John Forbes (1799–1823) in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, in 1822 and 1823: his plant collections and collecting localities

Abstract

John Forbes (1799–1823) briefly visited South Africa’s present-day Eastern Cape province on three occasions, once in the spring of 1822 and twice in 1823, in autumn and in mid-winter, respectively. An analysis is presented of his collecting activities after he disembarked in what is now Nelson Mandela Bay. During these three visits, Forbes spent a total of ten days in the vicinity of Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha) and Uitenhage (now Kariega). During this time he made 119 plant collections. Forty-nine of these have been located, two further collections cited in the literature have not been located; the collections are mostly unnumbered and labelled with scant information. The whereabouts of the majority of the collections remain unknown and the information available is that given by Forbes in his fieldbooks. His collections from the Eastern Cape include 12 type specimens. By comparing the Forbes specimens with his fieldnotes, the collecting number, date, and locality are confirmed or posited here for 23 collections. The present-day occurrence in Gqeberha of the taxa Forbes collected in 1822 and 1823 is given.