Elizabeth Gertrude Britton facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Elizabeth Gertrude Britton (née Knight)
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| Born | January 9, 1858 |
| Died | February 25, 1934 (aged 76) |
| Citizenship | American |
| Alma mater | Hunter College |
| Spouse(s) | Nathaniel Lord Britton |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Botany, Bryology |
| Author abbrev. (botany) | E.Britton |
Elizabeth Gertrude Britton (born Knight) (January 9, 1858 – February 25, 1934) was an American botanist, a scientist who studies plants. She was also a bryologist, meaning she specialized in studying mosses. Elizabeth was also a teacher.
She and her husband, Nathaniel Lord Britton, helped raise money and create the famous New York Botanical Garden. Elizabeth also helped start a group that later became the American Bryological and Lichenological Society. She worked hard to protect wildflowers, inspiring many local groups and helping pass laws to save them. Elizabeth Britton wrote many important papers about mosses, with 170 articles on the topic.
Contents
Early Life and Family
Elizabeth Gertrude Knight was born in New York City on January 9, 1858. She was one of five daughters. Her family owned a furniture factory and a sugar farm near Matanzas, Cuba. Elizabeth spent much of her childhood there.
Later, she went to a private school in New York. She then attended Normal College (which is now Hunter College). She graduated in 1875 when she was just seventeen years old. On August 27, 1885, she married Nathaniel Lord Britton. He was a geology assistant at Columbia College. They both loved botany, the study of plants. The couple did not have any children.
Elizabeth's Career in Science
After graduating in 1875, Elizabeth Knight became a teacher at Normal College. In 1879, she joined the Torrey Botanical Club, a group for plant scientists. In 1881, she published her first science paper in the club's Bulletin. She wrote about finding unusual white flowers on two plant species. She also found a rare curlygrass fern, Schizaea pusilla, in Nova Scotia.
In 1883, she became a natural science tutor. Around this time, she started focusing on bryology, the study of mosses. Her first paper about mosses came out then. Britton found moss specimens that could reproduce from Eustichium norvegicum in Wisconsin. She wrote the first description of its fruits. This plant had been known since 1827 but only in a non-reproducing state.
Working with Mosses
After she married in 1885, Britton stopped teaching at Normal College. She then took charge of the moss collections at Columbia University. She did this as a volunteer, without pay. From 1886 to 1888, she edited the Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club. In 1889, she started publishing a series of 11 papers called Contributions to American Bryology.
In 1892, her list of mosses from West Virginia was published. In 1894, she wrote the first of eight articles for a popular magazine called How to Study the Mosses. These papers made Mrs. Britton a leading expert in mosses in America. She and her husband worked to buy a large collection of mosses from August Jaeger in Switzerland for Columbia. Britton convinced rich friends to donate the $6,000 needed.
Founding the New York Botanical Garden
Elizabeth Britton and her husband were key members of the Torrey Botanical Club. They pushed for the creation of the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG). In 1888, the couple traveled to England. Nathaniel was doing research at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, a famous garden. Elizabeth worked on mosses at the Linnaean Society of London, another science group.
They were very impressed by Kew's huge collection of dried plants, library, and gardens. This inspired them to create a similar place in New York. A club meeting was held in October 1888. Important citizens were asked to help start the project. The Botanical Garden was officially created by state law in 1891. Britton was very important in raising money for the garden in the 1890s.
Her husband became the first director of the Botanical Garden in 1896. Elizabeth volunteered there. She was very interested in getting the collection of liverworts and mosses from William Mitten for the NYBG. This happened in 1906. Because of her hard work, Britton was named Honorary Curator of the Mosses in 1912. She held this special position until she passed away.
Travels and Discoveries
Britton traveled across the United States to collect plant samples. She visited places like the Great Dismal Swamp, the Adirondack Mountains, and the mountains of North Carolina. She went with Nathaniel on 23 of his 25 trips to the islands of the Caribbean and West Indies. She published her findings from these trips in the Bulletin from 1913 to 1915. Britton also wrote the chapters about mosses for Nathaniel's books, Flora of Bermuda and The Bahama Flora.
Britton also worked with groups to encourage the study of mosses, especially by women scientists. In 1897, she led the moss division for the Women's National Science Club.
Helping Other Scientists
As a volunteer at Columbia, Britton advised students working on their science degrees. These included James Franklin Collins and Abel Joel Grout. In 1898, Grout and Britton together founded the Sullivant Moss Chapter of the Agassiz Association. By 1908, it was known as the Sullivant Moss Society. Even though their relationship later became difficult, Britton continued to be part of the Society. She wrote articles for its journal, The Bryologist, and was its president from 1916 to 1919.
Britton also studied plants other than mosses. In 1897, she published A Revision of the North American Species of Ophioglossum, which are adder's-tongue ferns. In 1906, she and Delia West Marble collected the first example of Thelypteris brittonae, a type of maiden fern. Britton also collected the first example for the orchid now called Britton's shadow witch (Ponthieva brittoniae).
Protecting Wildflowers
In the early 1900s, Britton started spending her time on conservation, which means protecting wildflowers. Two sisters, Olivia and Caroline Phelps Stokes, gave $3,000 to the NYBG. This led to the creation of the Wild Flower Preservation Society of America. The first meeting was on April 23, 1902. Britton was elected to the Board of Managers.
Britton later served as the secretary and treasurer of the organization. The Society started many local chapters. In 1915, it became an official organization in New York. Then in 1925, it was reorganized as the Wild Flower Preservation Society. Britton promoted this cause for almost 35 years. She published articles, gave talks, and wrote many letters. Her efforts led to new laws in different states. They also led to local conservation activities in garden clubs and schools. She wrote 14 articles in the NYBG's Journal called Wild Plants Needing Protection.
In 1925, Britton led a successful campaign to stop people from harvesting wild American holly for Christmas decorations. She was the head of the conservation committee for the Federated Garden Clubs of New York State. Instead, she encouraged growing the plant from cuttings for commercial use.
Between 1881 and 1930, Britton published 346 papers. About 170 of these were about mosses. She described six families of mosses for the New York Botanical Garden's Flora of America.
Recognition and Legacy
In 1893, Britton was the only woman among 25 scientists chosen to be founding members of the Botanical Society of America. In 1905, she was one of three moss experts chosen for a special committee. This committee would report on plant names at the 1910 meeting of the International Botanical Congress in Brussels.
In 1906, Britton was one of only 19 women listed in the first edition of American Men of Science. Her name had an asterisk next to it. This "starred" listing was only for the top 1,000 scientists in the book. Britton was starred in all five editions of the book until 1933.
A group of mosses called Bryobrittonia is named after Elizabeth Britton. Also, 15 species of plants and one animal species are named in her honor.
Mount Britton, a mountain with two peaks in El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico, is named after both Elizabeth and Nathaniel Britton.
In 1940, a special plaque honoring Britton was put in the new Wild Flower Garden at the New York Botanical Garden. It was a gift from the New York Bird and Tree Club. The plaque is on a large rock and says, "Let those who find pleasure in this garden remember Elizabeth Gertrude Knight Britton, lover of wildflowers and ardent advocate of their protection." This garden is now called the Native Plant Garden, and the rock is known as Britton Rock.
Today, Elizabeth Gertrude Knight Britton's old papers and research are kept at the NYBG Mertz Library. This collection includes her personal notes, published works, photos, and more. It shows her teaching career and her work with the Torrey Botanical Club and the NYBG. Her field notebooks are also kept at the New York Botanical Garden.
The character Alma Whittaker in the 2013 book The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert was partly inspired by Britton.
Later Life and Death
Elizabeth Britton passed away at her home in The Bronx on February 25, 1934, after having a stroke. Her husband Nathaniel died four months later. She was buried in the Moravian Cemetery on Staten Island. Her husband's family had been early settlers there, and he owned property in the area.
Images for kids
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Eustichium norvegicum: A close-up view of a moss part.
