Adeline Sarah Ames (1879–1976) was an American

mycologist Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their genetic and biochemical properties, their taxonomy and their use to humans, including as a source for tinder, traditional medicine, food, and entheogens, as w ...

who specialized in the study of

mycelium Mycelium (plural mycelia) is a root-like structure of a fungus consisting of a mass of branching, thread-like hyphae. Fungal colonies composed of mycelium are found in and on soil and many other substrates. A typical single spore germinates in ...

Biography

Born October 6, 1879, in Henderson, York County, Nebraska, Ames was the eldest of four children of Elwyn Ames and Hettie Owen Ames. She attended the University of Nebraska, (B.A., A.M., 1903) and received her Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1913. She died in Long Beach, California, on February 11, 1976.

Career

In 1913, Ames served as Assistant Forest Pathologist in the Department of Plant Industry in Washington, D.C. In 1918, she also worked with

George Francis Atkinson George Francis Atkinson (January 26, 1854 – November 14, 1918) was an American botanist and mycologist.Makers of American Botany, Harry Baker Humphrey, Ronald Press Company, Library of Congress Card Number 61-18435 He was born on January 26 ...

in Tacoma, Washington collecting fleshy fungus flora. From 1920 to 1941, she was a

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditar ...

professor at Sweet Briar College.

Scientific work

In February 1913, while a graduate student at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to ...

, she studied the collection of

Polyporaceae The Polyporaceae are a family of poroid fungi belonging to the Basidiomycota. The flesh of their fruit bodies varies from soft (as in the case of the dryad's saddle illustrated) to very tough. Most members of this family have their hymenium ( ...

at the

New York Botanical Garden The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) is a botanical garden at Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York City. Established in 1891, it is located on a site that contains a landscape with over one million living plants; the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, a ...

, with special reference to the species occurring in the United States. In 1913, she published the article "A New Wood-Destroying Fungus" in the ''Botanical Gazette'' where she worked with Atkinson in Cornell examining polypores collected in the engineering building at the Alabama Polytechnic Institute growing on woodwork. The fungus was identified as a new species, '' Poria atrosporia'',

with pale umbrinous coloration within the substratum or in a superficial layer found on wood from conifers.

Partial bibliography

* ''The Temperature Relations of Some Fungi Causing Storage Rots'' (1915). Phytopathology 5:1 (11-19). * ''A Consideration of Structure in Relation to Genera of Polyporaceae'' (1913). key and descriptions of sixteen genera. * ''A New Wood-Destroying Fungus'' (1913). Botanical Gazette, Volume 5 (397-399). * ''Studies in the Polyporaceae'' (1913, Ph.D. dissertation, Cornell University). *
Studies on the structure and behavior of rosettes
' (1903, A.M. thesis, University of Nebraska). ETD collection for University of Nebraska - Lincoln.

References

External links

* - Photo of Adeline Ames * * * 1879 births 1976 deaths American women botanists American botanists American mycologists Women mycologists Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences alumni University of Nebraska alumni 20th-century American women scientists {{mycologist-stub