Elinor Frances Vallentin

Elinor Frances Vallentin (formerly Nichol; (née Bertrand)[1] (1873, Falkland Islands – 1924, Plympton, Devon)[2] was a British botanist and botanical illustrator who made scientifically significant collections of botany specimens in the Falkland Islands. 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. The standard author abbreviation Vallentin is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.[3]

Elinor Frances Vallentin
Born1873
Falkland Islands
Died1924
Plympton, Devon
Other namesElinor Frances Bertrand
Scientific career
Fieldsbotany
Gunnera magellanica Lam.

Plant collecting

Vallentin grew up at Roy Cove and at Shallow Bay in West Falkland.[4] While living there she collected and studied the plant life in the surrounding area.[5] From November 1909 to March 1911 she collected numerous specimens from various sites on West Falkland,[6] which are now held at the British Museum, Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew and the Manchester Museum. She also assembled collections of seaweeds that were particularly valuable scientifically. 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.[5][7]

Vallentin also collaborated with botanist Charles Henry Wright collecting plants for him, supplying him with field notes and illustrations,[8] 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.[9]

In 1912 Vallentin presented her collection of some 930 plant specimens, collected in the West Falkland Islands, to Kew.[10]

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.[11] Cecil Victor Boley Marquand regarded Vallentin's drawings as being "beautiful".[10] Vallentin also exhibited her illustrations at the 73rd Exhibition of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society in 1912[12] as well as at the 1924 British Empire Exhibition at the Falkland Islands Court.[13]

The Manchester Museum holds some of the specimens Vallentin used to produce her coloured illustrations.[6]

Family

Vallentin was married to fellow naturalist Rupert Vallentin.[14]

Publications

References
  1. Stafleu, Frans Antonie; Cowan, Richard S. (1976–1988). Taxonomic literature : a selective guide to botanical publications and collections with dates, commentaries and types – Biodiversity Heritage Library. Vol. 6. Utrecht: Bohn, Scheltema & Holkema. pp. 651–652. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.48631. ISBN 978-9031302246.
  2. "Vallentin, Elinor Frances". Database of Scientific Illustrators. University of Stuttgart. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
  3. International Plant Names Index.  Vallentin.
  4. "DFB". falklandsbiographies.org. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
  5. Professor Margaret Clayton (5 April 2003). Falkland Islands Seaweed Survey (PDF) (Report). The Shackleton Scholarship Fund. p. 1. Retrieved 26 November 2015.
  6. 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.
  7. Cotton, Arthur Disbrowe (1915). "Cryptogams from the Falkland Islands collected by Mrs. Vallentin, and described by AD Cotton, FLS" (PDF). Journal of the Linnean Society of London, Botany. 43 (290): 137–231.
  8. Wright, Charles Henry (1911). "On the Flora of the Falkland Islands". Journal of the Linnean Society, Botany. 39 (273): 313. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.1911.tb02324.x. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
  9. "Book-Notes, News, &c". Journal of Botany, British and Foreign. 53: 38. 1915. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
  10. Marquand, C. V. B. (1923). "Additions to the Flora of the Falkland Islands". Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew). 1923 (10): 369–371. doi:10.2307/4115417. JSTOR 4115417.
  11. 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.
  12. The Seventy-Third Exhibition (Report). Cornwall Polytechnic Society. 1913. p. 44. Archived from the original on 26 November 2015. Retrieved 26 November 2015.
  13. 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. Archived from the original on 1 June 2016. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
  14. "FROM THE FALKLAND ISLANDS". Botanicus. Missouri Botanical Garden Library. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
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