Agrostology

expert on agrostology (study of grasses); 1913 discovered new species of fern in Puerto Rico; on her own time she studied botany at the National Herbarium & became an expert in the taxonomy of the Poaceae (formerly Gramineae) 1 of the largest plant families that includes lawn grass varieties & important crop species such as corn, rice, bamboo & grasses like barley, wheat & oats; with albert Spear Hitchcock mapped out & carried out an ambitious research program to observe, collect, describe, identify & classify all grasses in the Americas & wrote 3 books on their discoveries; spent 8 months on a self-funded expedition to Brazil & identified 5 rare species & 8 new species of pathogenic plant fungi; later returned to Brazil for another year of study; her book on grasses for beginners was used as a textbook & translated into Spanish & Portugese & is considered the standard for study;

None

Category:
Botany

Completion Status:
yes

Patent Number:
N/A

Co-Inventor:
None