Date of Birth:
1845Date of Death:
1902SECTORS:
BIO:
Mary Ellen Pulsifer Ames was a botanist born in 1843. Over her lifetime, she amassed a large plant collection that helped to develop “the foundation to our knowledge of the vegetation” of Northeastern California. She previously lived in Auburn, California and Indian Valley, Plumas County. A California native herb was named in her memory by the botanist Asa Gray, known as the astralagus pulsiferae or Ames’s milkvetch. She was very passionate about golden poppies and was part of a group of women who campaigned to make them the California state flower. She even wrote a poem about them which was published in the Pacific Rural Press. She also collected a large number of ferns.
Ames was a contributor to the California Horticulturalist and Floral Magazine, and she also recorded meteorological data for the Smithsonian Institution.
She unfortunately passed away while living in San Jose in 1902, at the age of fifty-seven.
Womanhood is a public art and digital media project that promotes the historical contributions of women to Santa Clara County. https://womanhoodproject.org/
Womanhood is supported by the County of Santa Clara Office of Women’s Policy.

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Project Artist & Trigger Image Source: Pantea Karimi
Profile Image Source: Part of the University and Jepson Herbaria Archives, University of California, Berkeley Repository