Western Cape
Nodes
Gladiolus
Gladiolus trichonemifolius
Gladiolus priorii
Gladiolus vaginatus
Gladiolus subcaeruleus
Gladiolus
Gladiolus subcaeruleus
Gladiolus patersoniae
Gladiolus rudis
Pages
Taxonomy term
Satyrium
{"type":"FeatureCollection","features":[]}
Referring to the two-horned satyr, a demigod in Greek mythology, half man, half goat; possibly from satyrion, a name used by Dioscorides and Pliny the Elder for an orchid, Aceras anthropophorum, from the presumed aphrodisiacal properties possessed by the plant. The satyrs were closely associated with Dionysius. The allusion is to the two-spurred lip.
Schizoglossum aschersonianum
{"type":"FeatureCollection","features":[]}
From the English ‘achersonianum’ / ‘Acherson’ meaning ‘commemorating a person of this name’
Senecio
{"type":"FeatureCollection","features":[]}
La. senex = an old man. The white, hairy pappus of the seeds is reminiscent of an old man’s beard.
Serruria
{"type":"FeatureCollection","features":[]}
For Joseph (Josephus) Serrurier (1663–1742), Dutch physician, philosopher, mathematician, botanist and physicist. He studied at the University of Utrecht, obtaining an MA degree in 1690 and qualifying as a doctor of medicine on the same day. During his career at Utrecht, he became professor of philosophy and mathematics (1705), professor of botany and medicine (1716), and the university’s rector on three occasions. Among his works, he authored an extensive treatise on experimental physics, Physicae Experimentis Innixae Compendiosa Tractatio (1700), a commemorative volume on Adrianus Reland, orientalist, linguist and physicist; and created a new hortus botanicus, which he modelled on the University of Leiden’s widely acclaimed botanical garden designed by Herman Boerhaave.
Struthiola
{"type":"FeatureCollection","features":[]}
Gk. strouthos = a starling. The seeds are pointed like a starling’s beak (Hugh Glen). Alternately, Gk. strouthion = a small bird, sparrow (dim. of strouthos = ostrich). Perhaps the seed resembles a sparrow’s beak (WPU Jackson).
Syzygium cordatum
{"type":"FeatureCollection","features":[]}
From the Latin cordatus = ‘heart-shaped’; usually referring to the leaf shape
Thesium
{"type":"FeatureCollection","features":[]}
Derivation uncertain. Gk. thes = a hired labourer. An ancient name for a species of Linaria, toad flax, used by Pliny the Elder. Georg Christian Wittstein traces this to the legendary hero Theseus, who slew the Minotaur and to whom Ariadne gave a wreath in which this plant was woven.
Trachyandra
{"type":"FeatureCollection","features":[]}
Gk. trachys = rough; andros = male. The thick filaments are usually hairy.
Tulbaghia
{"type":"FeatureCollection","features":[]}
For Ryk Tulbagh (Rijk Tulbagh) (1699–1771), Dutch governor of the Cape Colony from 1751 to 1771. When only 16, he emigrated to the Cape as a Dutch East India Company employee on a five-year contract to be used as needed. The governor, Maurice Pasques Chavonnes, recognised the young man’s ability and gave him an administrative post as assistant clerk of the secretary of the political council, the start of a career that ended in his being made governor of the Cape. He was a responsible governor who, inter alia, codified the slave laws of the country with set rules for slave management. He corresponded with Linnaeus in 1763 and sent him seeds, and several birds. The town of Tulbagh is named after him.
Ursinia
{"type":"FeatureCollection","features":[]}
Named in honour of Johann Ursinus of Regensburg, the author of Arboretum Biblicum. Sphenogyne R.Br. is not considered separable.
Wachendorfia
{"type":"FeatureCollection","features":[]}
For Evert Jacob van Wachendorff (1702–1758), Dutch physician and botanist. He studied medicine in Leiden and Utrecht, becoming a doctor of medicine in 1724, and became municipal physician of Utrecht (1726–1758). During this period, he also became a lecturer in chemistry at Utrecht University (1726–1743), then professor of medicine, chemistry and botany (1743–1758). He also became a director of the Botanical Gardens of Utrecht. Among his publications was Horti Ultraiectini Index (1747) and Oratio Botanico-Medica de Plantis Immensitatis Intellectus Divini Testibus (1743). He was a good friend of Clifford and Linnaeus.
Watsonia
{"type":"FeatureCollection","features":[]}
For William Watson (1715–1787), English physician, apothecary, botanist and naturalist. He introduced the work of Linnaeus and his botanical classification system to Britain. He was the first scientist to observe the flash of light from the discharge of a Leyden jar and to show that electricity could pass through a vacuum and that it had a positive and negative charge; he coined the word ‘circuit’. His articles, entitled Experiments on the Nature of Electricity, appeared from 1745 onward in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, of which he became a member (1741) and vice president (1772). Both he and Benjamin Franklin discovered some of the same characteristics of electricity at the same time, but independently. The two men became friends.
Zygophyllum
{"type":"FeatureCollection","features":[]}
Gk. zygon = a yoke; phyllum = leaf. The leaves are usually bifoliolate – the two leaflets are as if ‘yoked together’.