Gilbert Westacott Reynolds (10 October 1895

Bendigo Bendigo ( ) is an Australian city in north-central Victoria. The city is located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital. As of 2022, Bendigo has a popula ...

– 7 April 1967

Mbabane Mbabane () is the most populous city in Eswatini (previously called Swaziland), and is one of the two Capital (political), capitals (along with Lobamba), serving as the Executive (government), executive capital. It has an estimated population of ...

) was a South African

optometrist Optometry is the healthcare practice concerned with examining the eyes for visual defects, prescribing corrective lenses, and detecting eye abnormalities. In the United States and Canada, optometrists are those that hold a post-baccalaureate f ...

and authority on the genus ''

Aloe ''Aloe'' (; also written ''Aloë'') is a genus containing over 650 species of flowering plant, flowering succulent plant, succulent plants.WFO (2022): Aloe L. Published on the Internet;http://www.worldfloraonline.org/taxon/wfo-4000001341. Acc ...

''. Gilbert Reynolds arrived in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

with his parents in 1902, where his father started business as an optician. He received his education at St John's College where he was Victor Ludorum. After the outbreak of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, he enlisted and saw active service in

South West Africa South West Africa was a territory under Union of South Africa, South African administration from 1915 to 1990. Renamed ''Namibia'' by the United Nations in 1968, Independence of Namibia, it became independent under this name on 21 March 1990. ...

and

Nyasaland Nyasaland () was a British protectorate in Africa that was established in 1907 when the former British Central Africa Protectorate changed its name. Between 1953 and 1963, Nyasaland was part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. After ...

with the rank of captain. Having qualified as optometrist he joined his father's practice in 1921. Reynolds developed a keen interest in the bulbs and succulents of South Africa at about this time. When he started his own country practice about 1930, he was able to travel extensively and gradually narrowed his interests to ''

''. Reynolds was guided in the early stages of his research by Dr I. C. Verdoorn and Dr R. A. Dyer of the Botanical Research Institute in Pretoria, later becoming the authority on ''Aloe'' and having an extensive knowledge of the genus in the field and under cultivation. To gather material for his book, he explored the entire country, collecting specimens, gathering data and taking photographs of the plants in their natural habitats.

General Smuts Field Marshal Jan Christian Smuts, (baptismal name Jan Christiaan Smuts, 24 May 1870 11 September 1950) was a South African statesman, military leader and philosopher. In addition to holding various military and cabinet posts, he served as P ...

, himself an avid collector and experienced botanist, wrote the foreword to the book. Before the publication of Reynolds' work, no comprehensive guide to the aloes had been compiled, except for various writings and monographs which did not attempt a complete coverage. He spent four weeks at

Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is ...

towards the end of 1960, checking the taxonomy, type specimens and identifications.Germishuizen, G. and Glen, H. F.: ''Botanical explorations of southern Africa,'', end 2, National Biodiversity Institute S A N B I, Pretoria, 2010.
pages 359–361 online

Publications

Published books by G.W. Reynolds: * ''The Aloes of South Africa'', Balkema, 1950. * ''The Aloes of Nyasaland'', Nyasaland Society and African Book Centre of Nyasaland, 1954. * ''Les Aloes de Madagascar'', Institut de Recherche scientifique de Madagascar, 1958. * ''The Aloes of Tropical Africa and Madagascar'', Aloes Book Fund, 1966. Publications: *

Aloe broomii ''Aloe broomii'', known as the mountain aloe or snake aloe on account of its odd inflorescence, is a species of flowering plant in the genus ''Aloe'', found in southern Africa. Distribution This aloe is widespread in South Africa and Lesotho. In ...

var. tarkaensis Reynolds, J. S. African Bot. 2: 72 (1936). * Aloe bulbillifera var. paulianae Reynolds, J. S. African Bot. 22: 261 (1956). * Aloe cameronii var. dedzana Reynolds, J. S. African Bot. 31(2): 167 (1965). * Aloe comptonii Reynolds, Aloes S. Africa 382 (1950). * Aloe divaricata var. rosea (Decary) Reynolds, Naturaliste Malgache 10: 133 (1958). * Aloe gracilis var. decumbens Reynolds, Aloes S. Africa 358 (1950). * Aloe howmanii Reynolds, Kirkia 1: 156 (1961). * Aloe lineata var. muirii (Marloth) Reynolds, Aloes S. Africa 205 (1950). *

Aloe saponaria ''Aloe maculata'' ( syn. ''Aloe saponaria''), the soap aloe or zebra aloe, is a Southern African species of aloe. Local people in South Africa know it informally as the ''Bontaalwyn'' in Afrikaans, or ''lekhala'' in the Sesotho language. Descrip ...

var. ficksburgensis Reynolds, J. S. African Bot. 3: 148 (1937). *

Aloe schweinfurthii ''Aloe'' (; also written ''Aloë'') is a genus containing over 650 species of flowering succulent plants.WFO (2022): Aloe L. Published on the Internet;http://www.worldfloraonline.org/taxon/wfo-4000001341. Accessed on: 06 Nov 2022 The most wid ...

var. labworana Reynolds, J. S. African Bot. 22(3): 140 (1956). * Aloe somaliensis var. marmota Reynolds & P.R.O.Bally, J. S. African Bot. 30: 222 (1964). * Aloe striatula var. caesia Reynolds, Fl. Pl. South Africa 16: t. 633 (1936). * Aloe wickensii var. lutea Reynolds, J. S. African Bot. 3: 145 (1965). * ''Notes on the Aloes of southern Ethiopia and Somalia'', in Journal of The East Africa Natural History Society, Naibrobi, 1954, Pages 102–104.
online
* ''Hunting aloes in East Africa'', African Wild Life 6: 308-322 (1952) * ''Hunting aloes in Nyasaland'', African Wild Life 7: 102-111 (1953) * ''Hunting aloes in Ethiopia and Somaliland'', African Wild Life 8: 14-25 (1954) * ''The Murchison Falls National Park'', African Wild Life 8: 271-279 (1954) * ''The Queen Elizabeth National Park'', African Wild Life 9: 109-114 (1955) * ''Hunting aloes in Madagascar'', African Wild Life 9: 299-320 (1955) * ''Hunting aloes in Eritrea and Ethiopia'', African Wild Life 10: 205-214 (1956) * ''Hunting aloes in Somaliland Protectorate'', African Wild Life 12: 101-114 (1958) * ''Hunting aloes in Nyasaland and Tanganyika Territory'', African Wild Life 13: 35-52 (1959) * ''Hunting aloes in Angola'', African Wild Life 14: 13-25 (1960) He published numerous popular articles in ''African Wild Life'' detailing his collecting trips to places as far afield as

Somaliland Somaliland, officially the Republic of Somaliland, is an List of states with limited recognition, unrecognised country in the Horn of Africa. It is located in the southern coast of the Gulf of Aden and bordered by Djibouti to the northwest, E ...

Eritrea Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Dj ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

and

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

, as well as many scientific papers in botanical journals on the subject of aloes. After his death, his collection of aloes was transplanted to the Mlilwane Game Sanctuary in

Swaziland Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where ...

, with quite a number going to the National Botanical Institute in Pretoria.

Awards and fellowships

* Fellow of the

Cactus and Succulent Society of America The Cactus and Succulent Society of America (CSSA) is a horticultural society which is based in Pasadena, California. History The CSSA was founded in 1929 in Los Angeles County, at Pasadena, California, and has grown to encompass over 80 affili ...

(CSSA), 1941 * Fellow of the

Linnean Society of London The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript a ...

(F.L.S), 1951 * Merit of the

Southern Africa Association for the Advancement of Science The Southern Africa Association for the Advancement of Science (S2A3 or S2A3) is a learned society, originally known as the South African Association for the Advancement of Science (SAAAS). Established in 1902, its principal aim is to increase th ...

, 1951 *

Honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

of the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...

, 1952 * Bolus–Medal of the Botanical Society of South Africa, 1966

References

*''Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa'' vol. 9 (NASOU 1973) * Colin C. Walker: ''Gilbert Westacott Reynolds: his study of Aloe and a bibliography of his work'', Bradleya 28/2010, Dept. of Life Sciences, Open University, Milton Keynes, England. *Mary Gunn, L. E. W. Codd: ''Botanical Exploration of Southern Africa'', Balkema, Cape Town, 1981, * Chuck Staples: ''Gilbert Reynolds Biography''
(online-PDF)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reynolds, Gilbert Westacott 1895 births 1967 deaths Optometrists South African health professionals 20th-century South African botanists South African taxonomists Fellows of the Linnean Society of London Alumni of St John's College (Johannesburg) People from the Colony of Victoria