Janet Russell Perkins (March 20, 1853 – 1933) was an American-born botanist. Perkins authored 191 land plant species names, the tenth-highest number of such names authored by any female scientist. Born in

Lafayette, Indiana Lafayette ( , ) is a city in and the county seat of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, located northwest of Indianapolis and southeast of Chicago. West Lafayette, Indiana, West Lafayette, on the other side of the Wabash River, is home t ...

, Janet was the daughter of Cyrus Grovenor Perkins and Jane Rose Houghteling. After an early education in private schools, Janet attended the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ...

, graduating with a B.S. degree in 1872. Travelling to Europe, she was employed as a private tutor in Hildesheim, Germany, and undertook the study of languages and music in

Paris, France Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. In 1875 she returned to the United States, where she was employed as a teacher in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

for the next twenty years. During this period she took time off to travel to the Azores, California, and Hawaii. In 1895 she returned to Germany to study botany. She spent eight semesters studying in Berlin under Adolf Engler and his associates, then transferred to the

Heidelberg University } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...

where she was awarded a Ph.D. in 1900. Her thesis was titled ''Eine Monographie der Gattung Mollinedea''—a monograph on the genus '' Mollinedia'' of flowering plants. Following her graduation, she went back to Berlin and joined the staff of the Royal Botanic Museum; now the Berlin-Dahlem Botanical Garden and Botanical Museum. Among her published works were various papers on tropical plants. During 1901−1902, she was serving as a scientific aid to the United States Department of Agriculture in Berlin, where she was engaged in a revision of the Leguminosae of Porto Rico. She spent time in

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

studying various legume flora. In particular, she discovered many varieties of ''

Phaseolus vulgaris ''Phaseolus vulgaris'', the common bean, is a herbaceous annual plant grown worldwide for its edible dry seeds or green, unripe pods. Its leaf is also occasionally used as a vegetable and the straw as fodder. Its botanical classification, alo ...

'' (string bean), just some of which were being cultivated. She also noted the '' Vigna unguiculata'' (Cowpea), a bean introduced from Africa, was being cultivated near Yabucoa and Mayagüez. During 1914−1917, she spent time in Jamaica collecting plants, which were presented at the

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,10 ...

Bibliography

* ''Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Styracaceae''. W. Engelmann, 1902. * ''Fragmenta florae philippinae: contributions to the flora of the Philippine Islands''. Gebrüder Borntraeger, 1904. * ''The Leguminosae of Porto Rico''. Contributions from the United States National Herbarium (1907): 133-220. * ''Beiträge zur Flora von Bolivia'', W. Engelmann, 1912. * ''Übersicht über die gattungen der 'Styracaeae. 1928.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perkins, Janet Russell 1853 births 1933 deaths People from Lafayette, Indiana American botanists University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni Heidelberg University alumni