Species Herschelia purpurascens

For Sir John Frederick William Herschel (1792–1871), English astronomer, chemist, naturalist and social reformer, and son of the famous astronomer Sir William Herschel (1738–1822) who discovered the planet Uranus. Herschel spent four years (1834–1838) in Cape Town as astronomer royal, in order to complete the catalogue of the stars, nebulae and other objects of the Southern skies, started by his father, the results of which were published in 1847. While in South Africa, he took time for other interests, such as seeing and drawing the wildflowers and landscapes around the Cape Peninsula, Paarl and Stellenbosch, which led to a friendship with William Henry Harvey and Mary Pitt, who would later become his wife. He even cultivated orchids. Later, he recalled it was ‘probably the happiest time in [his] life’.