Spell It: Meet Jane Colden, the woman botanist that history books forgot

History is full of women who have done extraordinary things, but have had to remain in the shadows because of their gender. The 18th-century American botanist Jane Colden is one of them.

Click start to play today’s Spell It, where “botany” is one of the words you can make with the letters provided.

History has shown that if women were scientists, they were likely to be botanists, most likely because of the medicinal properties of plants, which were important to know for women caretakers. According to a February 2021 report in Massive Science, Hatshepsut, the queen of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt, organised the Punt expedition with the intention to search for new medicinal plants. And in the 18th century, Great Britain’s Queen Charlotte promoted gardening as women’s work, through the time she devoted to Kew Gardens.

For Colden, an interest in botany was bound to happen. Her love for plants was nurtured at an early age by her scientist father, Dr Colden. In 1743, he published Plantae Coldenghamae, which described the plants on his land, with the help of Jane, then aged 19.

But although the younger Colden was interested in botany, it was difficult for her to be a taxonomic botanist in the 18th century – a time in which, many women were not allowed to attend school, let alone learn Latin, the official language of taxonomy.

Yet, Colden persisted. In the late 1730s, she drew up a manuscript comprising 340 ink drawings of leaves, and wrote detailed descriptions, which often included medicinal uses of plants.

One afternoon, in 1753, while on the look-out for plants in the woods, she discovered a small, pink-flowered species. She knew it had never been scientifically described. She sent the plant to another well-known botanist, Alexander Garden, who agreed it was unknown to Western science. The plant was likely used by indigenous people like the Lenape.

Colden then wrote to Carl Linnaeus, who wrote the revolutionary book Systema Naturae, that scientifically classified plants and animals. Colden wrote, proposing the name “Gardenia” for the new species, after her colleague Garden. Linnaeus, however, disagreed with Colden, and assigned the plant to the already known Hypercium genus (St. John’s wort).

In time, scientists found that Colden was right – the pink-flowered plant was in fact, a new species. It was named triadenum, and Colden missed out on the honour of naming it for a colleague.

In 1756, she made another discovery, and a male colleague brought it to Linnaeus’ attention on Colden’s behalf. She called the new plant fibraurea, but Linnaeus once again refused and named the plant helleborus.

Because Colden was not acknowledged by established botanists of the time, her work was effectively ignored. But Colden’s manuscript was later revealed to show an additional three new species of plants. And she was even responsible for a new technique, of using a rolling press with printer’s ink to take the impression of a leaf, rather than drawing it out – a much more accurate method.

Today, most science historians recognise her work, but there have been no revisions in botanical history, and still no genus named for her – a common practice for botanists who discovered new plants.

What do you think of Colden’s legacy, as one of the first women botanists in the West? Play today’s Spell It and tell us at games@gulfnews.com.