Louisa Bolus was known for authoring more land plant species than any other female scientist, a total of 1, 494 species. She was born in Burgersdorp, South Africa in 1877 and passed 1970 in Cape town, South Africa.
In 1903 H.M. Lousia Bolus started working for her uncle Harry Bolus and she was the herbarium assistant within a couple of years, her first paper was published describing species of vygie, Mesembryanthemum pillansii in 1908.
She decided to dedicate her entire professional life to the herbarium until she retied at the age of 77. Throughout her time dedicating her life to herbarium she described new South African plant species from 1914-1928.
She wrote popular journals such as; Nature Notes, South African Gardening and Country Life and the Journal of the Botanical Society of South Africa. She was an active plant collector around Cape Town but sadly she had an ankle injury and it put an end to her field work.
Even after her retirement she continue to visit the Bolus Herbarium that her uncle and her works on and kept working in a reserved area, she was also appointed an honorary reader in plant taxonomy by the University of Cape Town.
After her passing she left such an impact in the community of plant taxonomy, the genera Kensitia and Bolusantemum and the species Geissorhiza lousiabolusiae were named after her.
“Bolus*, Mrs Harriet Margaret Louisa (Botany).” S2A3 Biographical Database of Southern African Science. Accessed February 27, 2020. http://www.s2a3.org.za/bio/Biograph_final.php?serial=282.
Applied Plant Ecology Winter 2020 