S1 • E5 Apr 1, 2020 9m
Ynés Mexía (1870-1938) began her scientific career late in life. The U.S. born-Mexican American joined the Sierra Club and the budding environmental movement in San Francisco in the 1910s. At age 51 she enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley, where she discovered her interest in botany. She subsequently led expeditions across Mexico, Central America, and South America, becoming one of the most accomplished plant collectors of her time. She spent two-and-half years traveling some 3,000 miles along the Amazon River from its delta to its source in the Andes Mountains. In a 13-year career as a specimen collector for botanical institutions around the U.S, she discovered over 500 new species of plants, of which 50 are named in her honor. Interviewees: biographer Durlynn Anema, author of The Perfect Specimen: The 20th Century Renown Botanist Ynes Mexia; ethnobotanist Ina Vandebroek, Associate Curator and Caribbean Program Director for the New York Botanical Garden.
