Olive Mary Hilliard Explained
Olive Mary Hilliard Burtt |
Birth Name: | Olive Mary Hillary |
Birth Date: | 4 July 1925 |
Birth Place: | Durban, South Africa |
Occupation: | Botanist |
Workplaces: | Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh |
Alma Mater: | University of Natal |
Awards: | - Kirstenbosch Jubilee Prize (1983)
- Gold Medal of the South African Association of Botanists (1984)
- D.Sc. (honoris causa), University of Natal (1991)
- Veitch Memorial Gold Medal, Royal Horticultural Society (1992)
|
Spouse: | B. L. Burtt |
Thesis Title: | "A taxonomic revision of Streptocarpus subgenus Streptocarpus in Natal." |
Thesis Year: | 1965 |
Olive Mary Hilliard (Hillary, 4 July 1925 – 30 November 2022) was a South African botanist and taxonomist. Hilliard authored 372 land plant species names, the fifth-highest number of such names authored by any female scientist.[1]
Hilliard was born in Durban on 4 July 1925.[2] She attended Natal University from 1943 to 1947, where she obtained an MSc and later a PhD. She worked at the National Herbarium in Pretoria in 1947-48 and was a lecturer in botany at Natal University from 1954 to 1962. In 1963 she became curator of the herbarium at Natal University and a research fellow. Her special fields of interest were the flora of Natal and the taxonomy of Streptocarpus, Compositae and Scrophulariaceae.
In 1964 she formed a professional and personal collaboration with Brian Laurence Burtt (1913-2008) who played a large part in the revitalising of a moribund Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Their collaboration resulted in numerous papers and three books, Streptocarpus: an African Plant Study (1971), The Botany of the Southern Natal Drakensberg (1987), and Dierama: The Hairbells of Africa (1991).[3] [4]
Hilliard died on 30 November 2022, at the age of 97.[5] [6] [7] [8]
Legacy
Hilliard collected specimens, mostly from the Natal Drakensberg and Malawi, number some 8000 (of which 5000 were collected with B. L. Burtt). She is commemorated in the 2 genera of Hilliardia and Hilliardiella (both in the Asteraceae family).[9] She is also honoured in Plectranthus hilliardiae, Schizoglossum hilliardiae, Cymbopappus hilliardiae, Agalmyla hilliardiae and Helichrysum hilliardiae
Works
- Hilliard, OM, BL Burtt 1971. Streptocarpus: an African Plant Study
- Hilliard, OM. 1983. Flora of Southern Africa Series. Ed. Balogh Scientific Books. 325 pp.
- Hilliard, OM, BL Burtt 1985. A Revision of Geranium in Africa south of the Limpopo. (Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Vol. XLII no. 2)
- Hilliard, OM. 1987. The Botany of the Southern Natal Drakensberg (Annals of Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens) Ed. National Botanic Gardens. 253 pp.
- Hilliard, OM, BL Burtt 1991. Dierama: The Hairbells of Africa. Ed. Timber Press, Inc. 152 pp.
- Hilliard, OM. 1995. The Manuleae: A Tribe of Scrophulariaceae. Ed. Edinburgh University Press. 600 pp.
- Hilliard, OM, LS Davis (illustrator). 1997. Trees & Shrubs of Natal (Ukhahlamba). Ed. Univ. of Kwazulu Natal Press; 2ª ed. 48 pp.
- Hilliard, OM. 1997. Flowers of the Natal Drakensberg: The Lily, Iris And Orchid Family And Their Allies (Ukhahlamba S.) Ed. Univ. of Kwazulu Natal Press. 85 pp.
Notes and References
- Lindon. Heather L.. Gardiner. Lauren M.. Brady. Abigail. Vorontsova. Maria S.. Maria Vorontsova (botanist). Fewer than three percent of land plant species named by women: Author gender over 260 years. Taxon. 5 May 2015. 64. 2. 209–215. 10.12705/642.4.
- Book: Mary Gunn . L. E. W. Codd . Botanical Exploration Southern Africa . June 1981 . Taylor & Francis . 9780869611296 . 188 . 22 January 2022.
- Web site: Botanical Electronic News - 396. www.ou.edu. 2017-10-27.
- News: B. L. Burtt: Plant taxonomist. 2008-06-13. The Independent. 2017-10-27. en-GB.
- Web site: Hilliard, Olive Mary . Harvard University . 6 December 2022.
- Web site: Olive Mary Hilliard . Bionomia . 7 December 2022.
- News: Olive Hilliard obituary . 15 January 2023 . The Guardian . 15 January 2023.
- Noltie. Henry. Professor Olive Mary Hilliard Burtt (1925–2022). Edinburgh Journal of Botany. 2023-02-16. 80. 1–12. 10.24823/ejb.2023.1983. free.
- Book: Burkhardt, Lotte . Verzeichnis eponymischer Pflanzennamen – Erweiterte Edition . Index of Eponymic Plant Names – Extended Edition . Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum, Freie Universität Berlin . 2018 . 978-3-946292-26-5 . pdf . German . Berlin . 10.3372/epolist2018 . 187926901 . 1 January 2021.