Eileen Adelaide Bruce (15 February 1905

Petersham, London Petersham is a village in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames on the east of the bend in the River Thames south of Richmond, London, Richmond, which it shares with neighbouring Ham, London, Ham. It provides the foreground of the sce ...

– 6 October 1955

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

) was an English taxonomist and botanist. She worked at

Kew Gardens Kew Gardens is a botanical garden, botanic garden in southwest London that houses the "largest and most diverse botany, botanical and mycology, mycological collections in the world". Founded in 1759, from the exotic garden at Kew Park, its li ...

and at the South African National Herbarium in

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

. She researched a number of plant families, in particular the

Labiatae The Lamiaceae ( ) or Labiatae are a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint, deadnettle, or sage family. Many of the plants are aromatic in all parts and include widely used culinary herbs like basil, mint, rosemary, sage, sav ...

, a revision of the genus ''

Kniphofia ''Kniphofia'' (, ) is a genus of perennial flowering plants in the family Asphodelaceae, first described as a genus in 1794. All species of ''Kniphofia'' are native to Africa. Common names include tritoma, red hot poker, torch lily and poker pla ...

'', and the families of

Pedaliaceae Pedaliaceae, the pedalium family or sesame family, is a flowering plant family classified in the order (biology), order Lamiales. The family includes sesame (''Sesamum indicum''), the source of sesame seeds. It comprises 13 genera and approx ...

and

Loganiaceae The Loganiaceae are a family of flowering plants classified in order Gentianales. The family includes up to 13 genera, distributed around the world's tropics. There are not any great morphological characteristics to distinguish these taxa from ot ...

Early life and education

Bruce was born in Petersham on 15 February 1905, and attended

Francis Holland School Francis Holland School is the name of three separate private day schools for girls in central London, England, governed by the Francis Holland (Church of England) Schools Trust. The schools are located at Clarence Gate (near Regent's Park ...

in London. She kept a framed family tree in her house showing her descent from

Robert the Bruce Robert I (11 July 1274 – 7 June 1329), popularly known as Robert the Bruce (), was King of Scots from 1306 until his death in 1329. Robert led Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland during the First War of Scottish Independence against Kingdom of Eng ...

. After finishing school, she earned a BSc from the

University College of London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

, studying under Professor Edward Salisbury.

Career

She joined the staff of

in 1930, where she worked as an Assistant Botanist, working on the

phanerogams A seed plant or spermatophyte (; New Latin ''spermat-'' and Greek ' (phytón), plant), also known as a phanerogam (taxon Phanerogamae) or a phaenogam (taxon Phaenogamae), is any plant that produces seeds. It is a category of embryophyte (i.e. la ...

from tropical Africa. In 1941, after the start of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, she enlisted in the

Auxiliary Territorial Service The Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS; often pronounced as an acronym) was the women's branch of the British Army during the World War II, Second World War. It was formed on 9 September 1938, initially as a women's voluntary service, and existe ...

, was commissioned and went on to serve in the

Anti-Aircraft Command Anti-Aircraft Command (AA Command, or "Ack-Ack Command") was a British Army command of the Second World War that controlled the Territorial Army anti-aircraft artillery and searchlight formations and units defending the United Kingdom. Origin ...

. After the end of hostilities, she was appointed to the South African National Herbarium in

in 1946. During her six years there she worked on a number of plant families, in particular the

and also on a revision of the genus ''

''. Her work was published in ''

Bothalia ''Bothalia: African Biodiversity & Conservation'', formerly known as ''Bothalia'' is a South African peer-reviewed open access scientific journal covering the fields of botany, zoology and biodiversity, produced by the South African National Biodi ...

'' and ''

Flowering Plants of Africa ''Flowering Plants of Africa'' is a series of illustrated botanical magazines akin to '' Curtis's Botanical Magazine'', initiated as ''Flowering Plants of South Africa'' by I. B. Pole-Evans in 1920. It is now published by the South African Nat ...

''. In the early 1950s, she returned to Kew as a Scientific Officer in the Herbarium, working on the families of

and

, contributing to the ''

Flora of Tropical East Africa The ''Flora of Tropical East Africa'' (FTEA) is a catalogue of all 12,104 known wild plant species in Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. The project began in 1948 and was finally completed in September 2012. Approximately 1,500 new plant species were de ...

'' and the ''

Kew Bulletin The ''Kew Bulletin'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed scientific journal on plant and fungal taxonomy and conservation published by Springer Science+Business Media on behalf of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Articles on palynology, cytology, anatomy, ...

''.'Dictionary of British and Irish Botanists and Horticulturists' - Ray Desmond (1994)

Death and legacy

After being diagnosed with cancer in 1954, she received treatment and continued working. In October 1955, she underwent an operation, after which she died. The Archives of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, hold some of her correspondence to E Milne-Redhead and N D Simpson, as well as her notebook and papers on a 1937 botanical tour to the Corsican Mountains.

Early life and education

Career

Death and legacy

References

Further reading