Janet Russell Perkins, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetJanet Russell Perkins
American botanist and explorer (1853–1933)
Date of Birth: 20-Mar-1835
Place of Birth: Lafayette, Indiana, United States
Date of Death: 01-Jan-0001
Profession: botanist
Nationality: United States
Zodiac Sign: Pisces 
About Janet Russell Perkins
- Janet Russell Perkins (March 20, 1853 – 1933) was an American-born botanist.
- Perkins authored 191 land plant species names, the tenth-highest number of such names authored by any female scientist.Born in Lafayette, Indiana, Janet was the daughter of Cyrus Grovenor Perkins and Jane Rose Houghteling.
- After an early education in private schools, Janet attended the University of Wisconsin, graduating with a B.S.
- degree in 1872.
- Travelling to Europe, she was employed as a private tutor in Hildesheim, Germany, and undertook the study of languages and music in Paris, France.
- In 1875 she returned to the United States, where she was employed as a teacher in Chicago, Illinois for the next twenty years.
- During this period she took time off to travel to the Azores, California, and Hawaii.In 1895 she returned to Germany to study botany.
- She spent eight semesters studying in Berlin under Adolf Engler and his associates, then transferred to the Heidelberg University where she was awarded a Ph.D.
- in 1900.
- Her thesis was titled Eine Monographie der Gattung Mollinedea—a monograph on the genus Mollinedia of flowering plants.
- Following her graduation, she went back to Berlin and joined the staff of the Royal Botanic Museum; now the Berlin-Dahlem Botanical Garden and Botanical Museum.Among her published works were various papers on tropical plants.
- During 1901-1902, she was serving as a scientific aid to the United States Department of Agriculture in Berlin, where she was engaged in a revision of the Leguminosae of Porto Rico.
- She spent time in Puerto Rico studying various legume flora.
- In particular, she discovered many varieties of Phaseolus vulgaris (string bean), just some of which were being cultivated.
- She also noted the Vigna unguiculata (Cowpea), a bean introduced from Africa, was being cultivated near Yabucoa and Mayagüez.
- During 1914-1917, she spent time in Jamaica collecting plants, which were presented at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
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