Elizabeth Gertrude Britton

Elizabeth Gertrude Britton (née Knight) (January 9, 1858 – February 25, 1934) was an American botanist, bryologist, and educator. She and her husband, Nathaniel Lord Britton, played a significant role in the fundraising and creation of the New York Botanical Garden. She was a co-founder of the precursor body to the American Bryological and Lichenological Society. She was an activist for the protection of wildflowers, inspiring local chapter activities and the passage of legislation. Elizabeth Britton made major contributions to the literature of mosses, publishing 170 papers in that field. Early life and family Elizabeth Gertrude Knight was born on January 9, 1858, in New York City, one of five daughters, to James and Sophie Anne (née Compton) Knight. Her family operated a furniture factory and sugar plantation in the vicinity of Matanzas, Cuba, and she spent much of her childhood there. In later childhood, she attended a private school in New York before attending Normal College (later, Hunter College). She graduated from Normal College in 1875, at the early age of seventeen. On August 27, 1885, she married Nathaniel Lord Britton, an assistant in geology at Columbia College who shared her growing interest in botany. The couple had no children. Career After graduation in 1875, Elizabeth Knight joined the staff of Normal College as a critic teacher. She joined the Torrey Botanical Club in 1879, and in 1881 she published her first scientific paper in that organization's Bulletin, reporting observations of unexpected white flowers in two species of plants. She also observed the presence of a curlygrass fern, Schizaea pusilla, in Nova Scotia. In 1883, she became a tutor in natural science. It was at this time that she began to specialize in bryology and her first paper concerning mosses appeared. Britton collected fertile specimens of Eustichium norvegicum in Wisconsin and wrote the first description of its fruits. Although known since 1827, the plant had hitherto been known only in a sterile condition. Her Observer articles were models of popular scientific writings on plants which had “fanciful” titles like “The Humpbacked Elves” and “The Brownies.” After her marriage in 1885, Britton resigned her teaching position at Normal College, and took charge of the moss collections at Columbia in an unofficial, unpaid capacity.