LITHOPARIAN RECOLLECTIONS - Part 6 by Des & Naureen Cole

摘要

'In our 'Recollections' of October/November 1968, we forgot to mention our meetings with two very important people - Dr A L Geyer, for whom Lithops geyeri was named, and Harry Hall, of Lithops hallii. Dr Geyer had been South African High Commissionerin London in the early 1950s, and spoke English and Afrikaans equally well. He and Des had corresponded for some time, but they had not met prior to 1968. Their correspondence was initially in Afrikaans, but one day Des's very English secretary made somemistakes in typing his hand-drafted letter to Dr Geyer. Des wrote an apologetic footnote and Dr Geyer replied that he had never realised that Afrikaans was not des's home language. He suggested that in future Des should write in English and he would reply in Afrikaans. "That way, we understand each other completely, but using our home languages will save us a lot of time!' And so it was. Dr Geyer and is wife, Anna, had travelled extensively and discovered many localities of Lithops and other succulents. He had a lovely collection of plants and was able to give us quite a lot of information, and to tell us where to find certain elusive species. L.gesinae var. annae was named for Anna Geyer-Joubert.