Mary Katharine Brandegee

Mary Katharine Brandegee (nee Layne; widowed Mary Katharine Curran, born October 28, 1844 in Tennessee; † April 3, 1920 in Berkeley ) was an American botanist and plant collector. Your official botanical author abbreviation are " Curran " and " K.Brandegee "; earlier was also the abbreviation " K.Brandeg. " in use. She was married in second marriage with the botanist Townshend Stith Brandegee ( 1843-1925 ).

Life and work

Mary Katharine Brandegee was the second of ten children of a miller. With her ​​family she moved around frequently during her childhood until the family settled in Folsom. 1866, she married Hughes Curran, who died in 1874. From 1875 to 1878 she attended the Medical Faculty of the University of California, where she earned her doctorate. She then practiced as a physician.

From 1883 to 1894 she was curator of the herbarium of the California Academy of Sciences. In 1889, she married Townshend Stith Brandegee, with whom she made ​​numerous collecting trips through California, Nevada, and Baja California. Your honeymoon led them walking together from San Diego to San Francisco.

From 1894 to 1906, she continued her botanical studies continued with her husband in San Diego. She volunteered at the Berkeley Herbarium, University of California, where her husband was honorary curator.

Writings

Mary Katharine Brandegee founded in 1880, the Bulletin series of the California Academy of Sciences and served as its editor. Together with her husband and Harvey Wilson Harkness (1821-1901) in 1890, she founded the magazine Zoe. Zoe In many of her articles about the California flora have been published.

• Notes on Cacteae I. In: Erythea. Volume 5, 1897, pp. 111-123, (online).
• Notes on Cacteae II In: Zoe. Volume 5, Number 10, August 1905, pp. 189-195, (online).

Swell

• Keir Brooks Sterling, Lorne F. Hammond: Biographical Dictionary of American and Canadian Naturalists. 1997, pp. 102-103. ISBN 0-313-23047-1