saltii.

Salvadora (Salvadoraceae): named for the Spanish apothecary and botanist Juan Sakvador y Bosca (1598-1681), plant collector.

Salvinia (Salviniaceae): honors the Italian Antonio Maria Salvini (1633-1729), professor of Greek at Florence.

Sandersonia (Liliaceae): named after the Scottish horticulturist John Sanderson (1820-1881), botanical collector in South Africa, died in South Africa.

sandersonii (Basananthe, Brachystelma, Bulbophyllum, Ceropegia, Hermannia, Hoffmanseggia, Polystachya, Senecio, Utricularia ): see Sandersonia.

Sanionia (Amblystegiaceae): ???

sankeyi (Argyrolobium): after H.J. Sankey (1885-1945), South African plant collector and forester who collected speciments for Kew in the East Cape.

Sansevieria (Dracaenaceae): named after Count Pietro Antonio Sanseverino, an Italian patron of Horticulture in Naples. (Newton)

saundersiae (Aloe, Anthericum, Asparagus, Chlorophytum, Leptaloe, Ornithogalum, Sisyranthus): the species epithet, 'saundersiae,' was named after Mrs. Katharine Saunders (1824–1901), a well-known plant collector and artist. She sent bulbs of this species to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London, in 1887.
    Anthericum saundersiae = Chlorophytum saundersiae.
    Asparagus saundersiae = Asparagus racemosus.
    Leptaloe saundersiae = Aloe myriacantha.

saundersii (Dermatobotrys, Pachypodium): the specific name comes from Sir Charles James Renault Saunders (1857-1935), chief magistrate in Kwa-Zulu Natal who collected D. saundersii in Zululand. He was the son of the above Katherine Saunders.

saundersii (Gladiolus): named for Wilson Saunders who first grew and illustrated the plant in 1870. (Elsa Pooley)

sandersonii (Asplenium): named for amateur botanist and plant collector John Sanderson (1820-1881). (Vumba Nature)

Scaevola (Goodeniaceae): named to honor the 6th century BC Roman hero C. Mucius Scaevola, whose surname means "left-handed" from the Latin scaevus, "left." Actually 'Scaevola' was a sobriquet he received after he lost his right arm.

schaeferi (Aster, Celosia, Hermbstaedtia, Othonna): after plant collector Eric Ernest Schaefer (1908- ).
    Aster schaeferi = Felicia filifolia ssp. schaeferi.
    Celosia schaeferi = Hermbstaedtia schaeferi.
    Othonna schaeferi = Othonna lasiocarpa.

schaferi (Microloma): ???
    Microloma schaferi = Microloma penicillatum.

Schefflera (Araliaceae): this large genus which has about 650 species was named in 1776 by J.R. and G. Foster in honor of botanist and physician Jakob Christoph Scheffler of Gdansk, Poland. (PlantzAfrica)

schellenbergii (Aizoanthemum): after German botanist Dr. Gustav August Ludwig David Schellenberg (1882-1963). (Eggli & Newton)

schelpei (Asplenium): see schelpeana.

schelpeana (Hesperantha): after Edmund Andre Charles Louis Eloi Schelpe (1924-1985), well-known South African plant ecologist, taxonomist and plant collector, author of An Introduction to the South African Orchids. (Elsa Pooley in part)

schenckii (Anisostigma, Barleria, Berkheya, Codon, Euryops, Felicia, Gazania, Tetragonia): probably commemorates the German geographer, minerologist and botanist Adolf Schenck (1857-1936). From 1884 to 1887 he was on a minerological expedition to German Southwest Africa. Before returning home, he visited mines and goldfields in the present-day nations of South Africa, Botswana and Mozambique. He had a brother named Heinrich who was also a botanist.
    Anisostigma schenckii = Tetragonia schenckii.
    Barleria schenkii = Barleria rigida.
    Berkheya schenkii = Berkheya spinosissima ssp. spinosissima.
    Euryops schenckii = Othonna sedifolia.
    Felicia schenckii = Felicia namaquana.

schijffii (Eucomis): after H.P. van der Schijff (1921- ), professor of botany. (Elsa Pooley)

schimperi (Agialida, Bidens, Indigofera): Several Schimpers show up in the botanical literature, a Georg Heinrich Wilhelm Schimper who collected Chrysocalyx schimperi, a German plant collector named Wilhelm G. Schimper who apparently collected in Ethiopia, Wilhelm Philipp Schimper, and a German botanist by the name of Andreas Franz Wilhelm Schimper. Further research turns up the following: Wilhelm Philipp Schimper (1808-1880) was a German-French botanist who was the father of Andreas Franz Wilhelm Schimper (1856-1901) and a cousin to botanist Georg Heinrich Wilhelm Schimper (1804-1878) and naturalist Karl Friedrich Schimper (1803-1867), who were brothers. The elder Schimper was curator and then Director of the Natural History Museum in Strasbourg, and then was professor of geology and natural history at the University there. He was mainly interested in bryology and paleobotany, and was the co-author of Bryologia Europaea which described all European mosses. G.H.W. Schimper did a lot of work in northern Africa, was the author of Journey to Algiers, and settled in Ethiopia, so he is probably the one who is referred to in a couple of websites as Wilhelm G. Schimper. Andreas Franz Schimper was a botanist and phytogeographer who made collecting trips to Venezuela, the West Indies, Ceylon, and Java, and was the author of Pflanzengeographie auf Physiologischer Grundlage in which he coined the term 'tropical rainforest.' He was a professor at the Bonn Botanical Institute and at the University of Basel. He was one of the first to divide the continents into floral regions. Karl Schimper apparently originated the idea of glaciation which gave rise to modern theories of ice ages and climate cycles. One problem that arises is trying to determine which Schimper goes with which taxon is that the specimen records sometimes say W. Schimper, or G.W. Schimper, or W.G. Schimper or G.H.W. Schimper. In one case, one of two specimen records of the same collection with the same date and number that went to different repositories has 'Schimper W.G.' as the collector and the other has 'Schimper G.H.W.'as the collector, and this is presumably from his own records. His are the most confusing entries, since his name is alternatively given as Wilhelm Schimper, George Heinrich Wilhelm Schimper, Wilhelm G. Schimper and Wilhelm Georg Schimper. Two hundred years ago, names were just not as fixed as they are today. (Wikipedia and Aluka) The taxa mentioned above commemorate one or another of the Schimpers but I can't say for sure which goes with who. Maybe someone who reads this can straighten it out.

schimperi (Commiphora, Vaccinium): after Andreas Franz Schimper (1856-1901), see above.

schimperi (Acokanthera, Asystasia, Balsamodendrum, Commiphora): after G.H.W. Schimper (1804-1878).
    Balsamodendrum schimperi = Commiphora schimperi.

schimperiana (Cyathula, Habenaria): Habenaria schimperiana was named after G.H.W. Schimper (1804-1878) and Cyathula schimperiana was collected by him in Ethiopia in 1837.
    Cyathula schimperiana = Cyathula cylindrica var. cylindrica.

schinziana (Ceropegia, Foveolina, Matricaria, Melanthera, Pentzia): see schinzii.
    Ceropegia schinziana = Ceropegia pachystelma ssp. pachystelma.
    Matricaria schinziana = Foveolina schinaiana.
    Melanthera schinziana = Melanthera triternata.
    Pentzia schinziana = Foveolina schinziana.

schinzianum (Schizoglossum): see schinzii.
    Schizoglossum schinzianum = Aspidoglossum heterophyllum.

schinzianus (Amaranthus, Asclepias, Gomphocarpus, Pachycarpus): see schinzii.
    Asclepias schinzianus = Pachycarpus schinzianus.
    Gomphocarpus schinzianus = Pachycarpus schinzianus.

schinzii (Acalypha, Aloe, Berkheya, Berkheyopsis, Brachystelma, Calostephane, Celosia, Dicoma, Erlangea, Fockea, Garuleum, Gazania, Geigeria, Heeria, Hermbstaedtia, Lepidium, Ozoroa, Philyrophyllum, Senecio, Stapelia, Ursinia, Vernonia): named for Hans Schinz (1858-1941), Swiss professor of systematic botany and director of the Botanical Garden in Zurich, and an explorer and botanist who collected in South Africa and Namibia. (Elsa Pooley, Hugh Clarke)
    Aloe schinzii = Aloe littoralis.
    Berkheyopsis schinzii = Hirpicum gorterioides ssp. schinzii.
    Calostephane schinzii = Calostephane divaricata.
    Celosia schinzii = Hermbstaedtia linearis.
    Fockea schinzii = Fockea multiflora.
    Gazania schinzii = Gazania krebsiana ssp. serrulata.
    Heeria schinzii = Ozoroa schinzii.
    Hermbstaedtia schinzii = Hermbstaedtia linearis.
    Senecio schinzii = Emilia ambifaria.
    Ursinia schinzii = Ursinia nana ssp. nana.
    Vernonia schinzii = Vernonia fastigiata.

Schkuhria (Asteraceae): honors German botanist Christian Schkuhr (1741-1811). The following was translated from a German website: "Christian Schkuhr was a trained gardener and later worked as a mechanic for the University of Wittenberg. Besides his occupation, he conducted botanical studies throughout his life. Not only did he learn to draw, to engrave and to use a microscope (using selfmade instruments) to publish his “Handbook of Botany,” he also learned how to print (cf. Boehmer’s epilogue for the first volume of the handbook with a rather detailed description of the author’s life). With his rather modestly equipped work, Schkuhr not only wanted to help plant lovers to get to know the names of native plants and plants introduced to the area by using Carl von Linné’s system, which by then had been accepted almost everywhere in Germany, but also wanted them to get familiar with the value of plants with regard to medicinal use, local economy and agriculture. At the same time, he regarded his handbook as a substitute for a so far non-existent guide to the flora of Wittenberg (cf. volume 1, p.3). The plant species were classified according to Linné’s system and very frequently Schkuhr placed several species next to each other, as was the case with the sweet vernal grass. He stated both the Latin and the German name of the species and gave a brief characterization of the plant and a detailed description and explanation of the figures on the table. Furthermore, Schkuhr gave anthesis, required location, and how widespread the species was, in particular its extent of occurance in and around Wittenberg, as well as the usefulness of the species and further particulars, such as color and smell, peculiar "

Schlechteranthus (Mesembryanthemaceae): named for the German botanist Friedrich Richard Rudolf Schlecter (1872-1925), traveler and plant collector in Africa, assistant to Harry Bolus, came to the Cape in the 1890's; and/or his brother Max Schlecter (1874-1960).

schlechteri (Aloe, Annesorhiza, Anthericum, Arctotis, Asclepias, Aster, Bidens, Cyphostemma, Echium, Erica, Geranium, Gomphocarpus, Habenaria, Helichrysum, Heliophila, Herniari, Hydrocotyle, Kniphofia, Lepidium, Leucadendron, Matricaria, Metalasia, Nerine, Oncosiphon, Phyllopodium, Pimpinella, Planea, Psilothonna, Raspalia, Rhus, Romulea, Satyrium, Schizoglossum, Spiloxene, Steirodiscus, Vernonia): after German botanist Friedrich Richard Rudolf Schlecter (1872-1925).
    Aloe schlecteri = Aloe claviflora.
    Anthericum schlecteri = Trachyandra bulbinifolia.
    Aster schlecteri = Felicia filifolia ssp. schlecteri.
    Bidens schlecteri = Bidens kirkii.
    Echium schlecteri = Lobostemon collinus.
    Gomphocarpus schlecteri = Asclepias schlecteri.
    Helichrysum schlecteri = Helichrysum acutatum.
    Heliophila schlecteri = Heliophila coronopifolia, digitata, subulata.
    Kniphofia schlecteri = Kniphofia ichopensis var. ichopensis or Kniphofia breviflora.
    Lepidium schlecteri = Lepidium africanum ssp. africanum.
    Matricaria schlecteri = Oncosiphon schlecteri.
    Metalasia schlecteri = Planea schlecteri.
    Nerine schlecteri = Nerine pancratioides.
    Psilothonna schlecteri = Steirodiscus schlecteri.
    Rhus schlecteri = Searsia lucida forma scoparia.
    Schizoglossum schlecteri = Aspidoglossum glabrescens.

Schlechteria (Brassicaceae): see schlecteri.

schlecteriana (Othonna): probably after F.R.R. Schlecter.
    Othonna schlecteriana = Euryops asparagoides.

schlechterianum (Chlorophytum, Ornithogalum, Peucedanum): see schlecteri.
    Chlorophytum schlecterianum = Chlorophytum undulatum.
    Peucedanum schlecterianum = Afrosciadium magalismontanum.

Schlechterina (Passifloraceae): see schlecteri.

schleicheri (Acarospora): there was a plant collector in Germany, France, Italy and Switzerland named Johann Christoph Schleicher (1768-1834) but I don't know if that's who this name is for.

schliebenii (Rhus): after Hans-Joachim Eberhardt Schlieben (1902-1975) who collected in Tanzania and Southern Africa.
    Rhus schliebenii = Searsia megalismontana ssp. coddii.

Schmidelia (Sapindaceae): honors the German physician Casimir Christoph Schmidel (1718-1792), naturalist, professor or medicine and pharmacology at the University of Bayreuth/Erlangen.

Schmidtia (Poaceae): named after the German botanist Johann Anton Schmidt (1823-1905), professor of botany, traveler, plant collector.

schmidtiana (Aloe, Haworthia): ???
    Aloe schmidtiana = Aloe cooperi ssp. cooperi.
    Haworthia schmidtiana = Haworthia nortieri var. nortieri.

schmidtii (Crinum): see Schmidtia.
    Crinum schmidtii = Crinum moorei.

schoemanii (Haworthia): possibly for plant collector Ferdinand Reynold Schoeman (1943- ).

Schoenefeldia (Poaceae): honors the German botanist Wladimir de Schoenefeld (1816-1875), one of the founders of the Société Botanique de France.

schoenfelderii (Geigeria): ???
    Geigeria schoenfelderii = Geigeria nianganensis.

schoenlandii (Ceropegia): see Schonlandia.
    Ceropegia schoenlandii = Ceropegia linearis ssp. woodii.

Schonlandia (Mesembryanthemaceae): named for the German botanist Seimar Schönland (1860-1940), came to the Eastern Cape in 1889 to take up an appointment as curator of the Albany Museum, developed the second largest herbarium in South Africa which had been founded by W. G. Atherstone in 1860, played a leading role in the Botanical Survey of South Africa which had been initiated by Pole Evans, married Peter MacOwan's daughter Flora in 1896. (Wikipedia)

schooneseeii (Aloinopsis): honors Mr. D.H. Schoonees (fl. 1931), a South African teacher. (Eggli & Newton)

Schotia (Fabaceae): the genus Schotia was named in honor of Richard van der Schot, chief gardener of the Imperial Garden at Schönbrun. (PlantzAfrica)

schraderi (Lepisorus, Polypodium): named for a certain Schrader. (Hugh Clarke)

Schrebera (Oleaceae): honors the German botanist and zoologist Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber (1739-1810), correspondent of Linnaeus.

schroederi (Asparagus, Protoasparagus): possibly after plant collector Friedrich Schroeder (fl. 1900-1904).
    Protoasparagus schroederi = Asparagus schroederi.

schroeteri (Phymaspermum): possibly for Carl Schröter (Schroeter) (1855-1039), Swiss ecologist and limnologist, lecturer in botany then professor at the Technical College, Zurich, studied fossil woods and phytogeography.

schuldtiana (Haworthia): for a German horticulturist named Schuldt.(Eggli & Newton)
    Haworthia schuldtiana = Haworthia maraisii var. maraisii.

schultesii (Trachyandra): possibly for Josef August Schultes (1773-1831), Austrian physician, botanist and naturalist, author of Flora of Austria (1794) and Flora of Bavaria (1811). His son, Julius Hermann Schultes (1804-1840) was also a botanist.
Trachyandra schultesii = Chlorophytum triflorum.

schultzei (Brachystelma, Tenaris): after Leonhard S. Schultze (1872-1955), a German zoologist, anthropologist, geographer and philologist.
    Tenaris schultzei = Brachystelma schultzei.

schultzii (Heliophila, Stoebe): ???

schumanniana (Dicliptera): ???
    Dicliptera schumanniana = Megalochlamys marlothii.

schumannianum (Thesium): probably after amateur botanist Karl Moritz Schumann (1851-1904). (Hugh Clarke)

Schwabea (Acanthaceae): named after German botanist Samuel Heinrich Schwabe (1789-1875), pharmacist, astronomer, and member of the Royal Society of London. (CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names)

Schwantesia (Mesembryanthemaceae): named for the German botanist Gustav Schwantes (1891-1960), archeologist and professor of pre-history.

schweickerdtiana (Gasteria): after Herold Georg Wilhelm Johannes Schweickerdt (1903-1977), plant collector in Namibia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa. (Gunn & Codd)
    Gasteria schweickerdtiana = Gasteria carinata var. carinata.

schweickerdtii (Caralluma): see schweickerdtiana.
    Caralluma schweickerdtii = Orbea carnosa ssp. keithii.

schweinfurthiana (Sclerocarya): see schweinfurthii.
    Sclerocarya schweinfurthiana = Sclerocarya birrea ssp. caffra.

schweinfurthii (Angolluma, Asclepias, Caralluma, Potamogeton, Lannea, Orbea, Pachycarpus, Pachycymbium, Secamone): after George August Schweinfurth (1836-1925), German botanist, ethnologist and traveller in Central East Africa. He made considerable advances in our knowledge of the inhabitants and the flora and fauna of Central Africa.
    Angolluma schweinfurthii = Orbea schweinfurthii.
    Asclepias schweinfurthii = Pachycarpus lineolatus.
    Caralluma schweinfurthii = Orbea schweinfurthii.
    Pachycarpus schweinfurthii = Pachycarpus lineolatus.
    Pachycymbium scweinfurthii = Orbea schweinfurthii.
    Secamone schweinfurthii = Secamone parvifolia.

Schwetschkea (Leskeaceae): after Karl Gustav Schwetschke (1804-1881), bookseller of Halle. (Mosses of Eastern North America by Howard Crum)

scottii (Haworthia): probably for British botanist George F. Scott-Elliot (1862-1934). (Eggli & Newton)

scullyi (Acanthopsis, Arctotis, Blepharis, Disa): named for William Charles Scully (1855-1943), magistrate, author and collector who came to Cape Town as a child. (Elsa Pooley)
    Arctotis scullyi = Arctotis decurrens.
    Blepharis scullyi = Acanthopsis scullyi.

Searsia (Anacardiaceae): apparently named after the American plant ecologist Paul Bigelow Sears (1891-1990), professor of botany at Oberlin College, 1938-1950, and Chair of the Conservation Program, Yale University.

Sebaea (Gentianaceae): after Albert Seba (1665-1736), Dutch pharmacist, zoologist,  naturalist and author who, living in Amsterdam, obtained his large collections which he sold to the Russian czar, by asking sailors and ship surgeons to bring him exotic plants and animal products. (Hugh Clarke)

Seemannaralia (Araliaceae): commemorates the German botanist and explorer Berthold Carl Seemann (1825-1871), naturalist, botanical collector, naturalist to the HMS Herald, editor of Bonplandia 1853-1862, editor of the Journal of Botany 1863-1869, author of The Botany of the Voyage of HMS Herald (1845-1851). (CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names)

Seetzenia (Zygophyllaceae): named for German traveller Ulrich Jasper Seetzen (1767-1811), a naturalist and botanical collector. (CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names) "His chief interests were in natural history and technology; he wrote papers on both these subjects which gained him some reputation, and had both in view in making a series of journeys through the Netherlands and Germany. He also engaged in various small manufactures, and in 1802 obtained a government post in Jever, however, the interest which he had long felt in geographical exploration culminated in a resolution to travel. In the summer of 1802 he started down the Danube with a companion Jacobsen, who broke down at Smyrna a year later. His journey was by Constantinople, where he stayed six months, thence through Asia Minor to Smyrna, then again through the heart of Asia Minor to Aleppo, where he remained from November 1803 to April 1805, and made himself sufficiently at home with Arabic speech and ways to travel as a native. Now began the part of his travels of which a full journal has been published (April 1808 to March 1809), a series of most instructive journeys in eastern and western Palestine and the wilderness of Sinai, and so on to Cairo and the Fayum. His chief exploit was a tour round the Dead Sea, which he made without a companion and in the disguise of a beggar. From Egypt he went by sea to Jidda and reached Mecca as a pilgrim in October 1809. In Arabia he made extensive journeys, ranging from Medina to Lahak and returning to Mocha, from which place his last letters to Europe were written in November 1810. In September of the following year he left Mocha with the hope of reaching Muscat, and was found dead two days later, having, it is believed, been poisoned by the command of the Imam of San‘a’. For the parts of Seetzen's journeys not covered by the published journal (Reisen, ed. Kruse, 4 vols, Berlin, 1854), the only printed records are a series of letters and papers in Zach's Monatliche Correspondenz and Hammer's Fundgruben. Many papers and collections were lost through his death or never reached Europe. The collections that were saved form the Oriental museum and the chief part of the Oriental manuscripts of the ducal library in Gotha." (Wikipedia)

Seidelia (Euphorbiaceae): named for German botanist Christoph Friedrich Seidel (fl. 1869).

seineri (Anthericum, Albuca, Bulbine, Helichrysum, Melanthera): probably after Franz Seiner (1874-1940), Austrian journalist, traveller and plant collector in South West Africa. (Eggli & Newton)
    Anthericum seineri = Albuca seineri.
    Bulbine seineri = Albuca seineri.
    Helichrysum seineri = Helichrysum lineare.
    Melanthera seineri = Melanthera triternata.

Semonvillea (Molluginaceae): named for a Hyppolite Boisel, Baron de Monville (1794-1863), French amateur botanist and plant collector.

Senebiera (Brassicaceae): honors the Swiss botanist Jean Senebier (1742-1809), bibliographer and linquist, clergyman, physiologist, librarian of the city of Genève.

Serruria (Proteaceae): belongs to the protea family and was named in honor of J. Serrurier who was Professor of Botany at the University of Utrecht in the early eighteenth century. (PlantzAfrica)

seydelina (Eleocharis): after Richard Heinrich Wilhelm Seydel (1885-1972) a German farmer and  collector of plant in the northern-central parts of Namibia (= S.W. Africa) for the Pflanzen Physiologisches Institute, Göttingen.

Shantzia (Malvaceae): named for the American botanist Homer LeRoy Shantz (1876-1958), traveler in Africa and plant collector.

shawii (Albuca): after teacher, geologist, bryologist and amateur botanist John Shaw (1837-1890).

Sherardia (Rubiaceae): commemorates the British botanist William Sherard (1659-1727), traveller and plant collector in Greece and Asia Minor, British Consul to Smyrna (1703-1716), founder of the Sherardian Chair of Botany at Oxford, pupil of Joseph Pitton de Tournefort and Herman Boerhaave, and Fellow of the Royal Society.

Shutereia (Convolvulaceae): ???

Sickmannia (Cyperaceae): named after the German botanist Rudolph Sickmann (1779-1849).

sieberiana (Acacia): named for Franz Sieber (1789-1844), a Bohemian botanist, traveller and plant collector. (PlantzAfrica)

sieberianum (Peucedanum): see sieberiana.
    Peucedanum sieberianum = Nanobubon strictum.

sieberi (Ischyrolepis): after Franz Sieber (1789-1844), a Bohemian botanist, traveller and plant collector. (Hugh Clarke)

Silene (Caryophyllaceae): in Greek mythology, Silenus was a woodland deity, tutor and companion to Bacchus.

simiana (Tylophora): see simii.

simii (Aloe, Anemia, Asplenium, Gnaphalium, Helichrysum, Rhus): after Thomas Robertson Sim (1858-1938), Scottish-born botanist, bryologist, botanical artist and first Conservator of Forests in Natal, author of The Forests and Forest Flora of The Colony of the Cape of Good Hope (1907), worked in the botanic gardens at Kew and at Harvard.
    Helichrysum simii = Helichrysum lineare.
    Rhus simii = Searsia gueinzii.

simmleri (Tulbaghia): after Gudrun Simmler (1884- ).

simsiana (Lebeckia): ???

simsii (Stapelia, Tridentea): ???
    Stapelia simsii = Stapelia hirsuta var. vetula.
    Tridentea simsii = Stapelia hirsuta var. vetula.

skinneri (Astroloba): ???

smalliana (Trachyandra): ???

Smithia (Fabaceae): dedicated to the British botanist and physician Sir James Edward Smith (1759-1828), Fellow of the Royal Society, a founder and first President of the Linnaean Society of London, prolific writer.

smithiae (Cyrtanthus): after Matilda Smith, botanical illustrator (1854-1926).

smithiana (Oxalis): see Smithia.

smithiana (Vernonia): ???
    Vernonia smithiana = Hilliardiella aristata.

smithii (Ceropegia): after Gerald Graham Smith (1892-1976), plant collector in South Africa.
    Ceropegia smithii = Ceropegia radicans ssp. smithii.

smitii (Haworthia): ???
    Haworthia smitii = Haworthia scabra var. starkiana.

smithii (Heliophila): collected by a plant collector named C.A. Smith in South Africa in 1927, but given the commonness of the name may have been named for someone else.
    Heliophila smithii = Heliophila minima.

smutsii (Anisopappus): after South African statesman, soldier, philisopher and amateur botanist Jan Christiaan Smuts (1870-1950), who rose to the position of Prime Minister of South Africa.

snijmaniae (Chamarea): after South African botanist Dr. Deirdré (Dee) Anne Snijman (1949- ), an officer at the Compton Herbarium, worked at Kirstenbosch, travelled and collected extensively with Pauline Perry (see perryae), married to Colin Paterson-Jones, a superb professional natural history photographer and writer with a special interest in southern Africa’s wildflowers.

sodenii (Impatiens): ???

Soliva (Asteraceae): honors the Spanish botanist and medical practitioner Salvador Soliva, 18th century physician to the Spanish court.

sonderi (Notobubon, Peucedanum, Seseli, Wahlenbergia): see Sonderina.
    Peucedanum sonderi = Notobubon sonderi.
    Seseli sonderi = Notobubon sonderi.

sonderiana (Begonia): see Sonderina.

Sonderina (Apiaceae): named after German botanist Otto Wilhelm Sonder (1812-1881). (CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names)

Sonderothamnus (Penaeaceae): see Sonderina.

sonneratianum (Abutilon): named for Pierre Sonnerat (1745-1814), French naturalist and draughtsman. (Elsa Pooley)

Sparrmannia (Tiliaceae): named for the Swedish botanist and physician Anders Sparrmann (1748-1820), traveler, pupil of Linnaeus, doctor on Cook's second expedition on the Resolution, was with Thunberg in South Africa.

Spielmannia (Myoporaceae): honors the German botanist and physician Jakob Reinhold Spielmann (1722-1783), pharmacist and traveler.

Sponia (Ulmaceae): the CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names says, "Presumably after the French physician Jacob (Jacques) Spon (1647-1685), traveller."

sprengelii (Erigeron, Nidorella): ???
    Erigeron sprengelii = Nidorella auriculata.
    Nidorella sprengelii = Nidorella auriculata.

sprengeri (Richardia): I think but am not certain that this is named after German botanist Carl (Charles) Ludwig Sprenger (1846-1917). The Aluka website refers to it being cultivated by a Mr. Sprenger of Naples, in 1902. He was an enthusiastic plant collecter and had his own nursery, which tragically was buried by the ash from a 1905 eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. In 1907 he became the supervisor of Kaiser Wilhelm's garden on the island of Corfu. He was completely deaf.
    Richardia sprengeri = Zantedeschia pentlandii.

sprenglianum (Echium): ???
    Echium sprenglianum = Lobostemon montanus.

sprenglianus (Lobostemon): ???
    Lobostemon sprenglianus = Lobostemon montanus.

Staavia (Bruniaceae): named after a particular Martin Staaf, correspondent of Linnaeus in 1772. (Aluka)

Staberoha (Restionaceae): apparently named after one H. Staberoh, a chemist who wrote a phamaceutical book in 1829; further details unknown (Hugh Clarke)

Stadmannia (Sapindaceae): named after physician, botanist and painter Jean Frederic Stadtmann (1762-1807). (David Hollombe)

stainbankiae (Blepharis): after Eliza Munro (Mrs. Henry Ellerton Stainbank) (collected around 1885). She was the wife of Henry Ellerton Stainbank (1836-1915) who came to South Africa from England with his brother Dering Lee Warner Stainbank (?-1907) and settled in Natal. The Dictionary of British and Irish Botanists and Horticulturists has the following entry for Henry Ellerton Stainbank: "To Natal, 1855. Merchant and coffee planter. He and his wife occasionally sent plants to Kew. Member of Committee of Durban Botanic Garden." He is listed as having gotten married in 1858. Dering's son Kenneth's name is memorialized on the Kenneth Stainbank Nature Reserve, one of the finest in the Durban area.

standleyanus (Amaranthus): possibly after American Amaranth authority Paul Carpenter Standley (1884-1963)

Stangeria (Stangeriaceae): this species was first described by Kunze in 1836 from a sterile specimen collected by Drège. It was misidentified as a fern. Dr. William Stanger (1811-1854), an Inspecting Engineer and first Surveyor-General of Natal, sent a live plant to England and in 1851 it coned, which revealed its true identity. It was named by Moore in 1853 as Stangeria paradoxa; however, in 1892, Baillard resurrected Kunze`s specific name eriopus. Stangeria eriopus is the only member of the family Stangeriaceae. The generic name honors Dr. Stanger. (PlantzAfrica)

stanhopeae (Bacidia): ???

Stapelia (Apocynaceae): introduced by Linnaeus who described it in 1737. The name honors Johannes van Stapel, a 17th century physician and botanist who published drawings and descriptions of the first Stapeliae discovered (Orbea variegata). (PlantzAfrica)

stapfianum (Panicum): see stapfianus.

stapfianus (Sporobolus): after a certain Stapf. (Hugh Clarke)

starkiana (Haworthia): after a Prof. Peter Stark (fl. 1934), about whom I have no information.. (Eggli & Newton)
    Haworthia starkiana = Haworthia scabra var. starkiana.

stayneri (Gasteria, Haworthia, Pectinaria): see Stayneria.
    Gasteria stayneri = Gasteria nitida var. nitida.
    Haworthia stayneri = Haworthia cooperi var. pilifera.
    Pectinaria stayneri = Stapeliopsis saxatilis ssp. stayneri.

Stayneria (Mesembryanthemaceae): named for the South African horticulturist Frank J. Stayner (1907-1981), specialist on succulent plants, assistant Superintendent of Parks in the Port Elizabeth Parks Department 1935-1946, Curator of the Karoo Botanic Gardens at Worcester 1959-1969.

steetziana (Polydora, Vernonia): see steetzii.
    Vernonia steetziana = Polydora steetziana.

steetzii (Helichrysum): possibly for German botanist Joachim Steetz (1804-1862).
    Helichrysum steetzii = Helichrysum kraussii.

stehmannii (Zantedeschia): ???
    Zantedeschia stehmannii = Zantedeschia rehmannii.

steingroeverii (Galenia, Rhus): ???
    Galenia steingroeveri = Galenia meziana.
    Rhus steingroeveri = Searsia populifolia.

stentiae (Ceropegia): after the South African botanist and agrostologist Sydney Margaret Stent (1875-1942), collected in South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Stephania (Menispermaceae): named after German botanist Christian Friedrich Stephan (1757-1814), professor of chemistry and botany at Moscow, Director of Forestry Institute at St. Petersburg. (CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names)

stephanii (Aneura): ???
    Aneura stephanii = Riccardia amazonica.

stephensiae (Arctotis): after South African botanist Edith Layard Stephens (1884-1966), lecturer in botany at the University of Cape Town, known for her two illustrated booklets on poisonous and edible, was awarded a grant by the Cape Tercentenary Foundation which she used to buy a piece of land called Isoetes Vlei which she donated to the National Botanic Garden and is know called the Edith Stephens Cape Flats Flora Reserve. (Gunn & Codd)

Sterculia (Malvaceae): apparently named after Sterculius, the Roman god of privies and manure.

sternbergianum (Anthericum, Chlorophytum): possibly after Count Kaspar Moritz von Sternberg of Prague, author of the first German essay of a Geognostic-Botanical Description of the Antediluvian Flora (1825), or Caspar (Kaspar) Maria von Sternberg of Prague, Bohemian theologian, mineralogist, geognost, entomologist and botanist who established the Bohemian National Museum in Prague and is deemed to be the founder of modern paleobotany. It is very likely that these references are to the same person.
    Anthericum sternbergianum = Chlorophytum comosum.
    Chlorophytum sternbergianum = Chlorophytum comosum.

Steudelia (Molluginaceae): possibly named for German botanist and physician Ernst Gottlieb von Steudel (1783-1856).

steudneri (Heliotropium): after German plant collector H. Steudner (1822-1863) who worked in Ethiopia and Eritrea. (Elsa Pooley)

steyniae (Oedera, Relhania): the Aluka website has a specimen record of Oedera steyniae being collected by a J.G. Steyn in South Africa in 1904, and there is a Hester Steyn who worked or works at the National Herbarium, Pretoria and was the co-author of South African Wildflower Guide No. 10: Cedarberg. Per pers. comm. with Hester Steyn, no relation between the two, and the taxa is probably named after J.G. Steyn.
    Relhania steyniae = Oedera steyniae.

Stirtonanthus (Fabaceae): ???

Stoeberia (Aizoaceae): named in 1927 by two German botanists, Kurt Dinter (1886-1945) and Gustav Schwantes (1881-?) to commemorate the late Mr. E. Stoeber from Luderitz.

Stokoeanthus (Ericaceae): See stokoei.

stokoei (Brunia, Nebelia, Nivenia, Pseudobaeckea, Raspalia): Nivenia stokoei was only properly documented in 1924, after it was collected by Thomas Pearson Stokoe (1868-1959), a Yorkshireman who emigrated to South Africa in 1911. Stokoe collected numerous specimens in the Kogelberg, many of which were named after him, including the now extinct Mimetes stokoei. His ashes are scattered near Stokoe's Bridge in the Kogelberg Reserve. (website Cape Nature) His long career included both plant collecting and mountaineering, and he discovered many high-altitude plants.

stolzii (Commiphora, Heteromorpha): after German missionary and merchant Adolf Ferdinand Stolz (1871-1917), plant collector in Angola and Malawi who specialized in orchids. (Aluka, CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names)
    Commiphora stolzii = Commiphora mossambicensis.
    Heteromorpha stolzii = Heteromorpha involucrata.

straussiana (Erica): named for Berlin gardener Obergartner Strauss. (Elsa Pooley)

Strelitzia (Strelitziaceae): Strelitzia reginae arrived in England in 1733 and was named after Queen Sophia Charlotte, the wife of George the 3rd of England. She was a princess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, hence the genus name Strelitzia.

streyi (Anginon, Crassula, Sonderina): after the German farmer and botanist Rudolf Georg Strey (1907-1988) of the Natal Herbarium and the National Botanical Research Institute in Durban. (PlantzAfrica, Elsa Pooley)

streyianus (Piaranthus): see streyi.
    Piaranthus streyianus = Orbea maculata ssp. rangeana.

stuhlmannii (Commiphora, Crinum, Ehretia, Lannea, Odina) after Franz Ludwig Stuhlmann (1863-1928), German army officer and naturalist from Hamburg, director of the Biological-Agricultural Institute at Hamburg (1903), then secretary of the Colonial Institute (1908) and eventually director of the Weltwirtschaftinstitut in Hamburg. He collected extensively in Africa and later in India, Sri Lanka and the British and Dutch East Indies (1900-1901).
    Commiphora stuhlmannii = Commiphora stuhlmannii.
    Ehretia stuhlmannii = Ehretia amoena.
    Lannea stuhlmannii = Lannea schweinfurthii var. stuhlmannii.
    Odina stuhlmannii = Lannea schweinfurthii var. stuhlmannii.

Sturmia (Orchidaceae): honors the German engraver Jacob Sturm (1771-1848), naturalist and botanical artist, who was also honored with genera named for him in the Rubiaceae and Poaceae.

suckertii (Balanites): for a plant collector E. Suckert (fl. 1930-1933).
    Balanites suckertii = Balanites aegyptiaca var. aegyptiaca.

Suessenguthiella (Molluginaceae): commemorates the German botanist Karl Suessenguth (1893-1955), professor of botany at the University of München, Curator of the Botanische Staatssammlung (a natural history collection in Munich).

suessenguthii (Anthericum): see Suessenguthiella.
    Anthericum suessenguthii = Chlorophytum krausseanum.

suessenguth (Blumea): probably after K. Suessenguth, see above.

Susanna (Asteraceae): named after Mrs. Susan Phillips, née Kriel, second wife to South African botanist Edwin Percy Phillips (1884-1967).

susannae (Amphiglossa): named by Dr. Marinda Koekemoer for her mother Susanna Amelia Koekemoer (née Kruger) (1939- ) who joined her on many collecting trips.

Sutera (Scrophulariaceae): named for the Swiss botanist and physician Johann Rudolf Suter (1766-1827), professor of philosophy and Greek at Berne.

Sutherlandia (Fabaceae): the genus Sutherlandia was named after Scottish botanist James Sutherland (1639-1719), King's Botanist for Scotland, first Superintendent of the Royal Botanical Gardens and professor of botany at Edinburgh, and author of Hortus medicus edinburgensis. (CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names)

sutherlandii (Begonia, Greyia, Helichrysum, Vernonia): this specific epithet honors Peter Cormack Sutherland (1822–1900), a medical doctor from Aberdeen, Scotland, who was the Surveyor-General of Natal in 1855; he made many plant collections during his term of office. He was also the first person to send specimens of the tree to England. (PlantzAfrica)

sutherlandii (Argyrolobium, Delosperma, Helichrysum): see Sutherlandia.

swanepoelii (Quaqua): for Jac Swanepoel (fl. 1971), owner of San Marina Nursery, Joostenbergvlakte, RSA.
    Quaqua swanepoelii = Quaqua parviflora ssp. swanepoelii.

Swartzia (Fabaceae): named after the Swedish botanist, taxonomist and physician Olof Peter Swartz (1760-1818), the first specialist in orchid taxonomy..

swartzii (Echium, Lobostemon): possibly for the above.
    Echium swartzii = Lobostemon glaber.
    Lobostemon swartzii = Lobostemon glaucophyllus.

Swertia (Gentianaceae): honors the Dutch herbalist Emanuel Swert (1552-1612), florist, cultivator of bulbs, author.

swynnertonii (Alepidea, Aloe, Dicliptera, Diplolophium, Helichrysum): named for Charles Francis Massey Swynnerton (1877-1938), plant collector in Zimbabwe. (Elsa Pooley)
    Alepidea swynnertonii = Alepidea peduncularis.
    Diplolophium swynnertonii = Diplolophium buchananii ssp. swynnertonii.

Synnotia (Iridaceae): named after the Irish plant collector at the Cape of Good Hope Captain Walter Synnot (1773-1851).


Tagates (Asteraceae) : named after the mythological Tages, grandson of Jupiter. (Elsa Pooley)

Talbotia (Velloziaceae): dedicated to Patrick Henry Brabazon Talbot (1919-1979), a mycologist of Natal.

tapscottii (Orbea, Stapelia, Stultitia): after Sydney Tapscott (fl. 1930), farmer, miner, and well-known collector and photographer of plants in South Africa, Zambia and Botswana.
    Stapelia tapscottii = Orbea tapscottii.
    Stultitia tapscottii = Orbea tapscotti.

Tavaresia (Apocynaceae): named for Portuguese naturalist Joaquim da Silva Tavares (1866-1931), clergyman, entomologist, and traveller. (CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names)

Tayloria (Splachnaceae): ???

teaguei (Blepharis): after its collector A.J. Teague (1885-?), who collected in Zimbabwe.
    Blepharis teaguei = Blepharis maderaspatensis.

Teclea (Rutaceae): named after St. Takla Hemanout, son of an Ethiopian priest, a legendary protagonist of the Coptic Church, recognized as a saint. (CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names)

Teedia (Scrophulariaceae): named for Johann Georg Teede (fl.1896), a German naturalist. (Hugh Clarke)

Tenrhynea (Asteraceae): after William ten Rhyne(1647-1700), a Dutch physician with the East India Company who collected at the Cape. (Elsa Pooley)

Teucrium (Lamiaceae): possibly for Teucer, founder of the town of Salamis on Cyprus.

theartii (Argyroderma): Argyroderma theartii was discovered in 1990 by Major Jan Theart of the 9th South African Infantry Battalion, a keen gardener and succulent enthusiast.

Theilera (Campanulaceae): named for Swiss-born English veterinarian and botanist Sir Arnold Theiler (1867-1936) who worked in South Africa, considered the 'father of veterinary science in South Africa,' developed vaccines against smallpox and rinderpest. "Theiler was the first Director of the Onderstepoort Veterinary Research Institute outside Pretoria. This institute under his leadership carried out research on African horse sickness, sleeping sickness, malaria, East Coast fever (Theileria parva) and tick-borne diseases such as redwater, heartwater and biliary. A Faculty of Veterinary Science was established here in 1920 which enabled vets to train locally for the first time. Theiler became the first dean of this faculty." (Wikipedia)

theileri (Corymbium): see Theilera.

thellungiana (Ifloga): after Swiss botanist and plant collector, Albert Thellung (1881-1928), of the Botany muesuem at the University of Zurich. (Hugh Clarke)

thellungii (Sisymbrium): see thellungiana.
    Sisymbrium thellungii = Erucastrum austroafricanum.

Theodora (Fabaceae): ???

theodore-friesii (Cliffortia): after Thore Christian Elias Fries (1886-1931), Swedish  professor of botany, Lund; botanist-collector specializing in Cliffortia; collected with his brother R.E. Fries in East Africa, 1921-22; died in Umtali during an expedition to South Africa and Zimbabwe (= Rhodesia) in 1931. (Hugh Clarke)

theronii (Brachystelma): ???

theurkauffii (Aizoon): after a certain Dr. Theurkauff who collected it in 1935.
    Aizoon theurkauff = Mesembryanthemum cryptanthum.

thodeana (Sebaea): see thodei.

thodei (Afroligusticum, Alepidea, Athanasia, Disa, Holothrix, Inulanthera, Kniphofia, Osteospermum, Peucedanum, Vernonia): named for Hans Justus Thode (1859-1932), Drakensberg plant collector, an associate of Heinrich Gustav Adolf Engler to whom he sent specimens (Elsa Pooley, Aluka)
    Athanasia thodei = Inulanthera thodei.
    Peucedanum thodei = Afroligusticum thodei.

thollonii (Tacazzea): after François-Romain Thollon (1855-1896), collected in Gabon, Ivory Coast, Congo and Nigeria.
    Tacazzea thollonii = Tacazzea apiculata.

thomasiae (Bulbine): after South African botanical artist Vicky Thomas (fl. 2003). (Eggli & Newton)

thomasii (Sebaea): after H.E.P. Thomas (1789-1948), British Army officer who settled in SA after the Boer War and collected some plants in the Orange Free State. (Elsa Pooley)

thomii (Mystropelaton, Tripteris): after Dr George Thom (1789-1842), a Scottish minister and missionary of the N.G. Kerk who sent botanical and geological speciments overseas to Profs. W. J Hooker and Couper in Glasgow. (Hugh Clarke)
    Tripteris thomii = Tripteris oppositifolia.

thompsoniae (Aloe): after Audrey Thompson, the daughter of Sheila Thompson (fl. 1970), a grower of indigenous plants at Magoebaskloof who first collected the plant. (PlantzAfrica)

Thorncroftia (Lamiaceae): named after the British botanist, plant collector and merchant George Thorncroft (c. 1857-1934) who died in the Transvaal.

thorncroftii (Aloe, Ceropegia, Cyrtanthus): after plant collector George Thorncroft (1857-1934).
    Ceropegia thorncroftii = Ceropegia crassifolia var. crassifolia.

thouarsii (Voacanga): after Louis-Marie Aubert du Petit-Thouars (1758-1831), an eminent French botanist who after the French Revolution was exiled to Madagascar and nearby islands where he became interested in botany and started collecting plants.

thraskii (Aloe): named after someone with the surname of Thrask (fl. 1880). (Succulents.co.za, Eggli & Newton)

thudichumii (Huernia, Stapelia, Tromotriche): after Swiss-born horticulturist and plant collector Jacques Thudichum (1893-1985), 2nd curator of the Karoo Botanic Garden (1945-1958). (Eggli & Newton)
    Stapelia thudichimii = Tromotriche thudichumii.

Thunbergia (Acanthaceae): the genus is named in honor of Swedish botanist and physician Carl Peter Thunberg (1743-1828) who travelled with ships of the Dutch East India Company and did extensive botanical exploration in southern Africa. He was a student of Linnaeus, a plant collector and explorer, and a professor of botany and medicine at Uppsala. He had several other genera named after him.

thunbergiana (Nymphoides): see Thunbergia.

thunbergianus (Asparagus, Lobostemon): see Thunbergia.
    Asparagus thunbergianus = Asparagus rubicundus.
    Lobostemon thunbergianus = Lobostemon trigonus.

Thunbergiella (Apiaceae): see Thunbergia.

thunbergii (Amaranthus, Babiana, Berula, Brachystelma, Cotula, Dianthus, Euryops, Gasteria, Haplocarpha, Heliophila, Linum, Potamogeton, Rhus, Sarcostemma, Secamone, Senecio, Sium, Toxicophlaea): see Thunbergia.
    Gasteria thunbergii = Gasteria carinata var. thunbergii.
    Haplocarpha thunbergii = Haplocarpha scaposa or Arctotis acaulis.
    Rhus thunbergii = Heeria argentea.
    Sarcostemma thunbergii = Sarcostemma viminale ssp. thunbergii.
    Secamone thunbergii = Secamone alpini.
    Toxicophlaea thunbergii = Acokanthera oppositifolia.

thuretii (Huernia, Stapelia): after Gustav Adolph Thuret (1817-1875), French botanist who specialized in marine algae and established a botanical garden in Antibes on the Mediterranean coast that was known throughout the scientific world.
    Stapelia thuretii = Huernia thuretii var. thuretii.

tidmarshii (Aloe): after Edwin Tidmarsh (1831-1915), British-born horticulturist, curator of the Grahamstown Botanical Garden, collected and sent many plants to Kew. (Gunn & Codd)
    Aloe tidmarshii = Aloe ciliaris var. tidmarshii.

Tieghemia (Loranthaceae): named for the French botanist Philippe Édouard Léon van Tieghem (1839-1914), professor of botany.

Tinnea (Lamiaceae): named after the Tinne family in Holland, specifically Harriet (Henrietta) Tinne, her sister Adrienne van Capellen and Harriet's daughter Alexandrine, who were patrons of botany in the 1800's, to commemorate a scientific expedition on the Nile in 1861 during which Harriet Tinne and her two daughters collected seed of T. aethiopica. Alexandrine was a Dutch explorer in Africa and the first European woman to attempt to cross the Sahara (PlantzAfrica and Wikipedia)

Tithonia (Asteraceae): named for Tithonius, a young man who was a favorite and companion of Aurora, the goddess of dawn. Another source (Elsa Pooley) says Tithonis was another name for Aurora.

Tittmannia (Bruniaceae): honors the German botanist, agronomist and physician Johann August Tittman (1774-1840). (CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names)

toccoae (Herpetineuron): ???

Todea
(Osmundaceae): named for the German botanist Heinrich Julius Tode (1733-1797), clergyman, cryptogamist, author.

Torenia (Scrophulariaceae): honors the Swedish clergyman Rev. Olof Torén (1718-1753), traveller, botanist and plant collector, ship's chaplain with the Swedish East India Company.

Tournefortia (Boraginaceae): dedicated to the French botanist and physician Joseph Pitton de Tournefort (1656-1708), naturalist, professor of medicine and botany. He was the first to define genus and genera.

tournefortii (Brassica): see Tournefortia.

Tradescantia (Commelinaceae): named for the British naturalist and botanist John Tradescant (1608-1662), traveller, plant collector in Virginia.

Tragia (Euphorbiaceae): commemorates German botanist and physician Hieronymus Bock (latinized name Hieronymus Tragus) (1498-1554), teacher, herbalist author, Lutheran priest who began the transition from medieval botany to the modern scientific worldview by arranging plants by their relation or resemblance. The grass genus Tragus was also named for him.

trauseldii (Selago): after William Trauseld (1911-1989), photographer and amateur botanist, author of Wild Flowers of the Natal Drakensberg, and game ranger with Natal Parks. (Elsa Pooley)

travisiana (Aneura): ???
    Aneura travisiana = Riccardia amazonica.

Treichelia (Campanulaceae): named for the German botanist Alexander Johann August Treichel (1837-1901).

triebneri (Bulbine, Hoodia, Trichocaulon): after plant collector Wilhelm Triebner (1883-1957), German horticulturist who went to what is now Namibia in 1904 and stayed as a succulent gardener and farmer.
    Trichocaulon triebneri = Hoodia triebneri.

triebneriana (Gasteria, Haworthia): see triebneri.
    Gasteria triebneriana = Gasteria brachyphylla var. brachyphylla.
    Haworthia triebneriana = Haworthia mirabilis var. triebneriana.

Trieenea (Scrophulariaceae): named after Elsie Elizabeth Esterhuysen (1912- ), botanical collector and botanist at the Bolus Herbarium at the University of Cape Town. At least one species of this genus was named elsiae. (CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names in part)

Tritonia (Iridaceae): named for Triton, in mythology the son of Poseidon and Amphitrite.

Triumfetta (Tiliaceae): honors the Italian botanist Giovanni Battista Trionfetti (1658-1708).

trollii (Commiphora): ???

tuckii (Cyrtanthus): named for horticultural collector William Tuck 1824-1912) who introduced the navel orange to South Africa. (Elsa Pooley)

tugwelliae (Cylindrophyllum): for Mrs. Anna Marie Krige Tugwell (1876-1966), University lecturer at South African College, plant collector in South Africa and old friend of Louisa Bolus. (Eggli & Newton)

Tulbaghia (Liliaceae): named by Linnaeus after Ryk Tulbagh (1699-1771), Governor of the Cape Colony from 1751 to 1771, with whom he corresponded.

turczaninowii (Sisymbrium): after Russian botanist Porphir Kiril Nikolai Stepanovitch Turczaninow (1796-1863).

Turnera (Turneraceae): dedicated to the English botanist and physician Rev. William Turner (c.1508-1568), herbalist, naturalist and zoologist, clergyman and traveler.

Turraea (Meliaceae): the CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names says: "Origin not very clear, possibly after the Italian botanist and physician Antonio Turra (1730-1796), minerologist, author of Istoria del arbore della China"

Tysonia (Boraginaceae): named after the Jamaican-born South African botanist William Tyson (1851-1920), plant collector, school teacher and tutor, Fellow of the Linnaean Society.

tysoniana (Asclepias, Ursinia):
    Asclepias tysoniana = Xysmalobium tysonianum.
    Ursinia tysoniana = Ursinia tenuiloba.

tysonianum (Gomphocarpus, Xysmalobium): see Tysonia.
    Gomphocarpus tysonianum = Xysmalobium tysonianum.

tysonii (Alepidea, Berkheya, Cyphia, Dierama, Disperis, Euryops, Habenaria, Helichrysum, Kniphofia, Lactuca, Neobolusia, Pentzia, Scabiosa, Senecio, Sonchus): see Tysonia.
    Alepidea tysonii = Alepidea woodii.
    Pentzia tysonii = Phymaspermum woodii.
    Sonchus tysonii = Lactuca tysonii.


Ursinia (Asteraceae): after Johann Heinrich Ursinus of Regensburg (1608-1666), German cleric and botanist and author of Arboretum Biblicum. (Elsa Pooley in part)

urvillei (Paspalum): after J.S.C.D. d’Urville, French naval officer (1790-1861). (Hugh Clarke)



Vahlia (Vahliaceae): commemorates the Norwegian-born Dabish botanist Martin Henrichsen Vahl (1749-1804), traveler, pupil of Linnaeus, professor of botany.

vahlii (Echium):
    Echium vahlii = Lobostemon glaber.

vahrmeijeri (Brachystelma): after Johannes Vahrmeijer (1942- ), Dutch-born economic botanist who settled in South Africa, and collected there and in Botswana, Mozambique, and Namibia.

valliantii (Crassula): after Sébastien Valliant (1669-1722), French botanist and author of Sermo de structura florum (1718), who studied botany at the Jardin des Plantes under Joseph Pitton de Tournefort and explored the Cape. (Hugh Clarke in part)

Vallisneria (Hydrocharitaceae): dedicated to the Italian physician and botanist Antonio Vallisnieri (Vallisneri), (1661-1730), naturalist, biologist, professor of medicine at the University of Padua, member of the Royal Society of London.

Vallota (Amaryllidaceae): honors the name of French botanist and physician Antoine Vallot (1594-1671), personal physician to King Louis XIV of France and Director of Jardin du Roidirector of Jardin du Roi.

vanbalenii (Aloe): honors Jan C. van Balen, the former Director of the Park Department in Johannesburg, SA, who first collected this species.

vanderietiae (Monsonia): ???

vandermerwei (Aloe): after botanist Phillip Van der Merwe (1935- ), curator of the Stellenbosch Herbarium, then joined Department of Nature Conservation of the Cape. (Gunn & Codd)
    Aloe vandermerwei = Aloe zebrina.

Vanheerdia (Mesembryanthemaceae): named for the South African teacher and school principal Pieter van Heerde (1893-1979).

vanrooyenii (Aloe): possibly after an Noel van Rooyen (1950- ), vegetation scientist, professor, plant collector, and author of Flowering Plants of the Kalahari Dunes.

vansonii (Caralluma): possibly after a George Van Son (1898-1967) who collected in Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
    Caralluma vansonii = Orbea lutea ssp. lutea.

Vanwykia (Loranthaceae): named for the South African botanist Pieter van Wyck (1931- ), ecologist, biologist, plant collector, head of the Department of Research and Communication of the National Parks Board of South Africa.

Vanzijlia (Mesembryanthemaceae): named for the South African Mrs. Dorothy Constantia van Zijl (1886-1938).

Vellozia (Velloziaceae): dedicated to the Portuguese botanist Joaquim Velloso de Miranda (1733-1815), plant collector in Brazil.

Veltheimia (Liliaceae): the genus is named in honor of a German patron of botany, August Ferdinand Graf von Veltheim (1741-1801).

venteri (Euphorbia, Kleinia, Ledebouria, Plectranthus): after Dr. Fanie Venter, author of Making the Most of Indigenous Trees with Julye-Ann Venter and Trees of Botswana with Moffat P. Setshogo.

verdickii (Markhamia, Trichodesma): after Belgian-born plant collector Edgard (Antoine Auguste) Verdick (fl. 1899-1903), author of Les Premiers jours au Katanga.
    Markhamia verdickii = Markhamia obtusifolia.
    Trichodesma verdickii = Trichodesma ambacense ssp. hockii.

verdoorniae (Aloe, Crinum, Senecio): named for South African botanist Dr. Inez Clare Verdoorn (1896-1989).
    Aloe verdoorniae = Aloe greatheadii var. dayana.
    Senecio verdoorniae = Senecio lydenburgensis.

verekeri (Huernia) after Mr. Louis S.A. Vereker (fl. 1937-1942), succulent plant collector of Zimbabwe. (Egglie & Newton)

Vernonia (Asteraceae): derives its name from the English botanist and bryologist William Vernon (1666/1667-c. 1715), who collected plants in America and who died in 1711. (PlantzAfrica)

Veronica (Scrophulariaceae): named in honor of Saint Veronica, one of the women who accompanied Christ to Calvary, and offered him a towel on which he left an imprint of his face.

verreauxii (Elegia): after Jules Pierre Verreaux (1807-1873), French botanist and ornithologist, of the French natural history museum. He visited South Africa where he helped Andrew Smith found the South African Museum in Cape Town. (Hugh Clarke)

Vigna (Fabaceae): honors the Italian botanist Domenico Vigna (?-1647), professor of botany and Director of the Botanical Garden of Pisa.

viguieri (Bryum): ???

Villarsia (Menyanthaceae): named for the French botanist and physician Dominique Villars (1745-1814), professor of botany and medicine at the University of Strasbourg.

villetiae (Stapelia): after Mrs. C.T. Villet.

villetii (Caralluma, Stomatium): named for Dr. A.C.T. Villet (fl. 1936-1956), a collector of succulents in South Africa. The isotype for this species was collected in 1941 and the holotype in 1936 (Eggli & Newton) There is confusion regarding this name. The Aluka website lists an A.C.J. Villet (fl. 1924-1937), plant collector in South Africa. The previous entry (from Women and Cacti) refers to a Mrs C.T Villet who Eggli & Newton have as the wife of A.C.T. Villet. Gunn & Codd refer to Dr. C.T. Villet.
    Caralluma villetii = Quaqua inversa.

Virgilia (Fabaceae): given in honor of Virgil, the greatest of Roman poets. (PlantzAfrica)

visseri (Freylinia): the species name refers to Mr. Floors Visser, who through his insight and actions, saved the plant from possible extinction. (PlantzAfrica)

Vlokia ( Mesembryanthemaceae): named for Jan H.J. Vlok (1957- ), active plant collector and Environmental Advisor to the Cape Department of Nature Conservation. He collected a specimen of Freylinia vlokii on the Rooiberg together with Mr. Mike Viviers. (PlantzAfrica)

vlokii (Anderbergia, Freylinia, Gasteria, Haworthia, Petalacte): see Vlokia.
    Petalacte vlokii = Anderbergia vlokii.

Vogelia (Plumbaginaceae): sources say this was named for the German botanist and plant collector Julius Rudolph Theodor Vogel (1812-1841), however according to David Hollombe's researches, the genus was published in 1792, before J.R.T. Vogel was born. Johann Friedrich Gmelin published the name Vogelia in a different family the year prior in Systema Naturae ed. 13. A German physician and naturalist whose 'Practisches mineralsystem' is heavilly cited in in volume 3 (Regnum Lapideum) of 'Systema Naturae' was named Rudolph Augustin Vogel (1724-1774), and this is one possibility for the derivation of the name. Another is Christian Benedict Vogel (1745-1825), a professor of botany at Altdorf. For the time being, this remains an open question.

vogeliana (Vernonia): ???
    Vernonia vogeliana = Gymnanthemum amydalinum.

vogtsiae (Protea): after Marie Murray Vogts (née Neethling) (1908-1998), a well-known and much respected South African protea specialist, author of the first popular book on the Proteaceae of South Africa. She was "Senior Professional Officer in the Department of Agriculture Technical Services in 1960, first in Pretoria under the Botanical Research Institute and then from 1965 at Betty's Bay under the Fruit and Food Technology Research Institute, until her retirement in 1975." (Protea Atlas Project)

vogtsii (Aloe, Delosperma, Huernia, Lasiopogon): after Mr. Lewis R. Vogts (fl. 1930), South African administrator and succulent plant horticulturist (Egglie & Newton).
    Huernia vogtsii = Huernia stapelioides.
    Aloe vogtsii = Aloe swynnertonii.

volkartii (Huernia): after George Volkart from Switzerland, friend of botanist John Gossweiler.

volkensii (Tenaris): after German botanist Georg Ludwig August Volkens (1855-1917), traveller in Egypt and Arabia, collaborator of A. Engler, collected in Mozambique, South Africa and elsewhere.
    Tenaris volkensii = Brachystelma rubellum.

Volkiella (Cyperaceae): ???

volkii (Gnaphalium, Lasiopogon, Rhus, Searsia): after Otto Heinrich Volk (1903-2000), a professor who taught botany to Johan Wilhelm Heinrich Giess in the internment camp during WWII. He was a German/South African pharmacist who lived in Namibia during the war.
    Gnaphalium volkii = Lasiopogon volkii.
    Rhus volkii = Searsia volkii.

Vossia (Poaceae): CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names states that Vossia is named either for the German poet Johann Heinrich Voss (1751-1826), known for translations of Homer, or the Dutch Gerhard Johann Voss (1577-1649), Dutch Humanist theologian and scholar. However W.P.U. Jackson in Origins and Meanings of Names of South African Plant Genera gives the 17th century Belgian botanist L. Voss as the derivation, so I'm not sure about this one.

vossii (Aloe): after Mr. Harold Voss (1936). (Eggli & Newton)



Wachendorfia (Haemodoraceae): the genus was named in commemoration of Evert Jacob van Wachendorff (1702-1758), a Dutch professor of medicine, botany and chemistry at Utrecht University. and one of the first directors of the Botanic Gardens of Utrecht. (PlantzAfrica)

wageneri (Euryops): the species was named after G.E.H. Wagener, who collected the type specimen in the Matjiesrivier area in the Cederberg. (PlantzAfrica)

Wahlenbergia (Campanulaceae): honors Swedish maturalist George Wahlenberg of Uppsala (1780-1851). Wahlenberg matriculated at Uppsala University in 1792, received his doctorate in medicine in 1806, was appointed botanices demonstrator in 1814, and professor of medicine and botany in 1829, succeeding Carl Peter Thunberg. He was the last holder of the undivided chair that in the previous century had been held by Linnaeus. After his death in 1851, the chair was divided into more delimited professorships, and botany became the main duty of the borgströmian professorship, at the time held by Elias Fries. Wahlenberg made his main work in the field of plant geography and published, among other things the Flora lapponica (1812) and other works on the plant world of northernmost Sweden. (CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names) There is also a genus Wahlenbergia in the Rubiaceae family named for Wahlenberg but it does not appear in South Africa.

Walafrida (Scrophulariaceae): named for the German monk Walahfrid Strabo (c.809-849), poet, politician and theologian, author of Hortulus.

wallacei (Schizoglossum): collected by someone named Wallace in 1892 in Namibia. The Journal of Botany, British and Foreign, Vol. 33, has a reference to a Rev. Wallace in connection with Schizoglos-
sum.
    Schizoglossum wallacei = Schizoglossum nitidum.

Walleria (Tecophilaeaceae): named for the British botanist Rev. Horace Waller (1833-1896), plant collector and missionary in Central Africa.

walleriana (Impatiens): see Walleria.

walliana (Dimorphotheca): collected by an E. Wall at Gordons Bay, South Africa, in 1938, possibly plant collector Eric Torsten Selim Wall (1871-1959).

wallianum (Osteospermum): see walliana.
    Osteospermum wallianum = Dimorphotheca walliana.

wallichii (Tylecodon): ???

Wallinia (Phytolaccaceae): ??? (Now in genus Lophiocarpus)

walshii (Agapanthus): first collected by Mr. L.A. Walsh in 1918. (Aluka)
    Agapanthus walshii = Agapanthus africanus ssp. walshii.

walteri (Crinum): collected by E. Walter and H. Walter in Namibia in 1953.
    Crinum walteri = Crinum minimum.

walterorum (Euryops): see walteri.

Waltheria (Sterculiaceae): honors the German botanist and physician Augustin Friedrich Walther (1688-1746), professor of pathology and author.

Warburgia (Canellaceae): named after Dr. Otto Warburg (1859-1938), who was born in Hamburg. He lectured in botany at the University in Berlin and was also the author of numerous botanical papers. (PlantzAfrica)

Wardia (Wardiaceae): ???

Warneckea (Mrlastomataceae): named for the German plant collector Otto Warnecke, gardener in Togo.

watermeyeri (Bokkeveldia, Strumaria): after a certain Mr. E.B. Watermeyer (fl. 1924-1931).
    
Bokkeveldia watermeyeri = Strumaria watermeyeri.

Watsonia
(Iridaceae): named by Philip Miller of Chelsea after his friend Sir William Watson (1715–1787), a London physician apothecary, botanist and naturalist, fellow of the Royal Society. (CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names)

watsonius (Gladiolus): see Watsonia.

wattii (Sphaeranthus): after plant collector Dr. James Shaw Watt (1906-2002), Scots-born, moved to South Africa, then Namibia. He was Director of Agriculture in the SWA government until his retirement in 1969.

wealii (Disperis): after James Weale, born 1838, amateur naturalist and correspondent with Charles Darwin. (Elsa Pooley)

Webbia (Asteraceae): ???

Webera (Rubiaceae): named for the German physician and botanist Georg Heinrich Weber (1752-1828).

Websteria (Cyperaceae): honors the American botanist and farmer George W. Webster (1833-1914).

Wedelia (Asteraceae): commemorates the German physician Georg Wolfgang Wedel (1645-1731), botanist, professor of medicine at Jena and physician, defender of alchemy and astrology. (CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names)

Weihea (Rhizophoraceae): named for the German botanist and physician Carl Ernst August Weihe (1779-1834), batologist (i.e. person who studies brambles).

Weinmannia (Cunoniaceae): honors the German apothecary and botanist Johann Wilhelm Weinmann (1683-1741).

weisseana (Vernonia): ???
    Vernonia weisseana = Gymnanthemum amydalinum.

weissianum (Anthericum): possibly after Professor Frederick Ernest Weiss (1865-1953), British botanist, President of the Linnaean Society.
    Anthericum weissianum = Trachyandra falcata.

wellandii (Cyrtanthus): ???

Wellstedia (Boraginaceae): ???

Welwitschia (Welwitschiaceae): W. mirabilis was discovered by the Austrian botanist, explorer and medical doctor Friedrich Welwitsch (1806-1872) in 1859 in the Namib Desert of southern Angola. The story goes that he was so overcome by his find that he knelt down next to it and simply stared! Thomas Baines, the renowned artist and traveller, also found a plant in the dry bed of the Swakop River in Namibia in 1861. Welwitsch sent the first material of Welwitschia to Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, Director of Kew, in 1862. Hooker described it and named it in honor of Welwitsch, despite the fact that Welwitsch recommended that it be named Tumboa, its native Angolan name. (PlantzAfrica)

welwitschii (Aspilia, Balanites, Catophractes, Chlorophytum, Commiphora, Cryptolepis, Diplorhynchus, Ectadiopsis, Eulophia, Marcellia, Notonia, Petalidium, Peucedanum, Protea, Rauvolfia, Senecio, Sericocoma, Tacazzea): see Welwitschia.
    Aspilia welwitschii = Aspilia natalensis.
    Balanites welwitschii = Balanites aegyptiaca var. aegyptiaca.
    Catophractes welwitschii = Catophractes alexandri.
    Chlorophytum welwitschii = Chlorophytum longifolium.
    Commiphora welwitschii = Commiphora mollis.
    Cryptolepis welwitschii = Cryptolepis oblongifolia.
    Diplorhynchus welwitschii = Diplorhynchus condylocarpon.
    Ectadiopsis welwitschii = Cryptolepis oblongifolia.
    Marcellia welwitschii = Marcelliopsis welwitschii.
    Notonia welwitschii = Kleinia fulgens.
    Peucedanum welwitschii = Lefebvrea grantii.
    Rauvolfia welwitschii = Rauvolfia caffra.
    Senecio welwitschii = Kleinia fulgens.
    Sericocoma welwitschii = Marcelliopsis welwitschii.
    Tacazzea welwitschii = Tacazzea apiculata.

wendlandiana (Stapelia): presumably after the same person as in the following entry.
    Stapelia wendlandiana = Orbea verrucosa.

wendlandii (Streptocarpus): named in 1890 after German botanist and horticulturist Hermann Wendland (1825-1903) of Hanover. In 1870 he became the director of the Royal Gardens at Herrenhausen. He was particularly interested in palms, naming some 130 species of palms, and having his name associated with more palm genera than any other botanist. He became a major figure in the botany of Central America, and is credited with having brought many now familiar house plants into cultivation for the first time.

werklei (Agave): ???

westae (Aster, Felicia): ???
    Aster westae = Felicia westae.

Whiteheadia (Hyacinthaceae): named for the Anglican missionary Rev. Henry Whitehead (1817-1884), plant collector in South Africa.

whitei (Chlorocodon, Mondia): named for Alfred Samuel White (c. 1812-1870) who was a farmer in Kwa-Zulu Natal. He came to South Africa from England in 1820. (Elsa Pooley)
    Chlorocodon whitei = Mondia whitei.

whitesloaneana (Haworthia, Hoodia, Huernia): after Alain Campbell White (1880-1951), American botanist and chess champion, and Boyd Lincoln Sloane (1885-1955), American botanist specializing in cacti. White was the author of several books on chess, the two were co-authors of the three-volume edition of The Stapelieae (1933, 1937), considered a major work in the field, and they also co-authored with R.A.Dyer The Succulent Euphorbieae.
    Haworthia whitesloaneana = Haworthia maraisii var. maraisii.
    Hoodia whitesloaneana = Hoodia gordonii.

whyteana (Diospyros, Vernonia): the specific epithet 'whyteana' was named after the Scottish New Testament scholar and plant explorer Alexander Whyte (1837-1912). (PlantzAfrica)
    Vernonia whyteana = Baccharoides adoensis var. mossambiquensis.

whytei (Anthericum, Peucedanum): see whyteana.
    Anthericum whytei = Chlorophytum sphacelatum var. milanjianum.
    Peucedanum whytei = Lefebvrea grantii.

Wiborgia (Fabaceae): named for the Danish botanist Erik Nissen Viborg (1759-1822), professor of botany at the University of Copenhagen and Director of the Botanical Garden.

wickensii (Aloe): after John Edward Wickens (1867-1949), British horticulturist. (Gunn & Codd)
    Aloe wickensii = Aloe cryptopoda.

Widdringtonia (Cupressaceae): named for Samuel Edward Widdrington (1787-1856), a Royal Navy commander, traveller in Spain, and conifer botanist of the late 1700's and early 1800's, who published a book on European pines. (CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names)

wiesei (Bulbine): after South African farmer T.G. (Buys) Wiese (1923- ), husband of Margaretha Wiese.

Wiesneria (Alismataceae): honors the Austrian botanist Julius Ritter von Wiesner (1838-1916), professor of plant anatomy and physiology, and traveller in India, the Dutch East Indies and North America (CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names)

Wigandia (Hydrophyllaceae): named for the German author Johannes Wigand (1523-1587), Bishop of Pomerania.

wightii (Ipomoea, Neonotonia): ???

wildemanianum (Peucedanum): possibly after Émile August(e) Joseph de Wildeman (1866-1947), Belgian botanist specializing in fungi and ferns, and an authority on Congolese flora.
    Peucedanum wildemanianum = Lefebvrea grantii.

wildemanii (Asparagus): see wildemanianum.
    Asparagus wildemanii = Asparagus schroederi.

wildii (Aloe, Buchnera, CommiphoraCorallocarpus, Rhus, Rhynchosia): after British botanist Professor Hiram Wild (1917-1982) of the University of Zimbabwe, major contributor to Flora Zambesiaca

Willdenowia (Restionaceae): honors the German botanist and physician Karl Ludwig Willdenow (1765-1812), naturalist, professor of botany, Director of the Berlin Botanical Garden. A genus in the Rubiaceae was also named for him.

Willkommia (Poaceae): named for the German botanist Heinrich Moriz Willkomm (1821-1895), explorer, traveler, naturalist, professor of botany and Director of the Botanical Garden of the University of Prague.

wilmaniae (Petalidium, Stapelia): after South African geologist Maria Wilman (1867-1957), first Director of the McGregor Museum in Kimberley, South Africa.
    Petalidium wilmaniae = Petalidium parvifolium.
    Stapelia wilmaniae = Stapelia leendertziae.

wilmsiana (Arthonia, Barleria, Coniarthonia): see wilmsii.
    Arthonia wilmsiana = Coniarthonia wilmsiana.

wilmsianum (Afroligisticum, Peucedanum): see wilmsii.
    Peucedanum wilmsianum = Afroligusticum wilmsianum.

wilmsii (Anthericum, Asterella, Barleria, Chlorophytum, Fimbriaria, Helichrysum, Kirkia, Rhus, Searsia, Sonchus, Tylimanthus): the species name 'wilmsii' comes from Dr. Friedrich Wilms (1848-1919) who was a German apothecary (pharmacist), botanist and plant collector, residing in Lydenburg. (PlantzAfrica) There is also a Friedrich Heinrich Wilms (1811-1880) who was probably the above Wilms' father.
    Anthericum wilmsii = Chlorophytum fasciculatum.
    Barleria wilmsii = Barleria wilmsiana.
    Chlorophytum wilmsii = Chlorophytum bowkeri.
    Fimbriaria wilmsii = Asterella wilmsii.
    Rhus wilmsii = Searsia wilmsii.
    Tylimanthus wilmsii = Marsupidium limbatum.

wilmsii (Bryum): ???
    Bryum wilmsii = Bryum alpinum.

wilsonii (Gladiolus, Polystichum): ???

Wimmerella (Lobeliaceae): after F.E. Wimmer, died 1961, a Viennese botanist and Roman Catholic Priest who studied the Lobeliaceae sensu stricto. (Hugh Clarke)

winkleriana (Caralluma, Sarcophagophilus): named after Dorothea Gudrun Winkler (1932- ), Tanzanian-born South African botanist and teacher.
    Caralluma winkleriana = Quaqua mammillaris.
    Sarcophagophilus winkleriana = Quaqua mammillaris.

Wisneria (Alismaceae): named after a certain Wiesner, professor of botany in Vienna.

wissii (Plumbago): Plumbago wissii was discovered in 1955 by a Namibian farmer and naturalist, Mr Hans-Joachim Wiss (1903–1991) whilst working on the Brandberg. He had an interest in archaeology. He collected the type specimen on Konigstein, the highest peak on the Brandberg. The plant was named by Friedrich in 1957. (PlantzAfrica)

Withania (Solanaceae): the CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names says: "According to many authors the genus was named possibly (misspelling included!) after the English paleobotanist Henry Thomas Maire Witham (1779-1844), geologist, author of Observations on Fossil Vegetables."

Witsenia (Iridaceae): this first woody Iridaceae genus to be described was named Antholyza maura by Linnaeus in 1771. Its present name honors NicholasWitsen, an eighteenth century Dutch patron of botany. (PlantzAfrica)

Wolffia (Lemnaceae): named after the German physician and botanist Johann Friedrich Wolff (1778-1806).

Wolffiella (Lemnaceae): see Wolffia.

wollastonii (Vernonia): after plant collector Alexander Frederick Richmond "Sandy" Wollaston (1875-1930), British medical doctor, ornithologist, botanist, climber and explorer, took part in two British expeditions to New Guinea, also as doctor, ornithologist and botanist) in the first British reconnaissance expedition to Mount Everest in 1921. He was killed in 1930 in his rooms at King's College by a deranged student, D.N. Potts, who fatally shot Wollaston and a police officer before shooting himself in a triple murder-suicide. (Wikipedia)

woodfordiana (Orbea, Stapelia): ???
    Orbea woodfordiana = Orbea variegata.
    Stapelia woodfordiana = Orbea variegata.

Woodia (Apocynaceae): named for Natal botanist John Medley Wood (1827-1915), curator of the Natal Botanic Garden 1882-1903 and founder and director of the Natal Herbarium 1903-1913. (CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names) "John Medley Wood was a South African botanist who contributed greatly to the knowledge of Natal ferns, and is generally credited with the establishment of Uba sugar cane in Natal and for his extensive collection of Natal plants. Wood was born in Mansfield to a lawyer James Riddall Wood and Hannah Healy Weaver. His father remarried Mary Haygarth and emigrated to Durban, and John, who had spent seven years at sea after leaving school, joined him there in 1852. He soon acquired his own property at the mouth of the Umdhloti River north of Durban. Here he experimented with new crop plants. In 1855 he married his stepmother's younger sister Elizabeth Haygarth. For health reasons he moved further inland to Inanda in 1868, where he ran a trading store and did some farming. Here he developed an interest in cryptogams and started collecting ferns, mosses and fungi as well as flowering plants. He began corresponding with M.C. Cooke and Kalchbrenner, the mycologists at Kew and in Hungary. The Rev. John Buchanan, a local fern expert who had published a list of Natal ferns in 1875, assisted Medley Wood in that group. In 1880 Anton Rehmann, the Austrian botanist, visited Natal and took over Wood's collection of mosses. As a result of his growing interest in botany, he accepted the post of Curator of the Botanic Garden in Durban in 1882. From his interest in crop plants, he established the suitability of Uba sugar cane (Saccharum sinense), for conditions in Natal. During these years he collected plants extensively throughout Natal and exchanged duplicates with foreign herbaria. He was preparing the seventh volume of his Natal Plants at the time of his death in 1915. He is commemorated in the genera Woodia, Woodiella, and a large number of species names including that of Encephalartos woodii, which he first discovered in 1895 on a steep south-facing slope on the fringes of the Ngoye forest about 30 km from Mtunzini in KwaZulu-Natal.. (Wikipedia)

woodii (Alepidea, Aristea, Asclepias, Aspidoglossum, Aster, Athanasia, Barleria, Buddleja, Ceropegia, Combretum, Commiphora, Cryptocarya, Disa, Disperis, Encephalartos, Erica, Euphorbia, Garuleum, Gladiolus, Gomphocarpus, Gnidia, Helichrysum, Heliophila, Helixanthera, Ifloga, Indigofera, Isoglossa, Justicia, Kniphofia, Orbea, Pentzia, Petalactella, Phymaspermum, Riocreuxia, Ruellia, Rumex, Schizoglossum, Stapelia, Stenoglottis, Vernonia): see Woodia.
    Aster woodii = Felicia quinquenervia.
    Athanasia woodii = Phymaspermum woodii.
    Barleria woodii = Barleria natalensis.
    Buddleja woodii = Buddleja pulchella.
    Ceropegia woodii = Ceropegia linearis ssp. woodii.
    Gomphocarpus woodii = Asclepias woodii.
    Heliophila woodii = Heliophila subulata.
    Ifloga woodii = Trichogyne decumbens.
    Justicia woodii = Justicia protracta ssp. protracta.
    Kniphofia woodii = Kniphofia gracilis.
    Pentzia woodii = Phymaspermum woodii.
    Petalactella woodii = Trichogyne decumbens.
    Schizoglossum woodii = Aspidoglossum woodii.
    Stapelia woodii = Orbea woodii.
    Vernonia woodii = Baccharoides adoensis var. kotschyana.

Woodsia (Woodsiaceae): named after the English architect and botanist Joseph Woods (1776-1864), author and Fellow of the Linnaean Society.

Wooleya (Mesembryanthemaceae): named for Charles Hugh Frederick Wooley (1894- 1969), a Major in the Royal Marines, self-taught naturalist and a citrus farmer at Addo, South Africa, who later moved to Knysna.

woolleyi (Haworthia): after Maj. C.H.F. Wooley (fl. 1917), South African plant collector of succulents for Kirstenbosch. (Eggli & Newton)
    Haworthia woolleyi = Haworthia maraisii var. maraisii.

woolliana (Aloe): after a Mr. Woolley of Barberton, former Transvaal, RSA. (Eggli & Newton)
    Aloe woolliana = Aloe chortolirioides var. woolliana.

Wrightia (Apocynaceae): named after British botanist and physician William Wright (1735-1819), traveller, plant collector in Jamaica, and author of many botanical publications on Jamaican plants. (CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names)

wrightii (Felicia, Strobilopsis): after Felix Binns Wright (1907- ), veterinarian, nature conservationist and plant collector in the Drakensberg Mts. (Elsa Pooley)

wrightii (Geissorhiza, Gerbera): after Charles (Carlos) Wright (1811-1885), American botanical collector, appointed botanist to the Unoited States North Pacific Surveying Expedition.
    Geissorhiza wrightii = Geissorhiza imbricata ssp. imbricata.

Wulfhorstia (Meliaceae): possibly for German missionary August Wulfhorst (1861-1936). "He was a missionary of the Rheinische Missionsgesellschaft and came to Namibia in 1890. He established a mission station in Ondjiva (today Angola) in September 1891, together with Rhenish Missionary Meisenholl, then at Omupanda in 1892. From 1919 to 1927, Wulfhorst was stationed in Karibib. He was married to Thusnelda Wulfhorst, née Härlin in 1892." (Biographies of Namibian Personalities)

wulfhorstii (Baissea): see Wulfhorstia.

Wurmbea (Colchicaceae): named by C.P. Thunberg for Friedrich von Wurmb (?-1781/1783), botanist, plant collector, Dutch colonial administrator.

wurmbii (Echium, Lobostemon): after Theobald von Wurmb (1800-?), German missionary, plant collector and farmer.
    Echium wurmbii = Lobostemon trichotomus.
    Lobostemon wurmbii = Lobostemon trichotomus.

wyleyana (Wahlenbergia, Zehneria): see wyleyi.

wyleyi (Venidium): after Andrew Wyley (1820- ), Irish-born plant collector in RSA who was appointed Geological Surveyor of the Cape of Good Hope.
    Venidium wyleyi = Arctotis fastuosa.

wyliei (Alepidea, Carissa, Erica, Jasminum, Kniphofia, Pentas): after James Wylie (1861-1947) who was assistant to J.M. Wood at the Durban Botanical Gardens.
    Alepidea wyliei = Alepidea peduncularis.
    Carissa wyliei = Carissa bispinosa.
    Kniphofia wyliei = Kniphofia gracilis.



Ximenia (Olacaceae): named for a Spanish monk, Francisco Ximenez, who wrote about the plants of Mexico in the 17th century. The genus Ximenia also occurs in America and the type species of the genus, X. americana, is the only species that occurs in southern Africa other than Ximenia caffra. (PlantzAfrica)



Youngia (Asteraceae): possibly named for two men, Edward Young (1684-1765), poet and writer, and a physician, Thomas Young (1773-1829), or according to other sources, it honors Charles, James and Peter Young, nurserymen at Epson, Surrey, during the early 19th c. (CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names)

youngii (Stapelia): after Ralph George Norwood Young (1904-1979), botanist and teacher, born in Italy, emigrated to South Africa in 1926, worked in the herbarium of the Transvaal Museum, farmed in the Transvaal, collected in Angola, Malawi, South Africa and Zimbabwe, died while on a holiday visiting his birthplace.
    Stapelia youngii = Stapelia gigantea.



Zaluzianskya (Scrophulariaceae): named for the Bohemian botanist and physician Adam Zalusiansky von Zaluzian(1558-1613), lecturer and administrator at Charles University in Prague. (Elsa Pooley)

Zanha (Sapindaceae): possibly dedicated to the German plant collector K.H. Zahn.

Zannichellia (Zannichelliaceae): commemorates the Italian botanist Giovanni Gerolamo Zannichelli (1662-1729), physician and pharmacist. (CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names)

Zantedeschia (Araceae): named after Professor Giovanni Zantedeschi (1773-1846), an Italian physician and important botanist. Elsa Pooley says that it was Francesco Zantedeschi but his birth and death dates were 1797-1873, so she has the right dates but the wrong name. Francesco was a professor of physics and philosophy and carried out experiments in electrical currents and magnetism.

zastrowiana (Lannea): ???

Zehneria (Curcurbitaceae): after Austrian botanical artist Joseph Zehner. (Elsa Pooley)

zenkeri (Peucedanum): after German explorer, botanist and plant collector Georg August Zenker (1855-
1922).
    Peucedanum zenkeri = Lefebvrea grantii.

zentneriana (Haworthia): ???

zeyeriana (Ehretia): ???
    Ehretia zeyeriana = Ehretia rigida ssp. rigida.

Zeyherella (Sapotaceae): named for the German botanist and botanical collector Carl Ludwig Philipp Zeyher (1799-1858), a well-known German naturalist who collected plants in South Africa. Zeyher came to the Cape in 1822, was a botanist at the Botanical Garden there, published Enumeratio plantarum Africae Australis with Christian Friedrich Ecklon, and died of smallpox. (PlantzAfrica)

zeyheri (Agathaea, Aizoon, Aloe, Aspalathus, Astephanus, Aster, Berchemia, Berkheya, Bryomorphe, Bulbine, Ceropegia, Cotula, Cucumis, Cynanchum, Dianthus, Dichaelia, Dicoma, Dimorphotheca, Dovyalis, Erythrina, Euryops, Felicia, Gasteria, Geigeria, Helichrysum, Heliophila, Helipterum, Hessea, Indigofera, Kyphocarpa, Lobostemon, Macledium, Maytenus, Osteospermum, Othonna, Periphanes, Raphionacme, Rhus, Rhynchostegiella, Ruellia, Schizochilus, Searsia, Selago, Senecio, Sericocoma, Staavia, Stobaea, Syncarpha, Tetragonia): see Zeyherella.
    Agathaea zeyheri = Felicia linifolia.
    Aloe zeyheri = Gasteria bicolor var. bicolor.
    Bryomorphe zeyheri = Bryomorphe aretioides.
    Bulbine zeyheri = Bulbine praemorsa.
    Dichaelia zeyheri = Brachystelma circinatum.
    Dicoma zeyheri = Macledium zeyheri.
    Gasteria zeyheri = Gasteria bicolor var. bicolor.
    Geigeria zeyheri = Geigeria otaviensis.
    Heliophila zeyheri = Heliophila coronopifolia.
    Helipterum zeyheri = Syncarpha zeyheri.
    Hessea zeyheri = Hessea breviflora.
    Kyphocarpa zeyheri = Kyphocarpa angustifolia.
    Lobostemon zeyheri = Lobostemon argenteus.
    Osteospermum zeyheri = Dimorphotheca walliana.
    Periphanes zeyheri = Hessea breviflora.
    Rhus zeyheri = Searsia zeyheri.
    Ruellia zeyheri = Ruellia pilosa.
    Senecio zeyheri = Senecio oxyodontus.
    Sericocoma zeheri = Sericocoma avolans.
    Stobaea zeyheri = Berkheya zeyheri ssp. zeyheri.
    Tetragonia zeyheri = Tetragonia decumbens.

zeyheriana (Eulophia): see Zeyherella.

zierii (Plagiobryum): ???

zimmermannii (Craibia): the specific epithet honors Philipp Wilhelm Albrecht Zimmermann (1860–1931), a German botanist who was Director of the Biological-Agricultural Institute at Amani, Tanzania (predecessor of the East African Herbarium, Nairobi ) from 1902 to 1920. (PlantzAfrica)

Zinnia (Asteraceae): named for German botanist Johann Gottfried Zinn (1727-1759), physician, professor of botany, director of the botanical gardens at Göttingen, botanical collector and author. (CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names)

Zornia (Fabaceae): named after the German pharmacist and botanist Johannes Zorn (1739-1799, author of Icones plantarum medicinalium.


Plant Names A-G Plant Names H-O



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