Browning (née Ball), Jane

Jane B.M. Browning (née Ball)

Place of birth: Umtali, Southern Rhodesia (now Mutare, Zimbabwe).

Educated at Umtali High School, Girl's High School (Salisbury) and Eveline School (Bulawayo). 1950-1954 attended the University of Cape Town, graduating with a B.Sc. in Botany (with distinction) and Zoology in 1952. After a year at London University obtained PGCE and returned to teach in Rhodesia. 1954-1983 taught Science and Biology in a number of high schools, mainly in Umtali. Granted leave specifically to edit Southern African Epiphytic Orchids by John S. Ball 1978. Conservation Press. Johannesburg, London, Manzini. Emigrated to South Africa in 1984 and taught at Wykeham School in Pietermaritzburg. 1986-1998 employed as Herbarium technician in the Department of Botany, Natal University, Pietermaritzburg. While in this post leisure time was spent working with Dr. K.D. Gordon-Gray on the family Cyperaceae, resulting in a number of publications. Graduated M.Sc. and in 1999 with Ph.D. (Natal). 1997-1999 Honorary Research Associate (Department of Botany, University of Natal). 1999retired and moved to London. 2010-2013Honorary Research Associate, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Author of the following taxa

Schoenoplectus confusus subsp. natalitius Browning, S. African J. Bot. 57: 258 (1991).

Schoenoplectus muriculatus (Kük.) Browning, S.African J. Bot. 57: 254 (1991).

Scirpoides dioecus (Kunth) Browning, S. African J. Bot. 60: 318 (1994).

Capeobolus Browning, S. African J. Bot. 65: 218 (1999).

Publications in Journals

From 1989-2000 - South African Journal of Botany, 'Studies in Cyperaceae in southern Africa' - numbers 14-36.

Edited with assistance from Esmé Hennessy, 'Terrestrial African Orchids. A Select Review.' by John S. Ball; published by lulu.com (2009).

2010 - South African Journal Of Botany, 'Studies in Cyperaceae in southern Africa' - number 43.

2012 - Two articles on Cyperaceae in Kew Bulletin.

Also articles on Cyperaceae in the following; Bothalia, Proceedings of the Electron Microscopy Society of Southern Africa; Nordic Journal of Botany; Annals Botanici Fennici; New Zealand Journal of Botany; Australian Systematic Botany and Brittonia.

Illustrations in the following works

Pooley, Elsa (1993).The complete Field Guide to Trees of Natal, Zululand and Transkei. Natal Flora Publications Trust, Durban. {leaf illustrations}

Flowering Plants of Africa 53: 54-58 (1994)

Gordon-Gray, K.D. (1995). Cyperaceae of Natal. Strelitzia 2. National Botanical Institute, Pretoria.

Ellery, Karen and William (1997). Plants of the Okavango Delta, A Field Guide. Tsaro Publishers. {Illustrations of grasses and sedges}

Beentje, H.J.(2010). Flora of Tropical East Africa: Cyperaceae. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.