Economic Botany Collection

Catalogue no.:

33717

Botanical classification:

POACEAE Zea mays

Common name:

Mealie meal, maize, corn

Geographical description:

Transvaal, Southern Africa

Item description:

Beads made from mealie meal.

No. of beads:

5

Bead size:

1.2-2.2cm long

Additional information:

Notes accompanying object: ‘Sold to natives in place of glass beads. Will stand heat and moisture.’

Plant information:

Maize is a tall annual grass crop that originated in Mexico, and was introduced to the old world in 16th century. It is grown worldwide as a cereal and forage grass. For thousands of years, maize has been the most important staple food in Central America and during the last centuries became a staple in parts of Africa.

Donor date:

1920

Donor:

Dr Joseph Burtt-Davy (1870-1940) - Joseph Burtt-Davy was a British botanist, ecologist and agriculturist who founded the Pretoria National Herbarium (PRE) in 1903 and was the first Government Agronomist in the Transvaal Government. He was interested in the flora of California and South Africa and made the first study of Cycads in Transvaal, producing ‘A Manual of the Flowering Plants and Ferns of the Transvaal’ in 1926. Burtt-Davy was the first curator of the Forest Herbarium at Oxford University in 1924.