Mary Gibson Henry was an American botanist and plant collector from Philadelphia, who also served as president of the American Horticultural Society

American Horticultural Society

The American Horticultural Society is a nonprofit, membership-based organization that promotes excellence in American horticulture. It is headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia....

. The Hymenocallis

Hymenocallis

Hymenocallis is a genus of plants in the family Amaryllidaceae, subfamily Amaryllidoideae. It contains more than 60 species native to tropical and subtropical America. Hymenocallis are bulbous perennial herbs. The flowers have their stamens united to a characteristic corona...

 henryae is named in her honor.

Mrs. Henry had a lifelong interest in botany, and after her children had grown up, she set out collecting in her chauffered car to remote areas of the American coastal plain

Coastal plain

A coastal plain is an area of flat, low-lying land adjacent to a seacoast and separated from the interior by other features. One of the world's longest coastal plains is located in eastern South America. The southwestern coastal plain of North America is notable for its species diversity...

, piedmont

Piedmont (United States)

The Piedmont is a plateau region located in the eastern United States between the Atlantic Coastal Plain and the main Appalachian Mountains, stretching from New Jersey in the north to central Alabama in the south. The Piedmont province is a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian division...

, and Appalachian Mountains

Appalachian Mountains

The Appalachian Mountains #Whether the stressed vowel is or ,#Whether the "ch" is pronounced as a fricative or an affricate , and#Whether the final vowel is the monophthong or the diphthong .), often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians...

, and in later ventures to the Ozarks and then the Rocky Mountains

Rocky Mountains

The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...

 from New Mexico

New Mexico

New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...

 to British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

. As she recalled in her memoirs:

"I soon learned that rare and beautiful plants can only be found in places that are difficult of access.... Often one has to shove one's self through or wriggle under briars, with awkward results to clothing and many and deep cuts and scratches.... Wading, usually barelegged, through countless rattlesnake-infested swamps adds immensely to the interest of the day's work."

At one point she and her daughter were held up by three armed men. As she later observed: "It all took place so quickly we felt as though we were at the movies. I had often wondered how it would feel to be held up and really it was not so bad at all."

Her 50 acres (202,343 m²) private botanical garden has now become the nonprofit Henry Foundation for Botanical Research

Henry Foundation for Botanical Research

The Henry Foundation for Botanical Research is a nonprofit botanical garden located at 801 Stony Lane, Gladwyne, Pennsylvania.The garden was established in 1948 by botanist and plant explorer Mary Gibson Henry for plants that she collected through remote areas of the West, Midwest, and Southeast...

, and is open to the public.

See also

• Henry Foundation for Botanical Research
  Henry Foundation for Botanical Research
  The Henry Foundation for Botanical Research is a nonprofit botanical garden located at 801 Stony Lane, Gladwyne, Pennsylvania.The garden was established in 1948 by botanist and plant explorer Mary Gibson Henry for plants that she collected through remote areas of the West, Midwest, and Southeast...