Wikipedia

Jeanne M. Borle

Madame Jeanne M. Borle (occasionally known as Johanna Louise Borle,[1] Lydia Borle,[2] or by the honorific Kokwana[1][2]) (1880 - ca. 1979)[1] was a Swiss missionary and collector of botanicals. Born in Saint-Imier, Bernese Jura, Switzerland with the maiden name Mühlemann,[3] she married the missionary physician Dr. James Borle.[4] Along with other Swiss missionaries that were heading to South Africa at the time, the Borles travelled to Elim, Western Cape to assist in the running of a hospital there.[1] After her husband’s death in 1918 during the global influenza pandemic, she worked at the American Methodist Mission (now the Chicuque Rural Hospital) in Mozambique, and lived in the Polana district of Maputo.[5][1][6]

Jeanne M. Borle
Born1880 (1880)
Saint-Imier, Bernese Jura, Switzerland
Died1979(1979-00-00) (aged 98–99)
Elim, Western Cape, South Africa
SpouseJames Borle
Scientific career
FieldsBotanical collector and missionary

It is around this time, after the death of her husband, and on the eastern coast of southern Africa, that Borle appears to have developed an interest in plant collecting. She wrote to the National Herbarium of Pretoria in April 1919, from Maputo, requesting a pamphlet with information about collecting and drying flowers, and soon was sending many specimens that she had collected to the Pretoria herbarium.[4]

At first, she collected the plants she found in and around Maputo, but soon started to send specimens from Bulawayo in Zimbabwe, Sesheke in Zambia, Grootfontein in Namibia, and Gqeberha in South Africa.[7] She was the first collector to send specimens from western Zambia to the Pretoria herbarium.[8] The plants that she collected were then distributed from Pretoria to other herbaria, including Meise, Coimbra, The New York Botanical Garden, Uppsala, Universität Wien[4] and the National Herbarium of Victoria Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria.[9]

Borle returned to the Elim mission in the 1950s, where she continued to work until the age of 97.[10] She died aged 99, in Elim.[1]

Botanical legacy

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The plant Vachellia borleae (Burtt Davy) Kyal. & Boatwr (syn. Acacia borleae Burtt Davy) was named in her honour, after a specimen that she had collected in 1920 in Maputo.[11]

Borle also collected the type specimens of Hymenocardia capensis,[12][13] Barleria lateralis,[14][15] and Acacia chariessa.[16][17]

Further reading

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f van der Merwe, CF (2001). "Elim Hospital - The First 100 Years". South African Medical Journal. 91 (12): 1067–1072. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  2. ^ a b Masumbe, Benneth Mhlakaza Chabalala (2002). "4.7.2.2 Dr James Borle's superintendency (1906-1911 and 1915-1918)". The Swiss Missionaries' Management of Social Transformation in South Africa (1873 - 1976) (Doctor of Education). University of South Africa. hdl:10500/695. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  3. ^ Linder, Adolphe (1998), Die Schweizer in Mosambik, 1721-1990, Rondebosch, South Africa: Thorold's Africana Books, p. 281, ISBN 9780620231879, retrieved 26 July 2021
  4. ^ a b c Glen, G F; Germishuizen, G (2010), "Botanical Exploration of Southern Africa", Strelitzia, vol. 26 (2nd ed.), Pretoria: South African National Biodiversity Institute, p. 200, ISBN 978-1-919976-54-9, retrieved 28 May 2021
  5. ^ "Senhora J.M. Borle". Moçambique : Documentário trimestral. Universidade de Aveiro. 1997–2021. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  6. ^ "Borle, James (1873 – 1918)". Dictionnaire du Jura. Dictionnaire du Jura. 2005–2011. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  7. ^ "Plants of Southern Africa". Plants of Southern Africa. SANBI. Archived from the original on 5 August 2020. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  8. ^ Anonymous (1922), Departmental Activities: Herbarium Notes., vol. 4, Pretoria: Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Union of South Africa., p. 307
  9. ^ "The Australasian Virtual Herbarium". The Australasian Virtual Herbarium. Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria (CHAH). 2020. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  10. ^ C. Plug (2021). "Borle, Mrs Jeanne M (plant collection)". S2A3 Biographical Database of Southern African Science. Southern Africa Association for the Advancement of Science. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
  11. ^ Burtt Davy, J (1922). "XLVIII. - New or Noteworthy South African Plants - V." Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information: 325. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
  12. ^ "LIII. - Diagnoses Africanae: LXXIV". Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information: 340. 1920. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
  13. ^ Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. "Hymenocardia capensis (Pax) Hutch: Isosyntype". Europeana. Europeana. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
  14. ^ Obermeijer, A.A. (1933). "A revision of the South African species of Barleria". Annals of the Transvaal Museum. 15 (2): 1067–107. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
  15. ^ Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. "Barleria lateralis Oberm". Europeana. Europeana. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
  16. ^ "Tropical African Plants: X." Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information. 1933 (3): 143. 1933. doi:10.2307/4113529. JSTOR 4113529. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
  17. ^ Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. "Acacia chariessa Milne-Redhead". Europeana. Europeana. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
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