Illtyd Buller Pole-Evans
Encyclopedia
Illtyd Buller Pole-Evans CMG
Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
(3 September 1879 – 16 October 1968) was a Welsh-born South African botanist.
Biography
Pole-Evans was born in Llanmaes near CardiffCardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
, the son of an Anglican clergyman, Daniel Evans and Caroline Jane Pole. He was educated at the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire, receiving a BSc
BSC
BSC is a three-letter abbreviation that may refer to:Science and technology* Bachelor of Science , an undergraduate degree* Base Station Controller, part of a mobile phone network; see: Base Station subsystem...
in 1903 and going on to Cambridge where he studied mycology
Mycology
Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their genetic and biochemical properties, their taxonomy and their use to humans as a source for tinder, medicinals , food and entheogens, as well as their dangers, such as poisoning or...
and plant pathology under Harry Marshall Ward
Harry Marshall Ward
Harry Marshall Ward was a British botanist, mycologist, and plant pathologist.Born in Hereford, Ward was educated at Lincoln Cathedral school. from c. 1864. He went on to scientific studies at the South Kensington Science and Art Department under Thomas Henry Huxley in 1874...
FRS, obtaining an MA
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
in 1905.
Pole-Evans was appointed as mycologist and plant pathologist, and joined Burtt Davy
Joseph Burtt Davy
Joseph Burtt Davy Joseph Burtt Davy Joseph Burtt Davy (7 March 1870 Findern, Derbyshire - 20 August 1940 Birmingham, was a Quaker botanist and agrostologist. He was the first curator of the Forest Herbarium at the when it was founded in 1924. He attended school at Ilkley in West Yorkshire...
in the newly-established Transvaal Department of Agriculture. Although having the most rudimentary laboratory facilities, Pole-Evans implemented a research program and started producing a steady flow of published work. He assumed charge of the Division of Mycology and Plant Pathology in 1912, which later became part of the Division of Botany and Plant Pathology.
After settling in Pretoria
Pretoria
Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...
, Pole-Evans turned his attention to the rich flora of his adopted country and singled out the Aloes
Aloes
Aloe may refer:*Aloe, a genus of succulent plants, which includes several species:**Aloe arborescens**Aloe aristata**Aloe camperi**Aloe dichotoma**Aloe ngobitensis**Aloe vera**Aloe wildii*Aloe Ridge Game Reserve, in Gauteng, South Africa...
for special attention. He amassed a collection of great value and established the plants on the grounds of the Division. Some new Aloe species were described by him in the Trans. Roy. Soc. S. Afr. of 1915 and 1917.
In 1916 an outbreak of citrus canker
Citrus canker
Citrus canker is a disease affecting citrus species that is caused by the bacterium Xanthomonas axonopodis. Infection causes lesions on the leaves, stems, and fruit of citrus trees, including lime, oranges, and grapefruit...
threatened to bring down the citrus industry in the Transvaal. Pole-Evans orchestrated a drastic program that called for the complete eradication of infected orchards and nurseries. This timely intervention saved the industry.
During his travels throughout southern Africa, he collected photographs and data on the major vegetation types of the region. This resulted in a preliminary account entitled "The Plant Geography of South Africa", in which he recognised 19 botanical regions, each with distinctive ecological characteristics. His classification, with its accompanying 1:3,000,000 vegetation map, remained the standard reference work until replaced by Acocks' system in 1953. He initiated the Botanical Survey Advisory Committee which led to the serial publication of the Botanical Survey Memoirs, first appearing in 1919. He also introduced the Flowering Plants of South Africa in 1920 and Bothalia in 1921.
One of his longstanding interests was pasture grasses, and he was instrumental in collecting and introducing many of these to South Africa from various places on the sub-continent. These grasses were grown and tested at the Prinshof
Prinshof
Prinshof is an area in Pretoria. It is the home of the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of Pretoria and the Steve Biko Hospital...
and Rietondale Experiment Stations.
In 1930 Pole-Evans accompanied John Hutchinson
John Hutchinson (botanist)
John Hutchinson, OBE, FRS was a renowned English botanist, taxonomist and author.-Life and career:...
and Jan Smuts
Jan Smuts
Jan Christiaan Smuts, OM, CH, ED, KC, FRS, PC was a prominent South African and British Commonwealth statesman, military leader and philosopher. In addition to holding various cabinet posts, he served as Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa from 1919 until 1924 and from 1939 until 1948...
on a two-month expedition through Southern and Northern Rhodesia to Nyasaland
Nyasaland
Nyasaland or the Nyasaland Protectorate, was a British protectorate located in Africa, which was established in 1907 when the former British Central Africa Protectorate changed its name. Since 1964, it has been known as Malawi....
and Lake Tanganyika
Lake Tanganyika
Lake Tanganyika is an African Great Lake. It is estimated to be the second largest freshwater lake in the world by volume, and the second deepest, after Lake Baikal in Siberia; it is also the world's longest freshwater lake...
. A more ambitious expedition was undertaken by him in 1938 at the invitation of the Kenyan government. In the company of C. J. J. van Rensburg, an agrostologist, and J. Erens, a plant and seed collector, he set off on a four-month odyssey covering some 20000 km (12,427.5 mi). On this trip they travelled through Southern Rhodesia
Southern Rhodesia
Southern Rhodesia was the name of the British colony situated north of the Limpopo River and the Union of South Africa. From its independence in 1965 until its extinction in 1980, it was known as Rhodesia...
and Tanganyika
Tanganyika
Tanganyika , later formally the Republic of Tanganyika, was a sovereign state in East Africa from 1961 to 1964. It was situated between the Indian Ocean and the African Great Lakes of Lake Victoria, Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika...
to Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
, going as far north as the border with Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
and Abyssinia
Ethiopian Empire
The Ethiopian Empire also known as Abyssinia, covered a geographical area that the present-day northern half of Ethiopia and Eritrea covers, and included in its peripheries Zeila, Djibouti, Yemen and Western Saudi Arabia...
, returning through Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
, the Ruwenzoris and the Belgian Congo
Belgian Congo
The Belgian Congo was the formal title of present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo between King Leopold II's formal relinquishment of his personal control over the state to Belgium on 15 November 1908, and Congolese independence on 30 June 1960.-Congo Free State, 1884–1908:Until the latter...
. His account of this expedition was published in Botanical Survey Memoir No. 22 of 1948.
During his career, Pole-Evans collected extensively in southern Africa and covered the Belgian Congo
Belgian Congo
The Belgian Congo was the formal title of present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo between King Leopold II's formal relinquishment of his personal control over the state to Belgium on 15 November 1908, and Congolese independence on 30 June 1960.-Congo Free State, 1884–1908:Until the latter...
, Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
, Tanganyika
Tanganyika
Tanganyika , later formally the Republic of Tanganyika, was a sovereign state in East Africa from 1961 to 1964. It was situated between the Indian Ocean and the African Great Lakes of Lake Victoria, Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika...
, Northern Rhodesia
Northern Rhodesia
Northern Rhodesia was a territory in south central Africa, formed in 1911. It became independent in 1964 as Zambia.It was initially administered under charter by the British South Africa Company and formed by it in 1911 by amalgamating North-Western Rhodesia and North-Eastern Rhodesia...
, the Bechuanaland Protectorate, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
and Southern Rhodesia
Southern Rhodesia
Southern Rhodesia was the name of the British colony situated north of the Limpopo River and the Union of South Africa. From its independence in 1965 until its extinction in 1980, it was known as Rhodesia...
. His collections can be found at A, B, BOL, BR, E, EA, GRA, K, L, MO, P, PRE, S, SRGH and US. This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation Pole-Evans when citing
Author citation (botany)
In botanical nomenclature, author citation refers to citing the person who validly published a botanical name, i.e. who first published the name while fulfilling the formal requirements as specified by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature...
a botanical name
Botanical name
A botanical name is a formal scientific name conforming to the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature and, if it concerns a plant cultigen, the additional cultivar and/or Group epithets must conform to the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants...
. His dedication to botany in the service of the Department of Agriculture, set a high standard for a whole generation of South African botanists, inspiring an unparalleled expansion in the country's botanical science. The National Herbarium, which had started with the small collection of Burtt Davy
Joseph Burtt Davy
Joseph Burtt Davy Joseph Burtt Davy Joseph Burtt Davy (7 March 1870 Findern, Derbyshire - 20 August 1940 Birmingham, was a Quaker botanist and agrostologist. He was the first curator of the Forest Herbarium at the when it was founded in 1924. He attended school at Ilkley in West Yorkshire...
, grew rapidly with the acquisition of the collections of Ernest Edward Galpin
Ernest Edward Galpin
Ernest Edward Galpin Ernest Edward Galpin Ernest Edward Galpin (born Grahamstown December 6, 1858 - October 16, 1941 Mosdene, Transvaal, was a South African botanist and banker. He left some 16,000 sheets to the National Herbarium in Pretoria and was dubbed "the Prince of Collectors" by General...
, Anna Dieterlen (1859-1945), Henry George Flanagan (1861–1919), Rudolf Marloth
Rudolf Marloth
Hermann Wilhelm Rudolf Marloth 28 December 1855 Lübben, Germany - 15 May 1931 Caledon, Cape Province was a German-born South African botanist, pharmacist and analytical chemist, best known for his Flora of South Africa which appeared in six superbly illustrated volumes between 1913 and 1932...
, Alice Pegler
Alice Pegler
Alice Marguerite Pegler , was a South African teacher and botanical collector.The daughter of S. Mackin Pegler, Alice was educated at the Dominican Convent in King William's Town. Although trained as a teacher, she abandoned this career and settled at Kentani where she raised and educated her nieces...
(1861–1929), William Tyson (1851–1920) and the bryophytes of Thomas Robertson Sim
Thomas Robertson Sim
Thomas Robertson Sim 25 June 1858 Northfield, Aberdeenshire, Scotland - 23 July 1938 Durban, Natal was a botanist, bryologist, botanical artist and Conservator of Forests in Natal, best known for his extremely detailed book The Forests and Forest Flora of The Colony of the Cape of Good Hope which...
. Pole-Evans was instrumental in extending the ill-fated Dongola Reserve which had been created in the Northern Transvaal in the 1920s, and was scrapped by the new Government of 1948. In 1955 he retired to Umtali in Rhodesia
Rhodesia
Rhodesia , officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state located in southern Africa that existed between 1965 and 1979 following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965...
, where he continued his botanical collecting.
Pole-Evans died in Umtali, Rhodesia
Rhodesia
Rhodesia , officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state located in southern Africa that existed between 1965 and 1979 following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965...
at the age of 89.
Personal life
He married Mary R.H. Thompson MScMSC
- Computers:* Mario Strikers Charged* Microsoft Common Console Document, file for the Microsoft Management Console* Microelectronics Support Centre* Microsoft Corporation* MIDI Show Control* Message Sequence Chart...
(London) in 1922, three years after she joined his staff as a mycologist.
Legacy
Pole-Evans is commemorated by the grass genus Polevansia de Winter, and by numerous specific names such as Aloe pole-evansii, Dinteranthus pole-evansii, Gladiolus pole-evansii etc., as well as Volume 20 of Flowering Plants of South Africa. ScadoxusScadoxus
Scadoxus is a genus of 9 species native to tropical Africa in the family Amaryllidaceae, subfamily Amaryllidoideae. The genus has close affinities with Haemanthus from which it has only recently been separated.Species in the genus are...
pole-evansii is named for his son, Reginald.
Memberships, honours and awards
- Fellow of the Linnean Society of LondonLinnean Society of LondonThe Linnean Society of London is the world's premier society for the study and dissemination of taxonomy and natural history. It publishes a zoological journal, as well as botanical and biological journals...
- Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa
- Foundation member of SA Biological Society
- 1911, 1919, 1926 President of SA Biological Society
- 1916 President of Section C of SA Association for the Advancement of Science
- 1920 President of SA Association for the Advancement of Science
- 1922 Medal & Grant from SA Association for the Advancement of Science
- 1921 Companion of the Order of St Michael and St GeorgeOrder of St Michael and St GeorgeThe Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
- LLDLegum DoctorLegum Doctor is a doctorate-level academic degree in law, or an honorary doctorate, depending on the jurisdiction. The double L in the abbreviation refers to the early practice in the University of Cambridge to teach both Canon Law and Civil Law, the double L indicating the plural, Doctor of both...
(honorary) from Witwatersrand University