Mayr 116 (1890 to 1910)
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| Mayr 116 herbarium gathering, South Africa, labelled Insangu and recorded as medicine and for smoking | |
|---|---|
| Mayr 116 (1890 to 1910) | |
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| Mayr 116, the sheet held by the Bews Herbarium as NU0039265 | |
| At a Glance | |
| Classification | Unknown |
| Location | |
| Country | South Africa |
| Locality | South Africa |
| Traditional Names | |
| Local Name | Insangu |
| Collection | |
| Method | Herbarium specimen |
| Sourcing Type | Historical |
| Collector | F. Mayr |
| Specimen | |
| Repository | Bews Herbarium (NU) |
| Catalogue Number | NU0039265 |
| Collector Number | Mayr, F. 116 |
| Scientific Name | Cannabis sativa |
Mayr 116 is a herbarium accession of Cannabis sativa collected in South Africa by F. Mayr. The Bews Herbarium (NU) holds the sheet as NU0039265.[1][2] Its label and field tag give the Zulu name Insangu, gloss it Wild hemp and record the plant as used for thrush, sore eyes and tumours and for smoking.
The printed label
The sheet carries a printed card headed UNIVERSITY OF NATAL, HERBARIUM. Its filled lines read: NAME Cannabis sativa L. (insangu) Wild hemp. For thrush, sore eyes, tumours. Used for smoking; LOCALITY is left blank; COLL. No. 116 DATE 1890 - 1910 ALT blank; COLL. Father Fs. Mayr.[2]
The field tag
A brown field tag is tied to the stem and written in two hands. In pencil: Cannabis sativa Linn. (wild hemp). In ink: Insangu. / For thrush, sore eyes, tumours. / [U]sed for smoking / No 116.[2]
The name
The printed card gives the name in parentheses as insangu, its first letter dotted. The field tag writes Insangu.[2] The same name is written Insangu on Kew's Zululand smoking pipe EBC 67634[3] and in the locality line of Forbes s.n., Durban (1921), a Compton Herbarium (NBG) sheet of 1921.[4] The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew received a sheet from the Reverend Dr Callaway in 1857 under the name Insango, Callaway s.n., Natal (1857).[5] Bryant's Zulu–English dictionary of 1905 enters the plant as i-nTsangu, wild hemp, used medicinally for thrush, sore eyes and poulticing tumours.[6]: 645
A collection within a collection
The Bews Herbarium describes itself as holding the medicinal plant collections made by Fr. F. Mayr and A.B. Cunningham, so this sheet sits inside a named medicinal-plant collection rather than in the general herbarium. That is why its label carries uses where the rest of the South African corpus carries none.[1]
Specimen and identification
The determination is Cannabis sativa. The database gives no country beyond South Africa, no locality, no coordinate and no altitude. The sheet is stamped POISONED.[1]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Cannabis sativa L., barcode NU0039265". The Bews Virtual Herbarium. Bews Herbarium, University of KwaZulu-Natal. Retrieved 23 September 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "Digitised sheet NU0039265". The Bews Virtual Herbarium. Bews Herbarium, University of KwaZulu-Natal. Retrieved 23 September 2026.
- ↑ "Pipe for smoking cannabis, catalogue number 67634". Economic Botany Collection. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 24 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.
- ↑ "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.
