Clara Winsome Muirhead (6 January 1916 – 7 March 1985) was a Scottish

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 ...

and

plant collector Plant collecting is the acquisition of plant specimens for the purposes of research, cultivation, or as a hobby. Plant specimens may be kept alive, but are more commonly dried and pressed to preserve the quality of the specimen. Plant collecting i ...

who spent most of her career at the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh and was an expert on

mosses Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) ''sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and horn ...

cacti A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Greek ...

, and

succulents In botany, succulent plants, also known as succulents, are plants with parts that are thickened, fleshy, and engorged, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil conditions. The word ''succulent'' comes from the Latin word ''sucus'', meani ...

Life

Clara Winsome Muirhead (known as "Win") was born in

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...

, England to Scottish parents. Her father was in the Merchant Navy and her mother was a

market gardener A market garden is the relatively small-scale production of fruits, vegetables and flowers as cash crops, frequently sold directly to consumers and restaurants. The diversity of crops grown on a small area of land, typically from under to ...

. She studied horticulture at

Studley College Studley Horticultural & Agricultural College for Women was a horticultural and agricultural college for women, near Studley in Warwickshire, England, which operated from 1898 until 1969. History The college was founded by Daisy Greville, Countes ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

between 1933 and 1935. From 1938 to 1943, Muirhead worked in the herbarium at Tullie House Museum, Carlisle, and from 1943 to 1945, she was part of the

Women's Royal Naval Service The Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS; popularly and officially known as the Wrens) was the women's branch of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. First formed in 1917 for the First World War, it was disbanded in 1919, then revived in 1939 at the ...

in the codebreaking department. Between 1953 and 1975, Muirhead worked at the herbarium at the Royal Botanics. She continued to collect and record plants until 1980, when she had a stroke. She bequeathed her personal herbarium collection to the

University of Plymouth The University of Plymouth is a public research university based predominantly in Plymouth, England, where the main campus is located, but the university has campuses and affiliated colleges across South West England. With students, it is the ...

, where it became the Clara Winsome Muirhead Memorial Herbarium. She died of a heart attack on 7 March 1985.

Work on ''Sempervivum''

Muirhead described several new species in the genus ''

Sempervivum ''Sempervivum'' (Brit. , U.S. �sɛ̃mpeɹ'vivũm is a genus of about 40 species of flowering plants in the family Crassulaceae, commonly known as houseleeks. Other common names include liveforever (the source of the taxonomical designation ''Sem ...

''. These include: ''S. artvinense'', ''S. brevipilum'', ''S. davisii'', ''S. furseorum'', ''S. gilliani'', ''S. ispartae'', and ''S. transcaucasicum''.

Recognition

A cultivar of ''

Cassiope Cascade, Smallsat and Ionospheric Polar Explorer (CASSIOPE), is a Canadian Space Agency (CSA) multi-mission satellite operated by the University of Calgary. The mission development and operations from launch to February 2018 was funded through CS ...

'' was named for Muirhead by R.B. Cooke, who named it ''C.'' 'Muirhead' (''C. wardii'' x '' C. lycopodioides'').

Publications

Muirhead's published works include *Muirhead, C.W. (1962) The Flora of Easdale and the Garvellachs. ''Transactions of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh'', 39: 316–342. https://doi.org/10.1080/13594866209441714 *Muirhead, C.W. (1966) ''Sempervivum globiferum . transcaucasicum'' ''Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh'', 26: 284-285 *Muirhead, C.W. (1969) Turkish species of Sempervivum. ''Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh'', 29: 15-28

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muirhead, Clara Winsome Scottish botanists Scottish women scientists Plant collectors 1916 births 1985 deaths Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh