Jane Colden
Jane Colden was a pioneering American botanist known for her significant contributions to the field in the 18th century. Born to a family of nine in colonial America, she was the daughter of Cadwallader Colden, a trained botanist and lieutenant governor of New York, who encouraged her education in botany. Colden is recognized as the first notable female botanist in the United States, having identified several plant species, including the gardenia and marsh St. John's wort. Her meticulous sketches and detailed descriptions of around four hundred plants showcased the diverse flora of New York during her lifetime and were comparable to modern field guides.
In 1749, she published the first illustrated flora of New York, demonstrating her expertise in the Linnaean system of plant classification, which she adeptly communicated with Carl Linnaeus through correspondence. Despite her acclaim, particularly from her contemporaries, including John Ellis, who advocated for a species to be named after her, no plant was ever officially named in her honor. Colden's career in botany was interrupted after her marriage when she became Jane Colden Farquahar. Tragically, she passed away at the age of forty-one during childbirth. Her legacy, however, remains significant in the history of botany and women in science.
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Subject Terms
Jane Colden
Botanist
- Born: March 27, 1724
- Birthplace: New York
- Died: March 10, 1766
Biography
Jane Colden, the first notable female American botanist, was one of nine children born to American colonists Cadwallader Colden and Alice (Chrystie) Colden. Cadwallader Colden trained in Scotland as a botanist, doctor, and mathematician; he also became lieutenant governor of the New York colony. A man of diverse interests, he championed the education of women, and he passed on his knowledge and love of botany to daughter, who was tremendously successful in the field.
Jane Colden was the first person to identify the gardenia as well, and she also identified the Hypericum virginicum (the marsh St. John’s wort), Coptis groenlandica (goldthread), and other species. Colden sketched and described in painstaking detail the hundreds of plants she studied, and her drawings rivaled even most modern field guides in their comprehensive cataloguing. Her work gives accurate insight into the origins and characteristics of the vegetation that grew naturally in New York during her lifetime, and she published the first illustrated flora of New York in 1749.
Jane Colden corresponded with and sent samples to Carl Linnaeus, known for the still-used Linnaean system of binomial naming and classifying of plants and animals, and she was hailed as the first woman to master Linnaeus’s method. John Ellis, who discovered the polyp, wrote to Linnaeus, praising Colden’s work and suggesting that Linnaeus name a species after Colden, (no plant was ever named after the female botanist). Colden’s scientific work slowed when she married and took the name Jane Colden Farquahar. Upon her death (which occurred during childbirth) at the age of forty-one, she had depicted roughly four-hundred plant species.