Florence Mary Paterson Explained

Florence Mary Paterson
Birth Name:	Florence Mary Hallack
Birth Date:	15 July 1869
Birth Place:	Port Elizabeth, Cape Colony
Death Place:	Redhouse, South Africa
Occupation:	plant collector

Florence Mary Paterson, née Hallack, also known as Mrs. T.V. Paterson,^[1] (15 July, 1869, Port Elizabeth – 5 June, 1936, Redhouse) was a South African plant collector. Her specimens are kept in the herbarium of Albany Museum and the Bolus Herbarium of the University of Cape Town.^[2] She is honored in the plant name patersoniae^[3] and genus name Neopatersonia.

Early life

Florence Mary Hallack was born on 15 July, 1869 in Port Elizabeth to English businessman and amateur botanist Russell Hallack and his wife Sarah, née Geard.^[4] She was the youngest of the nine children in the family. Hallack was encouraged by her father to observe the local flora and learn natural history.^[5] In 1895, Hallack married to Thomas Vernon Paterson of Redhouse.

Career

After marriage Paterson made a comprehensive collection of the flora of Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage area. Specimens from her collections had not been seen since Karl Ludwig Phillip Zeyher collected in that area in 1838.^[6] Paterson sent her specimens mainly to the professor of botany at Rhodes University and curator (later director) of the Albany Museum, Selmar Schönland. Paterson presented the first batch of specimens in 1908, followed by over 500 specimens in 1909. All her specimens were in a good condition, including undescribed species, and became a valuable addition to the museum's herbarium.

In 1910 Paterson donated the Albany Museum plants from Port Alfred, Steytlervill and Cape Town, and in 1912 plants from Hanover, Uniondale, Natal and the Transvaal.

In 1920s Paterson assisted the botanist Edith Stephens of South African College, collecting specimens of the region's stonecrop family, the charophytes.

Florence Mary Paterson died on 5 June 1936 in Redhouse.

Honors

Schönland named the genus Neopatersonia (Fam. Liliaceae) after Paterson in 1912.^[7] He also mentioned Paterson's contribution to collecting rare specimens in his letter to Sir David Prain in 1909,^[8] and specifically thanked her in Volume 1 of his Memoirs of the Botanical Survey of South Africa (1919).

Harry Bolus also thanked Paterson for collecting specimens in his Volume 3 of Orchids of South Africa (1913).

Notes and References

1. Web site: Plant Names P-S. 2021-04-24. www.calflora.net.
2. Web site: 23 April 2020. Paterson, Mrs Florence Mary. 24 April 2021. S2A3 Biographical Database of Southern African Science.
3. Web site: The Eponym Dictionary of Southern African Plants Plant Names P-S. 2021-04-24. www.calflora.net.
4. Book: Creese. Mary R. S.. Ladies in the Laboratory III: South African, Australian, New Zealand, and Canadian Women in Science: Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries. Creese. Thomas M.. 2010-02-08. Scarecrow Press. 978-0-8108-7289-9. 12. en.
5. Book: Glen. H.F.. Botanical Exploration of Southern Africa : :An illustrated history of early botanical literature on the Cape Flora, Biographical accounts of the leading plant collectors and their activities in southern Africa form the days of the East India Company until the modern times.. Glen. H. F.. 2010. SANBI. 978-1-919976-54-9. 2nd.. 26. Pretoria.
6. Web site: Neopatersonia CasaBio. 2021-04-24. casabio.org.
7. Book: Quattrocchi, Umberto. CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names: Common Names, Scientific Names, Eponyms, Synonyms, and Etymology. 1999-11-17. CRC Press. 978-0-8493-2677-6. 1799. en.
8. Web site: Letter from Selmar Schönland to Sir David Prain; from the Albany Museum, Grahamstown, Cape Colony; 27 March 1909. 2021-04-24. plants.jstor.org.