Elinor Francis Vallentin

Elinor Francis Vallentin
Born 1873
Falkland Islands
Died 1924
Plympton, Devon
Other names Elinor Frances Bertrand
Fields botany
Cochlearia officinalis illustrated by Elinor Francis Vallentin

Elinor Francis Vallentin (née Bertrand) (1873, Falkland Islands – 1924, Plympton, Devon)[1] was a British botanist and botanical illustrator who made scientifically significant collections of botany specimens in the Falkland Islands.[2] She co-authored the book Illustrations of the flowering plants and ferns of the Falkland Islands in 1921 with Enid Mary Cotton, a fellow botanist. This work was regarded as being particularly valuable because of Vallentin's botanical illustrations.[3]

Plant collecting

Vallentin lived at Roy Cove and at Shallow Bay in West Falkland. While living there she collected and studied of the plant life in the surrounding area. From November 1909 to March 1911 she made an important contribution by collecting numerous specimens from various sites on West Falkland.[4] Her specimens are held at the British Museum, Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew and the Manchester Museum. Of particular scientific value were the extensive collections of seaweeds she made. She collaborated with Arthur Disbrowe Cotton, supplying him with specimens, and enabling him to undertake the first comprehensive study of Cryptogams from the Falkland Islands.[2]

Vallentin also collaborated with botanist Charles Henry Wright collecting plants for him, supplying him with field notes and illustrations,[5] as well as illustrating his scientific paper The Mosses and Hepaticae of West Falkland Islands, from the collections of Mrs. Elinor Vallentin published in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society.[6]

In 1912 Vallentin presented her collection of some 930 plant specimens, collected in the West Falkland Islands, to Kew.[7]

Illustrations

As well as illustrating scientific papers, Vallentin co-wrote and illustrated the book Illustrations of the flowering plants and ferns of the Falkland Islands.[3] Cecil Victor Boley Marquand regarded Vallentin's drawings as being "beautiful".[7] Vallentin also exhibited her illustrations at the 73rd Exhibition of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society in 1912[8] as well as at the 1924 British Empire Exhibition at the Falkland Islands Court.[9]

The Manchester Museum holds some of the specimens Vallentin used to produce her coloured illustrations.[4]

Family

Vallentin was married to fellow naturalist Rupert Vallentin.[10]

Publications

The standard author abbreviation Vallentin is used to indicate this individual as the author when citing a botanical name.[11]

References

  1. ↑ "Vallentin, Elinor Frances". Database of Scientific Illustrators. University of Stuttgart. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
  2. 1 2 Professor Margaret Clayton (5 April 2003). Falkland Islands Seaweed Survey (PDF) (Report). The Shackleton Scholarship Fund. p. 1. Retrieved 26 November 2015.
  3. 1 2 Frodin, David G. (2001). Guide to Standard Floras of the World: An Annotated, Geographically Arranged Systematic Bibliography of the Principal Floras, Enumerations, Checklists and Chronological Atlases of Different Areas. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 389. ISBN 9781139428651.
  4. 1 2 Dr D. M. Moore (1968). The Vascular Flora of the Falkland Islands (PDF) (Report). Natural Environment Research Council. pp. 7–14. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
  5. ↑ Wright, Charles Henry (1911). "On the Flora of the Falkland Islands". Journal of the Linnean Society – Botany 39: 313. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
  6. ↑ "Book-Notes, News, &c". Journal of Botany, British and Foreign 53: 38. 1915. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
  7. 1 2 Marquand, C. V. B. (1923). "Additions to the Flora of the Falkland Islands". Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew) (10): 369. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
  8. ↑ The Seventy-Third Exhibition. (Report). Cornwall Polytechnic Society. 1913. p. 44. Retrieved 26 November 2015.
  9. ↑ Boyson, V. F. "Official 1924 British Empire Exhibition Guide to the Exhibits at the Falkland Islands Court.". The Exhibition Study Group. The Exhibition Study Group. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
  10. ↑ "FROM THE FALKLAND ISLANDS.". Botanicus. Missouri Botanical Garden Library. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
  11. ↑ "Author Query for 'Vallentin'". International Plant Names Index.

External links

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