Ethel May Dixie

Amaryllis belladonna

by Ethel Dixie c1910

Ethel May Dixie (9 May 1876 in Sea Point, Cape Town – 11 October 1973 in Rondebosch, Cape Town) was a South African botanical artist.

Dixie was largely self-taught unlike her older sister who enjoyed the benefits of tuition by Thomas Bowler. Nonetheless, she was the principal artist for Rudolf Marloth's The Flora of South Africa. Many of the original plates for this work, were destroyed by a fire at the publisher. She was also a lecturer at the Cape Town School of Art. Her work can be found at the Brenthurst Library in Johannesburg, the Carnegie Library archives at the University of Stellenbosch, MuseumAfrica in Johannesburg, National Botanical Institutes in Cape Town and Pretoria, the South African embassies in London, Rome and New York and in numerous private collections.

Dixie's niece, Dorothy Barclay, was also an botanical artist.

Publications[]

• The Flora of South Africa- with Rudolf Marloth 6 vols. (Cape Town, Darter Bros. & Co.; London, W. Wesley & Son, 1913-1932)
• Wild Flowers of the Cape of Good Hope - with Robert Harold Compton (Janda Press, Cape Town 1953)
• Two portfolios of prints published privately in 1990s.

External links[]

• Plantweb gallery
• Biography of Ethel May Dixie at the S2A3 Biographical Database of Southern African Science