Callaway s.n., Natal (1857)
More actions
| Callaway herbarium gathering, Natal, received at Kew in 1857 | |
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| Callaway s.n., Natal (1857) | |
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| The sheet held by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew as K004003480 (CC BY 4.0, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew) | |
| At a Glance | |
| Classification | Unknown |
| Location | |
| Country | South Africa |
| Locality | Natal |
| Collection | |
| Method | Herbarium specimen |
| Sourcing Type | Historical |
| Date | 1857 |
| Collector | Callaway |
| Specimen | |
| Repository | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |
| Catalogue Number | K004003480 |
| Collector Number | s.n. |
| Scientific Name | Cannabis sativa L. |
Callaway s.n., Natal is a herbarium accession of Cannabis sativa collected in Natal, South Africa, in 1857 by Callaway. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew holds the sheet as K004003480.[1] It is the oldest South African cannabis sheet found, and its label records the isiZulu name Insango.
The label and the record
The sheet is inscribed Cannabis sativa with the male sign, Natal, S. Africa and rec'd. from Revd. Dr. Callaway 1857. Kew's own occurrence remarks read c. Branch of male plant in bud. Natal, S. Africa; received from Rev. Dr. Callaway, 1857, under the name of "Insango."[1]
The date is a receipt date
Both the label and the catalogue remark say the sheet was received in 1857. That is the year it reached Kew, not necessarily the year it was gathered. Kew's processed record nonetheless renders the date as 1 January 1857 with day precision, and Kew's own pipeline flags it with the assertions FIRST_OF_MONTH and FIRST_OF_YEAR, which mark a date padded out by software. The accession carries the year alone.[1]
The name on the sheet
The sheet was received under the name Insango.[1] Bryant's Zulu–English dictionary of 1905 enters the Zulu name for wild hemp as i-nTsangu.[2]: 645 The name is written Insangu on two other South African accessions: on the field tag of Mayr 116 (1890 to 1910), a Bews Herbarium (NU) sheet dated 1890 to 1910,[3] and in the locality line of Forbes s.n., Durban (1921), a Compton Herbarium (NBG) sheet of 1921.[4] Kew's Zululand smoking pipe, the artefact EBC 67634, is labelled with it too.[5]
Specimen and identification
The determination is Cannabis sativa L., and the plant is a male branch in bud.[1]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "Occurrence 6194769666: Cannabis sativa L." GBIF. Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Retrieved 23 September 2026.
- ↑ Bryant, A.T. (1905). A Zulu-English dictionary (PDF). Pinetown, Natal: Mariannhill Mission Press – via Wikimedia Commons.
- ↑ "Digitised sheet NU0039265". The Bews Virtual Herbarium. Bews Herbarium, University of KwaZulu-Natal. Retrieved 23 September 2026.
- ↑ "Cannabis sativa L., barcode NBG1533367-0, in the Botanical Database of Southern Africa (BODATSA)". Plants of southern Africa. South African National Biodiversity Institute. Retrieved 23 September 2026.
- ↑ "Pipe for smoking cannabis, catalogue number 67634". Economic Botany Collection. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 24 September 2026.
