Rebecca Merritt Smith Leonard Austin, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Rebecca Merritt Smith Leonard Austin

American botanist and plant collector (1832–1919)

Date of Birth: 10-Mar-1832

Place of Birth: Cumberland County, Kentucky, United States

Date of Death: 04-Mar-1919

Profession: naturalist, nursery gardener, botanical collector, botanist, horticulturist

Nationality: United States

Zodiac Sign: Pisces

Rebecca Merritt Smith Leonard Austin (March 10, 1832–March 1919, Chico, California) was an amateur botanist and naturalist who collected and sold native plants in California and Oregon.Lomatium austinae and Cephalanthera austiniae are named in her honor.
She studied the chemistry, natural history of, and insects captured by the carnivorous pitcher plant Darlingtonia californica, and sold collected specimens to botanists and collectors.
Her specimens are included in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution and the California Academy of Sciences.She carried on a regular correspondence with botanist J.
G.
Lemmon and others.
Her experiments and correspondences have been published or cited by Asa Gray, John Gill Lemmon, William Marriott Canby, Frank Morton Jones, and other prominent botanists of the time.