Determining the type locality and collector of Nylander's South African lichens.

Background In 1868, Nylander described 15 new lichen taxa from collections made near Durban, South Africa. The locality was not specified and the collector was identified only as 'Miss Armstrong'. Objectives To identify the collector and type locality of Nylander's species. Method Scientific literature, maps, letters, notebooks and genealogical sources were consulted to reconstruct the provenance of the specimens. Results 'Miss Armstrong' was likely Olivia Armstrong; she collected in the Karkloof area of the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands. Conclusion This investigation facilitates future work to determine whether the species described and reported by Nylander are still extant in the same locality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]