Phoebe Lankester (also Phebe Lankester, nee Pope; 10 April 1825 – 9 April 1900) was a British botanist known for her

popular science Popular science (also called pop-science or popsci) is an interpretation of science intended for a general audience. While science journalism focuses on recent scientific developments, popular science is more broad ranging. It may be written ...

writing, particularly on wildflowers,

parasitic plants A parasitic plant is a plant that derives some or all of its nutritional requirements from another living plant. They make up about 1% of angiosperms and are found in almost every biome. All parasitic plants develop a specialized organ called the ...

, and

ferns The ferns (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta) are a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. They differ from mosses by being vascular, i.e., having specialized tissue ...

. Her writing incorporated both technical, high-level text and writing accessible to the lay reader. She published several books, and wrote a syndicated column for more than twenty years, and lectured on science. Her husband was surgeon and naturalist

Edwin Lankester Edwin Lankester FRS, FRMS, MRCS (23 April 1814 – 30 October 1874) was an English surgeon and naturalist who made a major contribution to the control of cholera in London: he was the first public analyst in England. Life Edwin Lankester ...

, and her eldest son

E. Ray Lankester Sir Edwin Ray Lankester (15 May 1847 – 13 August 1929) was a British zoologist.New International Encyclopaedia. An invertebrate zoologist and evolutionary biologist, he held chairs at University College London and Oxford University. He was th ...

became a zoologist.

Family

She was born Phoebe Pope in

Highbury Highbury is an area of North London, England, in the London Borough of Islington. Highbury Manor Highbury was once owned by Ranulf, brother of Ilger, and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor hou ...

to Samuel Pope, a former

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

mill owner, and his wife, on 10 April 1825. She had one brother. In 1845, she married the naturalist

, with whom she had eight children. Her eldest son

became a zoologist.

Writing

Lankester published her books under the name Mrs. Lankester. Her books combined scientific rigour with interesting information about traditional medicinal uses of plants. She also lectured on science and for more than twenty years wrote a syndicated column on women's topics that ran in provincial newspapers. Her column was written under the name of 'Penelope'. Lankester's husband was a professor of New College in London. The Lankesters were known to have received

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...

and

Thomas Henry Huxley Thomas Henry Huxley (4 May 1825 – 29 June 1895) was an English biologist and anthropologist who specialized in comparative anatomy. He has become known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. The stor ...

at their home, among other famous guests. Lankester wrote a new section on popular plant knowledge for the third (1884) edition of ''

English Botany English Botany was a significant botanical publication comprising 36 volumes, issued in 267 monthly parts between 1790 and 1814. Conceived, illustrated, edited, and published by James Sowerby, the work featured technical descriptions primarily pro ...

'', an enormous and influential publication that had illustrations by

James Sowerby James Sowerby (21 March 1757 – 25 October 1822) was an English natural history, naturalist, illustrator and mineralogist. Contributions to published works, such as ''A Specimen of the Botany of New Holland'' or ''English Botany'', include his ...

and other members of the

Sowerby family The Sowerby family () was a British family of several generations of naturalists, illustrators, botanists, and zoologists active from the late 18th century to the mid twentieth century. *James Sowerby (1757–1822) ** James De Carle Sowerby (17 ...

. Lankester died in London on 9 April 1900, predeceased by her husband, who died in 1874.

Selected books

* ''A Plain and Easy Account of the British Ferns'' (1860) * ''Wild Flowers Worth Notice'' (1879) * ''Talks About Plants, Or, Early Lessons in Botany'' (1879) * ''The National Thrift Reader'' (1880) * ''British Ferns'' (1881)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lankester, Phoebe English botanists English botanical writers 1825 births 1900 deaths British women botanists 19th-century British botanists 19th-century British writers 19th-century British women scientists 19th-century British women writers People from Highbury Scientists from London Writers from the London Borough of Islington