The Wild Flower Society is a society for a wide range of flower enthusiasts, from serious botanists to beginners. It arranges field trips and meetings, publishes the ''Wild Flower Magazine'', offers prizes and has a children's section. Most members keep diaries of observations, and may photograph plants.

History

It was founded as an educational children's club in 1886 by Edith Vere Annesley, later

Edith Vere Dent Edith Vere Dent née Annesley (1863–1948) was an amateur botanist and wild flower enthusiast who is remembered as founder of the UK Wild Flower Society (UK), Wild Flower Society. She was also an organiser for the Red Cross and her work in the F ...

. The club grew to include adults, and by the 1920s members included expert botanists. The botanist

George Claridge Druce George Claridge Druce, MA, LLD, JP, FRS, FLS (23 May 1850 – 29 February 1932) was an English botanist and a Mayor of Oxford. Personal life and education G. Claridge Druce was born at Potterspury on Watling Street in Northamptonshire. ...

called the society “the Botanical Nursery” because it nurtured potential botanists. Among its members were Noel Sandwith, curator at

Kew Gardens Kew Gardens is a botanical garden, botanic garden in southwest London that houses the "largest and most diverse botany, botanical and mycology, mycological collections in the world". Founded in 1840, from the exotic garden at Kew Park, its li ...

, who first discovered ''

Scorzonera humilis ''Scorzonera humilis'', the viper's-grass, is a perennial plant. In Britain it is a rare plant, restricted to moist meadows, in Dorset and Warwick in England, and in South Wales. One unique class of stilbenoid derivative was first isolated from ...

'', or viper's grass, growing in Britain, botanist Eleanor Vachell who discovered ''Limosella aquatica x subulata'' in

Glamorgan , HQ = Cardiff , Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974) , Origin= , Code = GLA , CodeName = Chapman code , Replace = * West Glamorgan * Mid Glamorgan * South Glamorgan , Motto ...

, and Gertrude Foggitt who recorded ''

Carex ''Carex'' is a vast genus of more than 2,000 species of grass-like plants in the family Cyperaceae, commonly known as sedges (or seg, in older books). Other members of the family Cyperaceae are also called sedges, however those of genus ''Carex'' ...

microglochin'' on

Ben Lawers Ben Lawers ( gd, Beinn Labhair) is the highest mountain in the Breadalbane region of the Scottish Highlands. It lies north of Loch Tay and is the highest peak of the 'Ben Lawers group', a ridge that includes six other Munros: Beinn Ghlas, Meall ...

, along with the botanist Lady Joanna Charlotte Davy. More recently, the botanist and ecologist

Ghillean Prance Sir Ghillean Tolmie Prance (born 13 July 1937) is a prominent British botanist and ecologist who has published extensively on the taxonomy of families such as Chrysobalanaceae and Lecythidaceae, but drew particular attention in documenting the ...

, president of the society, is someone who first built up a knowledge of flowering plants through his membership of the society and his wild flower diary. Edith Dent (1863-1948) edited the magazine, bi-monthly at that time, which she started in 1896. After her death in 1948, her daughter Hilda Sophia Annesley Dent (1903-1956) became president and editor. She died in 1956 and her sister Violet Vere Charlotte Schwerdt (1900-1996) took over. Schwerdt was made an MBE in 1986 for her work with the society. Her daughter

Pamela Schwerdt Pamela Schwerdt was the joint head gardener at Sissinghurst Castle Garden from 1959 to 1990, and a pioneering horticulturalist. Early life and education Pamela Schwerdt was born on 5 April 1931 in Surrey, the granddaughter of Edith Vere Dent, ...

was head gardener at

Sissinghurst Sissinghurst is a small village in the borough of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England. Originally called ''Milkhouse Street'' (also referred to as ''Mylkehouse''), Sissinghurst changed its name in the 1850s, possibly to avoid association with the smu ...

and was said to have inherited her interest in flowers through her mother.Pamela Schwerdt obituary, ''The Guardian'' 6 Oct 2009
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Sources

* ttps://archive.org/stream/yearbookbotanica00bota/yearbookbotanica00bota_djvu.txt Obituary of Mrs Edith Vere Dent by Gertrude Foggitt, in the ''Botanical Society Year Book'', 1949
The Wild Flower Society website

References

Botanical societies British biology societies Organisations based in Kent Environmental organisations based in England {{Botany-org-stub