Inez Clare Verdoorn
Encyclopedia
Inez Clare Verdoorn was a South African botanist and taxonomist, noted for her major revisions of plant families and genera.
She matriculated in 1916 from Loreto Convent
in Pretoria, worked for a while in the office of the Controller and Auditor General before being appointed in 1917 as a herbarium assistant at the Division of Botany and Plant Pathology. Between 1925-27 she worked at Kew
as liaison officer for the National Herbarium. On her return to Pretoria, she assumed charge of the herbarium and was promoted to Senior Professional Officer in 1944. Despite having arrived at retirement age in 1951, Miss Verdoorn opted to work on as a temporary staff member until 1968, and thereafter as an unpaid research worker.
She has more than 200 botanical publications to her credit, including major revisions and appearing mainly in Bothalia, Flowering Plants of Africa, Flora of Southern Africa, Kew Bulletin, and the Journal of South African Botany.
This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation I.Verd. when citing
a botanical name
.
She is commemorated by the Composite
genus Inezia
Phill., Aloe verdoorniae Reynolds
, Senecio verdoorniae R.A.Dyer
, Teclea verdoorniae Exell & Mendonça and Volume 28 of the Flowering Plants of Africa
, which was specially dedicated to her. Her collected specimens total some 4 000, many collected with Codd, Dyer
, Obermeyer and Schweickerdt.
She matriculated in 1916 from Loreto Convent
Loreto Convent
Loreto Convent is an all-girls secondary school located in Letterkenny, County Donegal, Ireland. It is located beside the Cathedral of St. Eunan and St Columba. It is one of nineteen Loreto Secondary Schools in Ireland.- History :...
in Pretoria, worked for a while in the office of the Controller and Auditor General before being appointed in 1917 as a herbarium assistant at the Division of Botany and Plant Pathology. Between 1925-27 she worked at Kew
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, usually referred to as Kew Gardens, is 121 hectares of gardens and botanical glasshouses between Richmond and Kew in southwest London, England. "The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew" and the brand name "Kew" are also used as umbrella terms for the institution that runs...
as liaison officer for the National Herbarium. On her return to Pretoria, she assumed charge of the herbarium and was promoted to Senior Professional Officer in 1944. Despite having arrived at retirement age in 1951, Miss Verdoorn opted to work on as a temporary staff member until 1968, and thereafter as an unpaid research worker.
She has more than 200 botanical publications to her credit, including major revisions and appearing mainly in Bothalia, Flowering Plants of Africa, Flora of Southern Africa, Kew Bulletin, and the Journal of South African Botany.
This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation I.Verd. 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...
.
Honours and fellowships
- 1952 Senior Capt. Scott Medal by the SA Biological Society
- 1957 President of the SA Biological Society
- 1964 President of Section B of the SA Association for the Advancement of Science
- 1967 PhD (honorary) from the University of NatalUniversity of NatalThe University of Natal was a university in Natal, and later KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, that is now part of the University of KwaZulu-Natal. It was founded in 1910 as the Natal University College in Pietermaritzburg, and expanded to include a campus in Durban in 1931. In 1947, the university...
She is commemorated by the Composite
Asteraceae
The Asteraceae or Compositae , is an exceedingly large and widespread family of vascular plants. The group has more than 22,750 currently accepted species, spread across 1620 genera and 12 subfamilies...
genus Inezia
Inezia
Inezia is a genus of birds in the tyrant-flycatcher family Tyrannidae.It contains the following species:* Slender-billed Inezia, Inezia tenuirostris* Plain Inezia, Inezia inornata* Amazonian Inezia, Inezia subflava...
Phill., Aloe verdoorniae Reynolds
G. W. Reynolds
Gilbert Westacott Reynolds , was a South African optometrist and authority on the genus Aloe....
, Senecio verdoorniae R.A.Dyer
Robert Allen Dyer
Robert Allen Dyer was a South African botanist and taxonomist, working particularly on Amaryllidaceae and succulent plants, contributing to and editing of Bothalia and Flowering Plants of Africa and holding the office of Director of the Botanical Research Institute in Pretoria from 1944 to...
, Teclea verdoorniae Exell & Mendonça and Volume 28 of the Flowering Plants of Africa
Flowering Plants of Africa
Flowering Plants of Africa is a series of illustrated botanical magazines akin to Curtis's Botanical Magazine, initiated as Flowering Plants of South Africa by I. B. Pole-Evans in 1920 and currently published by the South African National Biodiversity Institute in Pretoria...
, which was specially dedicated to her. Her collected specimens total some 4 000, many collected with Codd, Dyer
Robert Allen Dyer
Robert Allen Dyer was a South African botanist and taxonomist, working particularly on Amaryllidaceae and succulent plants, contributing to and editing of Bothalia and Flowering Plants of Africa and holding the office of Director of the Botanical Research Institute in Pretoria from 1944 to...
, Obermeyer and Schweickerdt.
Sources
- Botanical Exploration of Southern Africa - Gunn & Codd, Cape Town 1981