Alice Marguerite Pegler (21 July 1861 Keiskammahoek - 17 June 1929 Umtata), was a South African teacher and botanical collector.

The daughter of S. Mackin Pegler, Alice was educated at the Dominican Convent in King William's Town

King William's Town

King William's Town is a town in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa along the banks of the Buffalo River. The town is about 40 minutes' motorway drive WNW of the Indian Ocean port of East London...

. Although trained as a teacher, she abandoned this career and settled at Kentani where she raised and educated her nieces. She suffered health problems throughout her life and endured chronic trouble with her eyesight.

While in Kentani she started an extensive collection of all flora within a radius of 5 miles of the village. Her collecting led to a regular correspondence with botanists such as Peter MacOwan

Peter MacOwan

thumb|rightPeter MacOwan born Hull, England on 14 November 1830 - died Uitenhage, Cape Province 30 November 1909, was a British colonial botanist and teacher in South Africa....

, Harry Bolus

Harry Bolus

Harry Bolus was a South African botanist, botanical artist, businessman and philanthropist. He advanced botany in South Africa by establishing bursaries, founding the and bequeathing his library and a large part of his fortune to the South African College...

, HHW Pearson

Henry Harold Welch Pearson

Henry Harold Welch Pearson , was a British-born South African botanist, chiefly remembered for founding Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden in 1913....

, Selmar Schonland

Selmar Schonland

Professor Selmar Schonland , the founder of the Botany Department at Rhodes University, was a German immigrant, who came to the Eastern Cape in 1889 to take up an appointment as curator of the Albany Museum...

 and Illtyd Buller Pole-Evans

Illtyd Buller Pole-Evans

Illtyd Buller Pole-Evans CMG was a Welsh-born South African botanist.-Biography:Pole-Evans was born in Llanmaes near Cardiff, the son of an Anglican clergyman, Daniel Evans and Caroline Jane Pole...

. Her meticulous notes on the Kentani plants throughout the seasons were published in Ann. Bol. Herb. 5: 1-32 (1918). She did not confine herself to the flora, but also collected beetles, gall flies, spiders and scorpions. In 1903 she travelled to the Transvaal and collected between Rustenburg and Johannesburg

Johannesburg

Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...

. Her failing health eventually caused her to specialise in algae

Algae

Algae are a large and diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms, ranging from unicellular to multicellular forms, such as the giant kelps that grow to 65 meters in length. They are photosynthetic like plants, and "simple" because their tissues are not organized into the many...

 and fungi. An enumeration of the fungi she collected in 1911-14 in the Kentani district was published in Ann. Bol. Herb. 2: 184-93 (1918). Bolus paid tribute to her collecting in Vol. 2 of his Orchids of South Africa (1911) and described her as someone "who, in spite of delicate health, has been indefatigable in exploring the flora of her neighbourhood." In the seven years preceding her death she became a helpless invalid. Her specimens which numbered 2 000 were donated to the South African National Botanical Institute in Pretoria

Pretoria

Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...

.

In 1912 she was paid the exceptional honour of being made a member of the Linnaean Society. She was commemorated in Aloe peglerae

Aloe peglerae

Aloe peglerae Schönland is a small, stemless South African aloe 300-400 mm in diameter, and 300-400 mm in height. The glaucous leaves are strongly incurved to form a compact, spherical rosette. Inflorescence can be observed in July and August, and usually consists of a single...

, the genus Peglera Bolus (which became a synonym for Nectaropetalum Engl.) , Chironia peglerae Prain, Chionanthus

Chionanthus

Chionanthus is a genus of about 80 species of flowering plants in the family Oleaceae.The genus has a wide distribution primarily in the tropics and subtropics, but with two species extending north into temperate regions, one in eastern Asia and one in eastern North America...

 peglerae (C.H. Wr.) Stearn, and the fungi Puccinia

Puccinia

Puccinia is a genus of fungi. All species in this genus are obligate plant pathogens and are known as rusts .Examples of Puccinia rusts and the diseases they cause:* Puccinia asparagi - Asparagus rust...

 pegleriana Doidge, Ravenalia peglerae Pole-Evans, Uromyces

Uromyces

Uromyces is a genus of pathogenic fungi in the family Pucciniaceae.- Species :Species in the genus Uromyces include:* Uromyces apiosporus* Uromyces beticola* Uromyces ciceris-arietini* Uromyces dianthi* Uromyces euphorbiae...

 peglerae Pole-Evans, Ustilago

Ustilago

Ustilago is a genus of approximately 200 smut fungi parasitic on grasses.There is a large research community that works on Ustilago maydis including researchers at the University of Georgia, Philipps-Universität Marburg, University of British Columbia and others...

peglerae Bubak & Syd., and many more.