Velva E. Rudd

Velva Elaine Rudd (1910 – December 9, 1999) was an American botanist, specializing in tropical legumes.[1] She worked as a curator at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History and also conducted research at the herbarium at California State University, Northridge.[2][3]

Velva E. Rudd
Born1910
Fargo, North Dakota
DiedDecember 9, 1999
California
Alma materNorth Dakota Agricultural College, George Washington University
Scientific career
FieldsBotany
InstitutionsNational Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution and California State University, Northridge
ThesisThe American Species of Aeschynomene (1953)

Early life

Velva Elaine Rudd was born in 1910 in Fargo, North Dakota.[4]

Education and career

Velva Rudd wrote her master's thesis at North Dakota Agricultural College on Euphorbia virgata (leafy spurge).[5] The thesis is titled An ecological study of leafy spurge and was completed in 1932.[6] In 1953 she received her Ph.D. in botany from George Washington University with a dissertation titled The American Species of Aeschynomene.[7] She was an assistant curator from 1948 to 1959 and a curator from 1959 to 1973 in the Department of Botany, United States National Herbarium Smithsonian Institution of Washington, DC. She had started as a technician at the Smithsonian under Kittie Fenley Parker. Rudd specialized in Fabaceae and wrote more than 70 papers on the taxonomy of tropical species of legumes. Her contributions include a six-part monograph published from 1955 to 1968 in Contributions from the United States National Herbarium; the monograph deals with seven genera: Aeschynomene, Ateleia, Chaetocalyx, Cyathostegia, Dussia, Nissolia, and Ormosia.[1] In 1973 she retired as a curator of the National Herbarium.[1] She became a Research Fellow in the Department of Biology of the California State University, Northridge until her death.[8][9] Her field work was carried out in many tropical locations, including Mexico, Costa Rica, Brazil, Venezuela, and Sri Lanka.[1]

Rudd is the namesake for six species of legumes and the genus Ruddia.[2] North Dakota State University's Department of Biological Sciences sponsors an annual Dr. Velva E. Rudd Scholarship Award for botany juniors or seniors.[10]

Eponyms

The Mexican genus of legumes Ruddia Yakovlev 1971 is named in her honor, as well as several species of legumes:

Taxa named by Rudd

with Mario Sousa
  • Styphnolobium burseroides M.Sousa & Rudd[14]
  • Styphnolobium caudatum M.Sousa & Rudd (native to Nicaragua)
  • Styphnolobium conzattii (Standl.) M.Sousa & Rudd
  • Styphnolobium monteviridis M.Sousa & Rudd[14] (native to Central America)
  • Styphnolobium parviflorum M.Sousa & Rudd[14]
  • Styphnolobium protantherum M.Sousa & Rudd[14]
  • Styphnolobium sporadicum M.Sousa & Rudd[14]

References
  1. "brief bio of Velva E. Rudd". The Plant Press: A Quarterly Newsletter from the Botany Dept (NMNH) and the U. S. National Herbarium. 17 (1). January 2014.
  2. Torres, Anna. "Get to Know the Leading Ladies of Science at the Smithsonian". www.smithsonianmag.com. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
  3. "Velva Rudd". The Plant Press. 3 (1). January 2000.
  4. "Fargo, North Dakota Photographers" (PDF). State Historical Society of North Dakota (history.nd.gov).
  5. Hanson, Herbert C.; Rudd, Velva E. (March 1933). "Leafy spurge: Life history and habits" (PDF). Bulletin 266, Agricultural Experiment Station, North Dakota State Agricultural College.
  6. Rudd, Velva (1932). An ecological study of leafy spurge. Retrieved from ProQuest.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  7. Rudd, Velva (1953). The American Species of Aeschynomene. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global: The George Washington University.
  8. "Rudd, Velva E." Smithsonian Institution Archives.
  9. "The Cutting Edge (newsletter of project Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica)". 7 (1). January 2000. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  10. "Department of Biological Sciences, Scholarships" (PDF). North Dakota State University.
  11. Rudd, Velva E. (1981). "Two New Species of Paramachaerium (Leguminosae) and a Brief Resume of the Genus". Brittonia. 33 (3): 435–440. doi:10.2307/2806433. JSTOR 2806433. S2CID 83844464.
  12. Carter, Annetta M.; Rudd, Velva E. (October 1981). "A new species of Acacia (Leguminosae: Mimosoideae) from Baja California Sur, Mexico". Madroño. 28 (4): 220–225. JSTOR 41424328.
  13. "Acacia kelloggiana A.M.Carter & Rudd". Encyclopedia of Life.
  14. Sousa S., Mario; Rudd, Velva E. (1993). "Revision del Genero Styphnolobium (Leguminosae: Papilionoideae: Sophoreae)". Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden. 80 (1): 270–283. doi:10.2307/2399827. JSTOR 2399827.
  15. International Plant Names Index.  Rudd.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.