Christo Albertyn Smith

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Christo Albertyn Smith
Born(1898-04-26)26 April 1898
Natal Witness, Pietermaritzburg
Division of Plant Science, Pretoria

Christo Albertyn Smith (1898–1956) was a South African

botanist. He co-wrote a definitive dictionary of common names of South African plants, although it was only published after his death.[3]

Education and career

Smith was born in

Kew Herbarium in London from 1928 - 1931. During his career he collected 4600 samples of flora including Crassulaceae, Fabaceae, Amaranthaceae, Vitaceae, Asteraceae, Celastraceae, Scrophulariaceae, Brassicaceae, Scilloideae, Oleaceae, Geraniaceae, Poaceae, Portulacaceae and Rutaceae, most of which were stored in Pretoria and Kew.[1][4]

Brassicaceae: Winter cress, Barbarea vulgaris

He retired from academia in 1931 and entered journalism. He worked as agricultural editor for the

Natal Witness in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.[4]

He worked for the Department of State Information, South Africa from 1946 and was posted to Canberra, Australia as Information Officer in 1954.[1][4]

He died in 1956 in Canberra, Australia.[1][4]

Selected publications

  • Albizia gummifera Smith, C.A. Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information, Royal Gardens, Kew 1930(5): 218. 1930 [6]
  • Smith, C.A.; Phillips, E.P.; Van Hoepen, E. (1966). Common names of South African plants. Botanical Survey memoir No. 35. Department of Agricultural Technical Services.

Sources

References

  1. ^ a b c d Cowan, Richard S.; Stafleu, Frans A. (1979). Taxonomic literature. Vol. 5. Utrecht: Bohn, Scheltema & Holkema. . Retrieved 24 July 2019 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  2. ^ "Person Page - Christo Albertyn Smith". The Peerage. 28 October 2012. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
  3. ^ "Famous People & Personalities - Part 20 - The Green Dragon". LibraryThing. 24 December 1999. Retrieved 24 July 2019. Institute legend has it that the editing had to be quite severe, as otherwise it would have made history as the only government publication ever to be banned by the same government, on account of the salty names of many South African plants.
  4. ^ a b c d Moffett, R. (2008). A Biographical Dictionary of Contributors to the Natural History of the Free State and Lesotho. SUN MeDIA Bloemfontein. p. 263. . Retrieved 24 July 2019.
  5. ^ International Plant Names Index.  C.A.Sm.
  6. ^ "Name - Albizia gummifera (J.F. Gmel.) C.A. Sm". Tropicos. 24 July 2019. Retrieved 24 July 2019.

External links