Wanda Marie Frieda Lauth came to Natal with her parents in 1882. In July 1895, at the age of only about 16 years, she was appointed as a half-day assistant at the Natal Herbarium under John M. Wood*. She became a full time assistant there in March the next year. Besides helping with general curating of the collection she did botanical illustrations on the herbarium sheets, particularly dissections and sketch drawings of the Gramineae. Thus she was responsible for most of the illustrations in the first three volumes of Wood's Natal plants. The plant specimens that she collected are included among Wood's specimens in the Natal Herbarium.

Miss Lauth resigned her post at the end of 1903 when she married Thomas Floyd (on 5 January 1904). From 1910 she lectured in botany for some years at the Durban Technical College.

List of sources:

FamilySearch: Wanda Marie Frieda Lauth Floyd. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C912-13Z7?view=index&personArk=/ark:/61903/1:1:85MT-44MM&action=view&cc=2721608&lang=en AND https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-DCZ9-9KJ?view=index&personArk=/ark:/61903/1:1:KDCG-ZPD&action=view&cc=2063749&lang=en

Gunn, M. & Codd, L.E. Botanical exploration of southern Africa. Cape Town: Balkema, 1981.

McCracken, D.P. A new history of the Durban Botanic Gardens. Durban: Parks Department, 1996.

National Automated Archival Information Retrieval System (NAAIRS). http://www.national.archives.gov.za/naairs.htm Documents relating to Lauth, Wanda Marie Frieda.

Schrire, B.D. Centenary of the Natal Herbarium, Durban, 1882-1982. Bothalia, 1983, Vol. 14(2), pp. 223-236.

Compiled by: C. Plug

Last updated: 2025-02-20 11:39:30