Phoebe Lankester (also Phebe Lankester, 10 April 1825 – 9 April 1900) was a British botanist known for her

popular science ''Popular Science'' (also known as ''PopSci'') is an American digital magazine carrying popular science content, which refers to articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. ''Popular Science'' has won over 58 awards, incl ...

writing, particularly on wildflowers,

parasitic plants A parasitic plant is a plant that derives some or all of its nutritional requirements from another living plant. They make up about 1% of angiosperms and are found in almost every biome. All parasitic plants develop a specialized organ called the ...

, and

ferns A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes except th ...

. Her writing incorporated both technical, high-level text and writing accessible to the lay reader.

Family

She was born Phoebe Pope in

Highbury Highbury is a district in North London and part of the London Borough of Islington in Greater London that was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor house was situ ...

to a former

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

mill owner and his wife. She had one brother. In 1845, she married the naturalist

Edwin Lankester Edwin Lankester FRS, FRMS, MRCS (23 April 1814 – 30 October 1874) was an English surgeon and naturalist who made a major contribution to the control of cholera in London: he was the first public analyst in England. Life Edwin Lankester ...

, with whom she had eight children. Her son

Ray Ray may refer to: Fish * Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea * Ray (fish fin anatomy), a bony or horny spine on a fin Science and mathematics * Ray (geometry), half of a line proceeding from an initial point * Ray (g ...

became a zoologist.

Writing

Lankester published under the name Mrs. Lankester. Her books combined scientific rigor with interesting information about traditional medicinal uses of plants. She also lectured on science and wrote a syndicated column on women's topics that ran in provincial newspapers. Lankester wrote a new section on popular plant knowledge for the third (1884) edition of ''

English Botany ''English Botany'' was a major publication of British plants comprising a 36 volume set, issued in 267 monthly parts over 23 years from 1790 to 1814. The work was conceived, illustrated, edited and published by the botanical illustrator and natura ...

'', an enormous and influential publication that had illustrations by

James Sowerby James Sowerby (21 March 1757 – 25 October 1822) was an English naturalist, illustrator and mineralogist. Contributions to published works, such as ''A Specimen of the Botany of New Holland'' or ''English Botany'', include his detailed and app ...

and other members of the

Sowerby family The Sowerby family () was a British family of several generations of naturalists, illustrators, botanists, and zoologists active from the late 18th century to the mid twentieth century. *James Sowerby (1757–1822) **James De Carle Sowerby (1787 ...

Selected books

* ''A Plain and Easy Account of the British Ferns'' (1860) * ''Wild Flowers Worth Notice'' (1879) * ''Talks About Plants, Or, Early Lessons in Botany (1879) * ''The National Thrift Reader'' (1880) * ''British Ferns'' (1881)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lankester, Phoebe English botanists English botanical writers 1825 births 1900 deaths Women botanists 19th-century British botanists 19th-century British writers 19th-century British women scientists 19th-century British women writers