EMMA JANE COLE, WEST MICHIGAN'S LATE-19TH CENTURY BOTANIST: A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

摘要

Emma J. Cole (1845-1910) published Grand Rapids Flora in 1901, which catalogued the vascular plants growing in the vicinity of Grand Rapids, Michigan. As a teacher of botany at Central High School, and as the curator of the herbarium of the Kent Scientific Institute, she saw the need for an up-to-date account of the plants of the area to engage her students in the study of systematic botany. She engaged in intensive botanical collecting during the years 1892 to 1899 by horse and buggy, and, with the help and encouragement of various high school students of botany, former teachers, and some local botanical enthusiasts, she was able to compile a thorough record of the plant species growing without cultivation within 16% townships, comprising 585 square miles, centered on Grand Rapids. Throughout her research, she was in correspondence with B. L. Robinson and M. L. Fernald, both of the Gray Herbarium at Harvard University, who were then preparing a new 7th edition of Gray's Manual of Botany, as well as with C. F. Wheeler and W. J. Beal, who were botanists at Michigan Agricultural College (now Michigan State University) engaged in research on the flora of Michigan. She not only had a significant impact on botany in West Michigan, but became a cherished mentor to many students. When Cole's Grand Rapids Flora was completed, she turned her attention to studies of Crataegus (hawthorns), collaborating in those studies with C. S. Sargent, Director of the Arnold Arboretum at Harvard University. She also travelled widely in northeastern and western North America, botanized in Europe on a three-and-a-half-month trip, and visited Cuba, collecting botanical specimens all along the way. By her passion and pursuit of a professional vocation in science during a time when it was very difficult for women to do so, she inspired, and continues to inspire, botanists both amateur and professional, who love the natural world and wish to preserve it. In 2007, she was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame, recognized for her life's work and her contributions to science and education. And her Grand Rapids Flora continues to provide a critical historical context and inspiration for us in our pursuit of knowledge of the Grand Rapids flora in the twenty-first century.