Phoebe Lankester

Phoebe Lankester (also Phebe Lankester, 10 April 1825 – 9 April 1900) was a British botanist known for her popular science writing, particularly on wildflowers, parasitic plants, and ferns. Her writing incorporated both technical, high-level text and writing accessible to the lay reader.

Phoebe Lankester
Born
Phoebe Pope

(1825-04-10)10 April 1825
Died9 April 1900(1900-04-09) (aged 74)
NationalityBritish
Occupationbotanist

Family

She was born Phoebe Pope in Highbury to a former Manchester mill owner and his wife.[1] She had one brother. In 1845, she married the naturalist Edwin Lankester, with whom she had eight children.[1][2] Her son Ray became a zoologist.

Writing

Lankester published under the name Mrs. Lankester. Her books combined scientific rigor with interesting information about traditional medicinal uses of plants.[3] She also lectured on science and wrote a syndicated column on women's topics that ran in provincial newspapers.[4]

Lankester wrote a new section on popular plant knowledge for the third (1884) edition of English Botany, an enormous and influential publication that had illustrations by James Sowerby and other members of the Sowerby family.[5]

Selected books
  • A Plain and Easy Account of the British Ferns (1860)
  • Wild Flowers Worth Notice (1879)
  • Talks About Plants, Or, Early Lessons in Botany (1879)
  • The National Thrift Reader (1880)
  • British Ferns (1881)
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References
  1. Ogilvie, Marilyn Bailey; Harvey, Joy Dorothy (2000-01-01). The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science: L-Z. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9780415920407.
  2. Lightman, Bernard (1997-10-01). Victorian Science in Context. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226481128.
  3. Way, Twigs. Virgins, Weeders and Queens: A History of Women in the Garden.
  4. Davies, Emily. Collected Letters, 1861-1875, p. 500.
  5. "English botany, or, Coloured figures of British plants". Biodiversity Library.
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