Anna Eliza Jenkins (10 September 1886 – 26 November 1972) 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 ...

. She specialized in

phytopathology Plant pathology (also phytopathology) is the scientific study of diseases in plants caused by pathogens (infectious organisms) and environmental conditions (physiological factors). Organisms that cause infectious disease include fungi, oomyc ...

(plant diseases), particularly the fungi responsible for "spot

anthracnose A plant canker is a small area of dead tissue, which grows slowly, often over years. Some cankers are of only minor consequence, but others are ultimately lethal and therefore can have major economic implications for agriculture and horticultur ...

s", including '' Sphaceloma'' and '' Elsinoe''.

Early life

Born on a farm near

Walton, New York Walton is a town in Delaware County, New York, United States. The population was 5,576 at the 2010 census. The town is in the west-central part of the county and contains the village of Walton. The town claims to be the "Scarecrow Capital of th ...

, Jenkins attended a one-room country school before attending Walton High School, from which she graduated in 1907. Leaving home to study 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 ...

Ithaca, New York Ithaca is a city in the Finger Lakes region of New York (state), New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, Ithaca is the seat of Tompkins County, New York, Tompkins County and the largest community in the Ithaca m ...

, Jenkins was influenced and encouraged by the prominent mycologists

Herbert Hice Whetzel Herbert Hice Whetzel (September 5, 1877 – November 30, 1944) was an American plant pathologist and mycologist. As a Professor of Plant Pathology, he led the first department of Plant Pathology at an American university and founded the Cornell Pl ...

and Louis Melville Massey. She earned her

B.Sc. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree in 1911 and her

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

the year following. A

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper ''Piled Higher and Deeper'' (also known as ''PhD Comics''), is a newsp ...

followed later in 1927, after further study at

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , presi ...

and graduate work at Cornell.

Career

Jenkins started working with the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...

(USDA) in 1912, and spent most of her career there. Her early research involved the

taxonomy Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

and

life histories Life history may refer to: * Life history theory, a theory of biological evolution that seeks to explain aspects of organisms' anatomy and behavior by reference to the way that their life histories have been shaped by natural selection * Life h ...

of new of little-known fungi of economic importance. Later, she studied fungi causing crop diseases, such as ''

Sclerotinia ''Sclerotinia'' is a genus of fungi A fungus (plural, : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of Eukaryote, eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and Mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mu ...

'' on mulberry, ''

Botryosphaeria ''Botryosphaeria'' is a genus of pathogenic fungi in the family Botryosphaeriaceae. There are 193 species, many of which are important disease-causing agents of various important agricultural crops. Species *''Botryosphaeria abietina'' *''Botry ...

'' on hemp, '' Elsinoe'' on

lima bean A lima bean (''Phaseolus lunatus''), also commonly known as the butter bean, sieva bean, double bean, Madagascar bean, or wax bean is a legume grown for its edible seeds or beans. Origin and uses ''Phaseolus lunatus'' is found in Meso- and Sou ...

s, and pathogens of

rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can b ...

Works

* *Jenkins, Anna Eliza. "Insects as possible Carriers of the Citrus-scab Fungus." ''Phytopathology'' 20, no. 4 (1930). *Jenkins, Anna Eliza. Transfer of ''Diaporthe umbrina'' to the genus ''Cryptosporella''. 1935. *Massey, Louis Melville, and Anna Eliza Jenkins. "Scab of violet caused by ''Sphaceloma''." (1935). *

Awards, honors, and memberships

Jenkins became a corresponding member of the

Brazilian Academy of Sciences The Brazilian Academy of Sciences ( pt, italic=yes, Academia Brasileira de Ciências or ''ABC'') is the national academy of Brazil. It is headquartered in the city of Rio de Janeiro and was founded on May 3, 1916. Publications It publishes a lar ...

in 1956. She was awarded the Medal of Merit of Dom João VI in 1959. Fungal

taxa In biology, a taxon ( back-formation from '' taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular n ...

named in her honor include ''

Stilbocrea jenkiana ''Stilbocrea'' is a genus of fungi in the class Sordariomycetes Sordariomycetes is a class of fungi in the subdivision Pezizomycotina (Ascomycota), consisting of 28 orders, 90 families, 1344 genera. Sordariomycetes is from the Latin sordes ( ...

'', ''

Sphaceloma annajenkinsii ''Sphaceloma'' is a genus of ascomycete fungi. Its species are plant pathogens, and cause anthracnose A plant canker is a small area of dead tissue, which grows slowly, often over years. Some cankers are of only minor consequence, but othe ...

'', and '' Annajenkinsia''.

References

External links