Olga Korhoven Lakela (March 11, 1890 – May 17, 1980) was a Finnish-American

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 ...

and

educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

noted for identifying many species in the genera ''

Heuchera ''Heuchera'' ( or ) is a genus of largely evergreen perennial plants in the family Saxifragaceae, all native to North America. Common names include alumroot and coral bells. Description ''Heuchera'' have palmately lobed leaves on long petiole ...

'' and ''

Tiarella ''Tiarella'', the foamflowers, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Saxifragaceae. The generic name ''Tiarella'' means "little turban", which suggests the shape of the seed capsules. Worldwide there are seven species, one each in eastern ...

''. She emigrated to the United States from Finland in 1906. Lakela received her doctorate in botany from the University of Minnesota in 1932. Lakela founded the

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sheet of paper (called ...

at the University of Minnesota Duluth, which is named after her, and worked there until 1935. After her retirement from the University of Minnesota Duluth in 1958, she was the curator of the University of South Florida's herbarium from 1960 until her retirement there in 1973.

References

1890 births 1980 deaths 20th-century American women scientists 20th-century American botanists Emigrants from the Grand Duchy of Finland to the United States American women curators American curators {{US-botanist-stub