Sara Allen Plummer (September 3, 1836 – January 15, 1923) was an American botanist.

Mount Lemmon Mount Lemmon, with a summit elevation of , is the highest point in the Santa Catalina Mountains. It is located in the Coronado National Forest north of Tucson, Arizona, United States. Mount Lemmon was named for botanist Sara Plummer Lemmon, who ...

in Arizona is named for her, as she was the first

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

woman to ascend it. She was responsible for the designation of the golden poppy (''

Eschscholzia californica ''Eschscholzia californica'', the California poppy, golden poppy, California sunlight or cup of gold, is a species of flowering plant in the family Papaveraceae, native to the United States and Mexico. It is cultivated as an ornamental plant f ...

'') as the state flower of California, in 1903."California Beat Hero: Sara Plummer Lemmon"
May 27, 2009. A number of plants are also named in her honor, including the new genus ''Plummera'' (now placed as a subgenus within '' Hymenoxys''Bierner, Mark W 199
SUBMERSION OF DUGALDIA AND PLUMMERA IN HYMENOXYS (ASTERACEAE: HELIANTHEAE: GAILLARDIINAE)
''Sida, Contributions To Botany'' Volume: 16:1-8), described by Harvard University botanist

Asa Gray Asa Gray (November 18, 1810 – January 30, 1888) is considered the most important American botanist of the 19th century. His ''Darwiniana'' was considered an important explanation of how religion and science were not necessarily mutually excl ...

in 1882.

Early years

She was born in

New Gloucester New Gloucester is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, in the United States. It is home to the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village, the last active Shaker village in the U.S. The town's population was 5,676 at the 2020 census. New Gloucester is part ...

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

on September 3, 1836. She was educated in Massachusetts at the Female College of Worcester."Sara Allen Plummer Lemmon (1836–1923)"
''Find-a-Grave''. Plummer then moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, teaching art there for some years,Michael Redmon
"Who is responsible for setting up Santa Barbara’s first library?"
''Santa Barbara Independent'', April 10, 2008. and studying at

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...

. She also served as a nurse for a year or two during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

Move to California

Falling ill in 1868–69, she moved to California in 1869, after hearing from her friend how the trip helped his health. Newspapers of the day described Plummer as "one of the first 'intellectuals'" to move to Santa Barbara, Indeed, in 1871 she established a lending library that became an important cultural center for Santa Barbara. Shortly after arriving in Santa Barbara, she established the "Lending Library and Stationery Depot", with the aid of a friend, Unitarian minister Henry Bellows, who helped her acquire her first few hundred volumes. Operating out of a jewelry store on State Street, Plummer charged $5 membership or 10 cents for borrowing books, and sold a variety of art and music supplies, and held cultural gatherings including lectures and art exhibits. She became a member of the

Pacific Coast Women's Press Association Pacific Coast Women's Press Association (PCWPA; September 27, 1890 - 1941) was a press organization for women located on the West Coast of the United States. Discussions were not permitted regarding politics, religion, or reform. The members of the ...

. While walking about Santa Barbara, she acquired an interest in

botany 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 w ...

, and turned her painting towards

botanical illustration Botanical illustration is the art of depicting the form, color, and details of plant species, frequently in watercolor paintings. They must be scientifically accurate but often also have an artistic component and may be printed with a botanical ...

. In 1876 Plummer met John Gill (J.G.) Lemmon (1831–1908) when he was giving a lecture in Santa Barbara.Kimberly Matas
"Life stories: Mt. Lemmon's namesake was female explorer"
''Arizona Daily Star'', Oct. 31, 2011. Lemmon, a Civil War veteran and former Andersonville prisoner, was, like Plummer, a self-trained botanist. The couple started corresponding via letters and Lemmon tutored her in botany. She also sent him a shrub she had found near Santa Barbara, and after a friend of his examined it, named it ''

Baccharis plummerae ''Baccharis plummerae'' is a California species of ''Baccharis'' known by the common name Plummer's baccharis. It is named in honor of American botanist Sara Plummer Lemmon, 1836 – 1923. Distribution The plant is endemic to chaparral habitats ...

'' in honor of her. In 1880 they married, Plummer assuming his name. At that point, she sold her library to the Odd Fellows to operate, and she and John Lemmon began traveling and cataloging botanical discoveries. Lemmon and her husband John honeymooned in the

Santa Catalina Mountains The Santa Catalina Mountains, commonly referred to as the Catalina Mountains or the Catalinas, are north and northeast of Tucson in Arizona, United States, on Tucson's north perimeter. The mountain range is the most prominent in the Tucson area, w ...

near

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

at her recommendation.Carrie M. Miner
"Sara Plummer Lemmon"
''Arizona Scenic Roads'' (last visited Aug. 24, 2012). With the aid of E. O. Stratton, they eventually scaled the tallest peak, which they named Mount Lemmon in her honor – one of the few mountains named for a woman.Leo W. Banks

(last visited Aug. 24, 2012). While on their trip, the Lemmons endured several hardships, yet managed to discover and catalog a number of species unique to the mountain. After returning from their trip, they continued their botanical endeavors. The Lemmons co-developed the

Lemmon Herbarium The University and Jepson Herbaria are two herbaria that share a joint facility at the University of California, Berkeley holding over 2,200,000 botanical specimens, the largest such collection on the US West Coast. These botanical natural histo ...

at their home at No. 5985

Telegraph Avenue Telegraph Avenue is a street that begins, at its southernmost point, in the midst of the historic downtown district of Oakland, California, and ends, at its northernmost point, at the southern edge of the University of California, Berkeley campu ...

,James Miller Guinn, ''History of the State of California and Biographical Record of Oakland and Environs'' (1907), Historic Record Company, pp.834–835. Available a
California Biographies
(last visited Aug. 24, 2012). later donating it to

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of Californi ...

, where it was later merged into and called the

University and Jepson Herbaria The University and Jepson Herbaria are two herbaria that share a joint facility at the University of California, Berkeley holding over 2,200,000 botanical specimens, the largest such collection on the US West Coast. These botanical natural histo ...

."Biographical Information", John and Sara (Plummer) Lemmon Papers
University and Jepson Herbaria Archives, University of California, Berkeley (last visited Aug. 24, 2012). Lemmon continued her botanical illustrations, including as the official artist for the California State Board of Forestry (from 1888 to 1892) and acquired a national reputation for her work. In 1882, she discovered a new genus of plants called '' Plummera floribunda.'' In 1893, she lectured on forest conservation at the

World's Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordi ...

in Chicago. During the 1890s she also advocated for the adoption of the golden poppy as the state flower of

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, eventually writing the bill passed by the California Legislature and signed in 1903.

Death

Her husband J.G. died in 1908, and Sara Plummer Lemmon died in California in 1923. The couple is buried at Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, in Plot 46, with a poppy on her gravestone.

Selected bibliography

*Sara Plummer Lemmon, "The Ferns of the Pacific Slope" (San Francisco, 1882) **"Silk Culture in California" (1884) **"Marine Botany" (1886) **''Marine Algae of the West'' **''Western Ferns'' *and John Gill Lemmon, ''How to Tell the Trees and Forest Endowment of Pacific Slope'' (1902)

Notes

External links