Letter to the editor: Plant name a reminder of power of advocacy

As director of special collections and archives at the Bowdoin College Library, I have the distinct pleasure of caring for the original botanical artworks of Kate Furbish. As such, I have taken a personal interest in her legacy, including the “obscure plant” recently featured in the Press Herald (“A Maine plant with a peculiar name is taken off the federal endangered species list,” May 9).

Furbish’s lousewort, Pedicularis furbishiae. The flower grows only on the St. John River in northern Maine and cannot be found anywhere else on Earth. Image courtesy of the Maine Natural Areas Program

While my internal optimist wants to believe the Furbish lousewort is doing better, my cautious part knows the fate of such an endemic plant, one irrevocably tied to a single pollinator and small geographic area, is precarious.

How this flower came to earn its name is a good reminder about the power of advocacy. Harvard University’s Sereno Watson initially named it for the St. John River, where Furbish found it. Only after working behind the scenes to advocate for its eponymous naming did Furbish change Watson’s mind. It wasn’t hubris that moved Furbish. In accepting the honor, she explained: “Were it not for the fact that I can find no plant names for a female botanist in your manual, I should object … as a new species is rarely found in New England and few plants are named for women, it pleases me.”

Furbish was a remarkable woman of independent spirit, deep curiosity and ceaseless energy, who despite no academic affiliation managed to carve out a particular role for herself in the scientific world. She is remembered today because of her hard work and her advocacy. Let us not be complacent.

Katherine Stefko
Brunswick