Julia Susannah Harris ''née'' Wells (5 August 1842 – 8 July 1911) is notable for having collected some significant botanical specimens in what is now the wheatbelt region of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. Amongst her collections is the

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular wiktionary:en:specimen, specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to a ...

of the endangered '' Acacia volubilis''; the type specimen of the rare '' Acacia anarthros'', and the earliest known collection of ''

Banksia cuneata ''Banksia cuneata'', commonly known as matchstick banksia or Quairading banksia, is an endangered species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae. Endemic to Southwest Australia, southwest Western Australia, it belongs to Banksia subg. Isos ...

''. All of Wells' specimens are recorded as having been collected at "Boxvale". This is now a lost toponym; according to

Bruce Maslin Bruce Roger Maslin (born 3 May 1946) is an Australian botanist, known for his work on ''Acacia'' taxonomy. Born in Bridgetown, Western Australia, he obtained an honours degree in botany from the University of Western Australia in 1967, then to ...

it was "somewhere E of

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

, perhaps near the Cubbine Hills between Cunderdin and

Quairading Quairading is a Western Australian town located in the Wheatbelt region. It is the seat of government for the Shire of Quairading. History The town was named for Quairading Spring, derived from a local Aboriginal word recorded in 1872 by su ...

". Wells' specimens are also undated, but are assumed to have been made in the 1870s or before, since they are attributed to her under the maiden name, and she married in 1880. Little is known of her personal life. The daughter of Richard Wells, the first manager of the Western Australian Bank, she married Robert Harris in the Congregational Church, East Melbourne, Victoria in 1880. She had a daughter, Florence S. Harris, and died on 8 July 1911 at Perth Public Hospital, aged 68.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wells, Julia 1842 births Botanical collectors active in Australia People from the Wheatbelt (Western Australia) 1911 deaths