Anna Worsley Russell

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Anna Worsley Russell (born November 1807 in Bristol , † November 11, 1876 in Kenilworth ) was a British botanist . She is considered to be one of the most capable botanists of her time. Your botanical-mycological author abbreviation is AWRussell .

biography

Anna Worsley Russell, born in Arno's Vale , Bristol , in November 1807 , was the daughter of a sugar refinery worker and had at least six siblings. Growing up in an intellectual Unitarian family, her interest in natural history was nurtured from early childhood. While Russell was initially interested in insects , her interest in botany grew over time , possibly influenced by her brother-in-law, the amateur botanist Thomas Butler.

Since she contributed a long list of rare plants from the Bristol region to the New Botanist's Guide published by HC Watson in 1835 , her scientific work has gained recognition, also due to the editor's reputation. In 1839 she and the botanist Joseph Bunny, who was also related, published a 31-page list of flowering plants in the Newbury region , the so-called Catalog of Plants, found in the Neighborhood of Newbury . It was around this time that she began researching mushrooms and mosses , and when she became a member of the Botanical Society of London , she donated large numbers of moss samples to them.

She married the botanist Frederick Russell in 1844 at the age of 37, with whom she had been on various excursions for several years. After moving to Kenilworth , she began studying mycology there . In 1868 the Journal of Botany published her list of rare fungus species from the Kenilworth area. During this period, she completed a collection of 730 detailed drawings of mushrooms, which can now be seen in the British Museum of Natural History .

After her death on November 11, 1876, her bird egg collection and herbarium went to the Birmingham and Midlands Institute .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christine Ellwood: Dictionary of British and Irish botanists and horticulturists: including plant collectors, flower painters, and garden designers . Rev. and completely updated ed. Taylor & Francis, London 1994, ISBN 0-85066-843-3 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e Thomas M. Creese: Ladies in the laboratory? : American and British women in science, 1800-1900: a survey of their contributions to research . Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Md. 1998, ISBN 0-585-27684-6 .
  3. ↑ Russell, Anna Worsley (1807-1876) at International Plant Names Index (IPNI)
personal data
SURNAME Russell, Anna Worsley
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British botanist
DATE OF BIRTH November 1807
PLACE OF BIRTH Bristol
DATE OF DEATH November 11, 1876
Place of death Kenilworth