William J. Burchell (71), botanist and explorer of the South African interior, dies

William John Burchell, English Explorer, naturalist, traveller, artist, and author was born in 1792. The son of a wealthy nurseryman.  Burchell travelled nearly 7 000 km throughout South Africa between 1810 and 1815, collecting specimens of animals and plants. He described his journey in a book titled Travels in the Interior of Southern Africa.  His collection contains the most extensive examples of African fauna and flora.  Burchell's travels, however, exhausted his fortune, and he became quite isolated and disillusioned.   On 23 March 1863, he ended his own life in London.  Burchell is remembered through a genus of plants named after him as well as a number of animal species.