Eileen Adelaide Bruce (15 February 1905

Petersham, London Petersham is a village in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames on the east of the bend in the River Thames south of Richmond, which it shares with neighbouring Ham. It provides the foreground of the scenic view from Richmond Hill ac ...

– 6 October 1955

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

) was an English taxonomist and botanist.

Life

She was educated at the

University College of London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...

and joined the staff of

Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is a ...

in 1930. In 1941 after the start of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

she enlisted in the

Auxiliary Territorial Service The Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS; often pronounced as an acronym) was the women's branch of the British Army during the Second World War. It was formed on 9 September 1938, initially as a women's voluntary service, and existed until 1 Februa ...

, was commissioned and served in the

Anti-Aircraft Command Anti-Aircraft Command (AA Command, or "Ack-Ack Command") was a British Army command of the Second World War that controlled the Territorial Army anti-aircraft artillery and searchlight formations and units defending the United Kingdom. Origin ...

. After the end of hostilities she was appointed to the South African National Herbarium in

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends ...

in 1946. During her stay there she worked on a number of plant families, in particular the

Labiatae The Lamiaceae ( ) or Labiatae are a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint, deadnettle or sage family. Many of the plants are aromatic in all parts and include widely used culinary herbs like basil, mint, rosemary, sage, savory ...

and also on a revision of the genus ''

Kniphofia ''Kniphofia'' is a genus of perennial flowering plants in the family Asphodelaceae, first described as a genus in 1794. Species are native to Africa. Common names include tritoma, red hot poker, torch lily and poker plant. Description Herbaceou ...

''. Her work was published in ''

Bothalia ''African Biodiversity & Conservation'', formerly known as ''Bothalia'' is a South African peer-reviewed open access scientific journal covering the fields of botany, zoology and biodiversity, produced by the South African National Biodiversity In ...

'' and ''

Flowering Plants of Africa ''Flowering Plants of Africa'' is a series of illustrated botanical magazines akin to ''Curtis's Botanical Magazine'', initiated as ''Flowering Plants of South Africa'' by I. B. Pole-Evans in 1920. It is now published by the South African Nati ...

''. In 1952 she returned to Kew working on the families of

Pedaliaceae Pedaliaceae, the pedalium family or sesame family, is a flowering plant family classified in the order Lamiales. The family includes sesame (''Sesamum indicum''), the source of sesame seeds. It comprises 13 genera and approximately 70 speci ...

and

Loganiaceae The Loganiaceae are a family of flowering plants classified in order Gentianales. The family includes up to 13 genera, distributed around the world's tropics. There are not any great morphological characteristics to distinguish these taxa from o ...

, contributing to the ''

Flora of Tropical East Africa The ''Flora of Tropical East Africa'' (FTEA) is a catalogue of all 12,104 known wild plant species in Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. The project began in 1948 and was finally completed in September 2012. Approximately 1,500 new plant species were des ...

'' and the ''

Kew Bulletin The ''Kew Bulletin'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed scientific journal on plant and fungal taxonomy and conservation published by Springer Science+Business Media on behalf of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Articles on palynology, cytology, anatomy, ...

''.'Dictionary of British and Irish Botanists and Horticulturists' - Ray Desmond (1994)

Life

References

Further reading