MARY AGARD POCOCK

BOTANICALARTIST ANDINTREPIDEXPLORER

by Tony Dold,Selmar SchonlandHerbarium.Rhodes University.Grahamstown

One of the water-colour paintings Mary Pocock did while on an expedition with Dorothea Bleek.It is captioned Haemanthus ?zambesiacus; [from] Tsane, Cwelei. 28/09/1925.

Mary Agard Pocock, knownt~)1er friends and familyas Mamie, was born on

the 31 December 1886 atRondebosch in Cape Town. Aftercompleting her secondaryeducation in England, she gaineda B.Sc. degree in botany, geologyand mathematics from LondonUniversity in 1908 and later anHonours degree in 1921. After ashort term of lecturing at WitsUniversity (1923) she joined thestaff of Rhodes University's botany

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department (1924-1950s) where in1942 she was instrumental inestablishing the Rhodes UniversityHerbarium (RUH) which wasincorporated into the SelmarSchonland Herbarium (GRA) in1993. The Pocock collections,comprising approximately 28 000specimens have been housed inthe Selmar Schonland (formerlyAlbany Museum Herbarium) since1967. The majority of her collec­tions are marine algae, althoughshe had a particular interest in the

genus Volvox, which provided herwith a Ph.D. topic. Mary estab­lished the tradition of algology atRhodes University, which wascontinued by Prof. Isaac, andthereafter Prof. Stan Seagrief.

Although she passed away inJuly 1977 at the age of ninety, herexplorations and remarkableachievements are still relativelyunknown and have only recentlybeen published (in part) byBalarin et a1 (1999). Though shereceived many honours and was a

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Fellow of the Linnean Society ofLondon and the Royal Society ofSouth Africa, and had receivedthe distinction of a Doctor ofScience (honoris causa) fromRhodes University, her greatestpride was the Crisp Medal givenby the Linnean Society foroutstanding algological work, anhonour very rarely awarded. Themajority of her thirty scientificpublications focus on algae andher algal collection boasts thirteenholotypes, twelve isotypes andtwo lectotypes (see box on p. 176for explanations) making itparticularly valuable.

In 1925 Mary's adventurousspirit led her to join DorotheaBleek on a seven monthexpedition across NorthernRhodesia (now Zambia) andAngola to Lobito Bay on foot!To undertake an expedition into

Right A water-colour painting by MaryPocock, captioned 'Pleiotaxis buurii;[froml Kutsi near Muye, Angola.Abundant in sandy soil of openwoodland.' The vernacular namemukiJuwankima is pencilled on the lowerright hand corner, (unfortunately notshown in this reproduction).Below Mary Pocock, (far left) and herentourage of porters attracting the interestof villagers (locality not known). This isone of the photographs taken anddeveloped on glass 'lantern slides'.

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TYPES OF TYPESThe 'type 'specimen is the singlespecimen on which thedescription of a taxon (group ofplants) is based. This is usually aherbarium specimen. Most typematerial is kept in differentcoloured folders in the herbariumcollections thereby enabling itsrapid recovery. The types of typesare as follows:holotype the sole specimen eitherused by or designated by anauthor as the nomenclatural typeof a species when the descriptionis first published. Whenever anew taxon (group) is described itis imperative both to designate aholotype and state where it isdeposited. Duplicates are knownas isotypes.isotype a specimen collected atthe same time and from the sameplant or localized population ofplants as the holotype. Theseduplicate specimens are oftenseparated and deposited inseveral institutions.lectotype a specimen subse­quently selected from the originalmaterial on which the name of ataxon was based. This is onlynecessary when the originalauthor failed to designate aholotype.Descriptions based on thePenguin dictionary of botany,edited by Elizabeth Tootill, 1984.

....

, .

"-. '

Painting by Mary Pocock entitled 'Combretum gnidioides; [from] Cwelei. Low shrub inwhite sand. 27/09/1925'.

a virtually unknown region in the1920s was not for the fainthearted! At the time the Angolanregion was poorly explored andthe first comprehensive botanicalstudy was only published in 1939.Nevertheless the two womentraversed approximately 1800 kInon foot or by canoe with a team ofseventeen porters to carryequipment and food.

The journey was timed to missthe wet season from November toApril and'coincide with the cool,dry winter months of May toAugust. The expedition started offby train from Cape Town toVictoria Falls and then by lorry toLivingstone and Katombora,Zambia. From here they travelledby dugout canoes or walked oroccasionally rode in a 'machila', ahammock carried by a team ofbearers. The first 350 kIn was upthe Zambezi River (against the

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flow], bypassing the many rapidson foot, to Sioma. Several week­long stops were made en routeand short daily excursions madefrom the base camp allowing formore leisurely and detailedstudies. The pitching of camp wasleft to the porters who arrived at apredetermined destination first,anxious to get rid of their bulkyloads, including a large cookingpot for making bread and even azinc bathtub! The menu, theresponsibility of the principleguide, was meagre and monot­onous, so much so that a visitorwho joined them for a short whilecomplained about the lumpy,burned maize meal porridge. Thereply, reminiscent of Mary Pocockat her forthright best, was 'We arefar too busy to cook and that is allthe porters know how to make.' Asingle hen was also carried toprovide eggs, however it unfortu-

nately only produced a single egga day which Mary and Dorotheatook turns at having for breakfast!

During the expedition MissBleek gathered information for herwork The Bushman's Dictionaryand other anthropological publica­tions, while Mary collected plantsand painted delicate and accuratewater-colours of some of them.She also took many photographsthat were developed on glass'lantern slides'. Few of these are ofplants but there are manylandscapes and pictures of variouscampsites, unfortunately few arecaptioned. Dorothea also tookmany slides of San families,posing rather uncomfortably, somewith musical instruments. Thephotographs (black and whiteprints) portray daily activities ­even one of Mary washing her hairin a bucket. Several show lion andleopard spoor (around the camp?).

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Above Camp site (locality not known) with Mary Pocock on the extreme left, painting her botanical specimens. This photograph wasdeveloped on a glass 'lantern slide'. Below Mary Pocock's water-colour painting of'Eulophia sp.; Brachystegia forest',(locality unknown).

Marianne Balarin (in an article inBothalia written in 1999, seebelow) has established that 990plant specimens were collectedand that twelve of these wereidentified as possibly new toscience. On returning bysteamboat to Cape Town themajority of the specimens weresent to Kew where she spent sometime working on them, howeverthere are also some duplicates inthe Schonland Herbarium. These,together with her photographs,water-colours, diaries andcollecting books are housed in theSchonland Herbarium and someare reproduced here in Veld &Flora for the first time. Balarinand her co-authors list only thirtypaintings but there are many morefiled with the specimens in theherbarium that were inaccessibleto her. All the paintings are onvery thin cream coloured quarto

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size paper. Although not shownherl'l many of the paintings haveaccurate floral dissections inpencil and notes on habitat andlocal uses such as edibilitytogether with local African names.

Mary Pocock left her estate andcollections to the Albany Museumand a fund was established fromthis for the curation of herspecimens that are consulted byalgologists worldwide. Onlyrecently a researcher from CapeTown has identified one of hercollections as a new genus and isin the process of describing it.®

Further readingBalarin, M.G., Brink, E. & Glen, H.F. 1999.

Itinerary and specimen list ofM.A. Pocock's botanical collectingexpedition in Zanlbia and Angola in1925. Bothalia (29)1, 169-201.

Jacot Guillarmod, A. 1978. Obituary.Phycologia 17, 440-444.

Jacot Guillarmod, A. 1987. That amazingwoman. The Elephant's Child (10)3,14-17.

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