Botanic Manuscripts of Jane Colden, 1724-1766

205 pp. The first woman botanist of Colonial America. "Jane Colden (March 27, 1724 – March 10, 1766) was an American botanist,[2]:53–4 described as the "first botanist of her sex in her country" by Asa Gray in 1843. Although not acknowledged in botanical publications, she wrote a number of letters resulting in botanist John Ellis writing to Carl Linnaeus of her work applying the Linnaean system of plant identification to American flora, "she deserves to be celebrated".[2]:54 Contemporary scholarship maintains that she was the first female botanist working in America. She was regarded as a respected botanist by many prominent botanists such as: John Bartram, Peter Collinson, Alexander Garden, and Carl Linnaeus. Colden is most famous for her manuscript without a title, in which she describes the flora of the New York area, and draws ink drawings of 340 different species of them."