Mary Johnston(e) Lynn (9 January 1891 – died after 1959) was an Irish

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 ...

known for her phyto-ecological studies in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

Early life and education

Lynn was born at Albany Cottage,

Carrickfergus Carrickfergus ( , meaning " Fergus' rock") is a large town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It sits on the north shore of Belfast Lough, from Belfast. The town had a population of 27,998 at the 2011 Census. It is County Antrim's oldest t ...

to Henry Lynn and Mary Johnstone Rodgers. She attended

Queens University, Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

for undergraduate and postgraduate studies, earning a bachelor's degree in 1914 and a doctorate in 1937.

Career

Lynn taught at Queens University, Belfast. In the 1920s and 1930s, she was a senior demonstrator in the botany department. She was an active member of the Belfast Naturalists Field Club and the Botanical Society of Northern Ireland, and studied plant cell biology, including the effect of

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide (chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is transpar ...

and rotation on the curvature of

sunflower The common sunflower (''Helianthus annuus'') is a large annual forb of the genus ''Helianthus'' grown as a crop for its edible oily seeds. Apart from cooking oil production, it is also used as livestock forage (as a meal or a silage plant), as ...

stems. She published articles in ''The Irish Naturalists' Journal'' and '' The New Phytologist''. In 1934 she was the first to record the alga '' C. peregrina'' in Ireland; she also studied the scarcity of ''

Zostera marina ''Zostera marina'' is a flowering vascular plant species as one of many kinds of seagrass, with this species known primarily by the English name of eelgrass with seawrack much less used, and refers to the plant after breaking loose from the submer ...

'' in

Strangford Lough Strangford Lough (from Old Norse ''Strangr Fjörðr'', meaning "strong sea-inlet"PlaceNames N ...

. James Small thanked her for help in reading the proofs of his ''A Textbook of Botany'' (1937). In 1947, she gave a lecture on

seaweed Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of '' Rhodophyta'' (red), ''Phaeophyta'' (brown) and ''Chlorophyta'' (green) macroalgae. Seaweed species such as ...

s to the Belfast Naturalists Field Club. In 1949, she described "a rare form of ''

Ascophyllum nodosum ''Ascophyllum nodosum'' is a large, common cold water seaweed or brown alga (Phaeophyceae) in the family Fucaceae, being the only species in the genus ''Ascophyllum''. It is a seaweed that only grows in the northern Atlantic Ocean, also known in ...

''" she found at

Larne Lough Larne Lough, historically Lough Larne (), is a sea loch or inlet in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It lies between the Islandmagee peninsula and the mainland. At its mouth is the town of Larne. It is designated as an area of special scientific ...

. She was publishing her research as late as 1960, when she updated a coastal survey of Larne Lough, and reported on the appearance of ''

Datura stramonium ''Datura stramonium'', known by the common names thorn apple, jimsonweed (jimson weed), devil's snare, or devil's trumpet, is a poisonous flowering plant of the nightshade family Solanaceae. It is a species belonging to the ''Datura'' genus a ...

'' in Ireland. Algae specimens collected by Lynn were part of the Algal Herbarium at Queens University, Belfast.

References

External links

“Handwriting sample: Mary J. Lynn”
Special Collections, USDA National Agricultural Library. Accessed March 22, 2020. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lynn, Mary Johnstone 1891 births 20th-century Irish botanists Year of death missing Place of death missing People from Carrickfergus 20th-century Irish women scientists Irish women botanists Scientists from County Antrim Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Academics of Queen's University Belfast