The Forgotten Botanist: Sara Plummer Lemmon's Life of Science and Art

2022 Top Pick in Southwest Books of the Year

The Forgotten Botanist is the account of an extraordinary woman who, in 1870, was driven by ill health to leave the East Coast for a new life in the West--alone. At thirty-three, Sara Plummer relocated to Santa Barbara, where she taught herself botany and established the town's first library. Ten years later she married botanist John Gill Lemmon, and together the two discovered hundreds of new plant species, many of them illustrated by Sara, an accomplished artist. Although she became an acknowledged botanical expert and lecturer, Sara's considerable contributions to scientific knowledge were credited merely as "J.G. Lemmon & wife."

The Forgotten Botanist chronicles Sara's remarkable life, in which she and JG found new plant species in Arizona, California, Oregon, and Mexico and traveled throughout the Southwest with such friends as John Muir and Clara Barton. Sara also found time to work as a journalist and as an activist in women's suffrage and forest conservation.

The Forgotten Botanist is a timeless tale about a woman who discovered who she was by leaving everything behind. Her inspiring story is one of resilience, determination, and courage--and is as relevant to our nation today as it was in her own time.

Author: Wynne Brown
Publisher: Bison Books
Published: 11/01/2021
Pages: 328
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 8.90h x 8.00w x 0.90d
ISBN13: 9781496222817
ISBN10: 1496222814
BISAC Categories:
- Biography & Autobiography | Women
- Biography & Autobiography | Historical
- Science | Life Sciences | Botany

About the Author
Wynne Brown is an independent scholar, editor, poet, and graphic designer. She is the author of More Than Petticoats: Remarkable Arizona Women and the coeditor of Cave Creek Canyon: Revealing the Heart of Arizona's Chiricahua Mountains, among other books.