Clara Ethelinda Larter (27 June 1847 - 13 May 1936) was an English

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

known for her studies of the flora of

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

Personal life

Larter was born in

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

as the eldest daughter of Thomas Larter, a language teacher. The family moved to

Torquay Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paignt ...

, South Devon, around 1857. From 1885, she lived in

Barmouth Barmouth (formal ; colloquially ) is a seaside town and community in the county of Gwynedd, north-west Wales; it lies on the estuary of the Afon Mawddach and Cardigan Bay. Located in the historic county of Merionethshire, the Welsh form of t ...

, north Wales, for a period, before moving to

Combe Martin Combe Martin () is a village, Civil parishes in England, civil parish and former Manorialism, manor on the North Devon coast about east of Ilfracombe. It is a small seaside resort with a sheltered cove on the northwest edge of the Exmoor Nati ...

, in North Devon, where she lived from at least 1899 until 1909, when she returned to Torquay. She died there on 13 May 1936. She was a member of the Belgrave

Congregational Church Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice congregational government. Each congregation independently a ...

in Torquay.

Botany

Larter began her botanical studies in 1897 and joined the Devon Association in 1906, being secretary of its new botany committee from 1909. She edited its report in 1914 and from 1920 to 1923; and was the inaugural chair of the association's botanical section from 1930 to 1936. She also joined the Torquay Natural History Society in 1909, and was a committee member 1913–1917, 1919-1923 and 1926–1928. She was its vice-president in 1917, 1918, 1928 and 1929, and chair of its botanical section, 1925–1936. The society made her an honorary member in 1932. She was recognized in 1912 as a fellow of the

Linnean Society The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature collec ...

for her botanical research and was the county

botanical recorder Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially their anatomy, taxonomy, and ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who specialises in this field. "Plant" and "botany ...

for Devon in 1924 and 1925. Her last work, in the '' Flora of Devon'', was published posthumously. She had been its original editor-in-chief, from 1930 to 1935, but had to resign due to ill health. Her

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant biological specimen, specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sh ...

was bequeathed to the Torquay National History Museum and her plant collection to

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

. ''

Kallymenia larterae ''Kallymenia'' is a genus of red algae belonging to the family Kallymeniaceae. The genus has cosmopolitan distribution In biogeography, a cosmopolitan distribution is the range of a taxon that extends across most or all of the surface of ...

'' (Holmes, 1907) (originally ''Callymenia larteriae'') was named in her honour.

Bibliography

Larter - Notes on the Botany of North Devon

* * * (ran to at least 21 editions) Larter also contributed to: * (promoted by The

Devonshire Association The Devonshire Association (DA) is a learned society founded in 1862 by William Pengelly and modelled on the British Association, but concentrating on research subjects linked to Devon in the fields of science, literature and the arts. History ...

)

References

External links

Bibliographic Index to the Devon Flora
(N.D. Simpson, 1960) - lists several of Larter's papers {{DEFAULTSORT:Larter, Clara British women botanists English botanists English botanical writers 1847 births 1936 deaths Fellows of the Linnean Society of London Scientists from Torquay Scientists from Leeds People from Barmouth