Ilma Grace Stone (1913 – 2001), née Balfe, was an Australian

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

bryology Bryology (from Greek , a moss, a liverwort) is the branch of botany concerned with the scientific study of bryophytes (mosses, liverworts, and hornworts). Bryologists are people who have an active interest in observing, recording, classifying or ...

. She was an author, collector, and researcher of

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

moss 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 hor ...

es, a subject on which she lectured and wrote.

Scientific career

Stone studied at the Department of Botany in

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

from 1930 - 1934, graduating with an MSc involving a thesis on sclerotia-forming fungi that cause disease in ornamental plants. However, she did not begin her career studying bryophytes until 1957 when she was appointed as a demonstrator in the Department of Botany at University of Melbourne, at first part-time and then full-time. Her PhD was awarded in 1963 for ''A morphogenetic study of stage in the life-cycle of some Victorial cryptograms''. She was awarded a D.Sc. by the University of Melbourne where she was an Honorary Research Fellow when she was 76. She officially retired from the university in 1978 but continued to research and publish until her death in 2001. She was initially interested in ferns but from 1969 specialised in mosses. In 1983 she published a description of a new species, '' Fissidens gymnocarpus'', and continued to contribute to moss taxonomy. She is noted for keen observation and attention to often small and overlooked moss species, and for her contributions to their taxonomy. She was also an impressive field bryologist. Stone is credited with significantly increasing knowledge of mosses in Australia, especially those in

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

. She was particularly expert in the genera '' Acaulon'', '' Pleuridium'', '' Eccremidium'', '' Astomum'' and '' Nanobryum'' as well as the moss floras of Victoria and Queensland, the tropical mosses of Australia and those with permanent

protonema A protonema (plural: protonemata) is a thread-like chain of cells that forms the earliest stage of development of the gametophyte (the haploid phase) in the life cycle of mosses. When a moss first grows from a spore, it starts as a ''germ tube'', ...

. In addition, her work on the Australian ''

Fissidens ''Fissidens'' is a genus of haplolepideous mosses (Dicranidae) in the family Fissidentaceae. Selected species: * '' Fissidens abbreviatus'' * '' Fissidens acacioides'' * '' Fissidens aciphyllus'' * '' Fissidens acreanus'' * '' Fissidens acutis ...

'' in collaboration with David Catcheside made significant improvements to its taxonomy.

Publications

Stone published more than 70 papers during her career, the first when aged 48 and eleven after the age of 80. *''The Mosses of Southern Australia'' with George Anderson Macdonald Scott, published in 1976.

Illustration An illustration is a decoration, interpretation or visual explanation of a text, concept or process, designed for integration in print and digital published media, such as posters, flyers, magazines, books, teaching materials, animations, vid ...

s by

Celia Rosser Celia Elizabeth Rosser (born 1930) is an Australian botanical illustrator, best known for having published ''The Banksias'', a three-volume series of monographs containing watercolour paintings of every ''Banksia'' species. Born Celia Elizabe ...

. Over 70 research papers, including: *Stone, IG. (1958) The gametophyte and embryo of ''Polyphlebium venosum'' (R.Br.) Copeland (Hymenophyllaceae). ''Aust. J. Bot.'' 6: 183–203. *Stone, IG. (1961) The highly refractive protonema of ''Mittenia plumula'' (Mitt) Lindb. ''Proc. R. Soc. Vicr.'' 74: 119–124. *Stone, IG. (1971) The sporophyte of ''Tortula pagorum'' (Milde) De Not. ''Trans. Brit. Bryol. Soc.'' 6: 270–277. *Stone, IG. (1975) A remarkable new moss from Queensland, Australia. ''Viridivellus pulchellum'', new genus and species (new family Viridivelleraceae). ''J. Bryology'' 9: 21–31. *Stone. IG. (1979) ''Acaulon eremicola'', a new moss from the Australian arid zone. ''J. Bryology'' 10: 467–474. *Stone, IG. (1980) ''Phascopsis rubicunda'', a new genus and species of Pottiaceae from Australia. ''J. Bryology'' 11: 17–31. *Stone, IG. (1983) ''Fissidens gymnocarpus'', a new species from Queensland, Australia. ''J. Bryology'' 12: 553–557. *Stone, IG. (1988) ''Acaulon granulosum'', a new species in the ''Acaulon muticum'' complex; a comparison and key to Australian species. ''J. Bryology.'' 15: 257–268. *Catcheside, D.G. & Stone, IG. (1988) The mosses of the Northern Territory, Australia. ''J. Adelaide Bot. Gard.'' 11: 1–17. *Stone, IG. (1989) A revision of ''Phascum'' and ''Acaulon'' in Australia. ''J. Bryology'' 15: 745–777. *Stone, IG & Catcheside DG (1993) Two new species, ''Fissidens oblatus'' and ''F. badyinbarus'', from Queensland, ''Australia. J. Bryology'' 17: 621–626. *Stone, IG (1996) A revision of Ephemeraceae in Australia. Journal of Bryology 19: 279–295. *Stone, IG (1997) A revision of Erpodiaceae with particular reference to Australian taxa. ''J. Bryology'' 19: 485–502. *Beever JE & Stone IG (1999) Studies of Fissidens (Bryophyta: Musci): new taxa and new records for New Zealand. ''New Zealand Journal of Botany'' 37: 643–657. She described 25 species, several genera and one new moss family. Her collection of around 25,000 specimens is now held in the herbarium of the University of Melbourne. It is particularly comprehensive for bryophytes of tropical areas of Australia.

Awards

In 1989 she was awarded a D.Sc. by the University of Melbourne where she was an Honorary Research Fellow. She was elected an Honorary Member of the British Bryological Society in 1982. Several species of moss have been named in her honour. This includes two genera (''Stonea'' and ''Stoneobryum'') and two species: *''Stonea oleaginosa'' (I.G. Stone) R.H. Zander Phytologia 65:432. *''Stoneobryum bunyaense'' D.H. Norris & H. Robinson Bryologist 84: 96. *''Stoneobryum mirum'' (Lewinsky) D.H. Norris & H. Robinson Bryologist 84: 98. *''Macromitrium stoneae'' Vitt & H.P. Ramsay J. Hattori Bot. Lab. 59: 400. *''Syrrhopodon stoneae'' W. Reese Bryologist 92: 302.

Early education and personal life

She was born in Brunswick, Victoria in Australia in 1913 and was educated at Ivanhoe Girls Grammar School, financed by a scholarship. She excelled in English and Botany. After gaining her MSc degree from University of Melbourne, rather than continue her studies at University of Cambridge in the UK, she chose to marry. She was married to Alan Stone and they had three children. For the first 20 years of her marriage her family took precedence over her career

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stone, Ilma Grace Bryologists Botanists active in Australia 20th-century Australian botanists 1913 births 2001 deaths Women botanists 20th-century Australian women scientists Women bryologists Australian women botanists