Edith Katherine Cash (October 14, 1890 – April 6, 1992) was an American

mycologist Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungus, fungi, including their genetics, genetic and biochemistry, biochemical properties, their Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy and ethnomycology, their use to humans, including as a so ...

and lichenologist.

Early life

Edith Cash was born in

Binghamton Binghamton () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the conflue ...

, New York, to John Ferris Cash and Adella Knapp Cash. She graduated from

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , preside ...

in 1912 with an

AB degree Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in history and languages and was the recipient of the Thomas F. Walsh undergraduate prize for academic excellence. She was knowledgeable about European literature, and according to the catalog from George Washington University, her major was in French with a minor in French and English. She studied as an assistant only one-night weekly during six months (October 1921 to May 1922) to obtain her formal mycology training, at the USDA Graduate School. She spent her entire research career in this institution. Cash started as a botanical translator in 1913. After 11 years, she advanced from that position to junior pathologist (1924). She obtained the position as assistant pathologist in 1929, after that as associate mycologist in 1944 and finally as mycologist in 1956.

Career

Cash is remembered by her mycologist and botanist colleagues as a scholar and mentor to young people in their careers. As a professional, she was known for her attention to detail and accuracy, which propelled her to positions as an editor of scientific journals. She was the editor of the mycology section of ''Biological Abstracts'' for many years, and the only person to complete three five-year periods as a member on the editorial board of '' Mycologia''. Cash published 14 papers during her first decade as pathologist-mycologist, 11 of which were on

Discomycetes Discomycetes is a former taxonomic class of Ascomycete fungi which contains all of the cup, sponge and brain fungi and some club-like fungi. It includes typical cup fungi like the scarlet elf cup and the orange peel fungus, and fungi with frui ...

, where she described 37 new species. The Discomycetes are a former taxonomic group inside of

ascomycetes Ascomycota is a phylum of the kingdom Fungi that, together with the Basidiomycota, forms the subkingdom Dikarya. Its members are commonly known as the sac fungi or ascomycetes. It is the largest phylum of Fungi, with over 64,000 species. The defi ...

. Fungi that possess cup-shaped apothecia were known as Discomycetes. She also described many species from '' Sclerotinia'', promoting interest in the study of this genus. During her research career, she described species of Discomycetes from many countries and other kinds of fungi. Her publications include the description of Discomycetes from

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

(Cash 1958),

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

(Cash 1938), Discomycetes and

Hysteriales The Hysteriales are an order (biology), order of fungi in the class Dothideomycetes, subclass Pleosporomycetidae. It consists of a single family (biology), family, Hysteriaceae. Members of Hysteriales produce elongated, often boat shaped sexual s ...

from

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

(Cash 1943), South America, India and fungi found on living

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

s. Fungus specimens were collected at ports by inspectors of the Plant Quarantine Branch, Agricultural Research Services, United States of Agriculture, certain fungus species were reported for the first time on orchids (Cash and Watson 1955). She also published ''A Mycological English-Latin Glossary'' in 1965. In addition to her publications, Cash described 134 new species of fungi, all reported in peer-reviewed scientific journals, and identified over 11000 fungi specimens, including describing over 600 species of fungi and plants in Latin for her colleagues worldwide. Cash retired on May 31, 1958, but continued working on her own research and preparing descriptions in Latin for her colleagues around the world. In 1975, Cash and her sister moved to

Binghamton, New York Binghamton () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the conflue ...

, where she started teaching community members to enjoy and recognize local flowering plants. She never married and was 101 years old when she died on April 6, 1992. Her remains are in the Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington D.C. close to those of her older sister Lillian Claire Cash, who was a microbiologist.

Honors and awards

Cash obtained the competitive US Government Superior Service Award in 1956 for the world-wide fungus index, which was used as the principal source for background information on fungus nomenclature and taxonomy. She was honored in the Gallery of Contemporary Noted Mycologists within three years of her retirement. Cash was a member of American Phytopathological Society, The

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

, listed in ''

American Men of Science ''American Men and Women of Science'' (the 40th edition was published in 2022) is a biographical reference work on leading scientists in the United States and Canada, published as a series of books and online by Gale. The first edition was publish ...

'' in 1960, and a charter member of the

Mycological Society of America The Mycological Society of America (MSA) is a learned society that serves as the professional organization of mycologists in the U.S. and Canada. It was founded in 1932. The Society's constitution states that "The purpose of the Society is to promo ...

. Fungal taxa named in her honor include the genus ''

Cashiella ''Cashiella'' is a genus of fungi in the family Dermateaceae. The genus contains four species. ''Cashiella'', circumscribed in 1951 by Franz Petrak, is named in honor of American mycologist Edith Katherine Cash Edith Katherine Cash (October 14 ...

'', the fungus '' Lamprospora cashiae'', and the lichen '' Lethariella cashmeriana''.

Selected works

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References

External links