Eliza Amy Hodgson ( Campbell, 10 October 1888 – 7 January 1983) was a New Zealand

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

who specialised in

liverwort The Marchantiophyta () are a division of non-vascular land plants commonly referred to as hepatics or liverworts. Like mosses and hornworts, they have a gametophyte-dominant life cycle, in which cells of the plant carry only a single set of g ...

Early life

Hodgson was born in

Havelock North Havelock North ( mi, Te Hemo-a-Te Atonga) is a town in the Hawke's Bay region of the North Island of New Zealand, situated less than 2 km south-east of the city of Hastings. It was a borough for many years until the 1989 reorganisation of local ...

and attended Pukahu Primary School and

Napier Girls' High School Napier Girls' High School is a state secondary school on Clyde Road, Napier, New Zealand. It is one of the oldest schools in New Zealand for girls, and has a current school roll of about 1000. History In July 1883 plans were submitted to the b ...

. She went by her middle name Amy. Hodgson was self-educated in botany as her father refused to allow her to attend university.

Botany work

Hodgson collected numerous specimens and was encouraged by George Osborne King Sainsbury with whom she collected. Hodgson also collected with Kenneth Willway Allison. Hodgson published her first scientific paper at the age of 42 and went on to publish more than 30 papers thereafter. She described two new species of liverworts and nine new genera. The liverwort ''

Lejeunea hodgsoniana ''Lejeunea hodgsoniana'' is a species of liverwort named in honour of Eliza Amy Hodgson. The often extensive mats formed by L. lamacerina are composed of small (shoots up to 2 cm long and 0.5–1.5 mm wide), delicate, pale green shoot ...

'' was named in her honourLewington, R.J.; Beveridge, P.; Renner, M.A.M. 2013: ''Lejeunea hodgsoniana'', a newly described, long recognised ''Lejeunea'' (Jungermanniopsida, Lejeuneaceae) from lowland coastal forest habitats in New Zealand. ''PhytoKeys'', 29: 1-15. as was the species '' Lepidolaena hodgsoniae''. Her herbarium was donated to

Massey University Massey University ( mi, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa) is a university based in Palmerston North, New Zealand, with significant campuses in Albany and Wellington. Massey University has approximately 30,883 students, 13,796 of whom are extramural or ...

in 1972.

Recognition

She was elected a Fellow of the

Linnean Society of London The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature colle ...

and in 1961 was accorded the same honour by the

Royal Society of New Zealand Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

. Hodgson was also an honorary member of the

British Bryological Society The British Bryological Society is an academic society dedicated to bryology, which encourages the study of bryophytes (mosses, liverworts and hornworts). It publishes the peer-reviewed ''Journal of Bryology''. History The Society developed from ...

. Hodgson was awarded an honorary doctorate by Massey University in 1976. In 2017, Hodges was selected as one of the Royal Society Te Apārangi's "

150 women in 150 words Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music *Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak alb ...

", celebrating the contributions of women to knowledge in New Zealand.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hodgson, Eliza Amy 1888 births 1983 deaths 20th-century New Zealand botanists Fellows of the Royal Society of New Zealand 20th-century New Zealand women scientists Massey University alumni Members of the British Bryological Society New Zealand women botanists People educated at Napier Girls' High School People from Havelock North