Jane Colden’s “Botanic Manuscript” Talk with Fenella Greig Heckscher

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Join author Fenella Greig Heckscher to discuss her newest publication: Jane Colden’s Botanic Manuscript: The Legacy of America’s First Woman Botanist.

Jane Colden (1724-1760) has been called America’s first woman botanist, yet her contributions to early description of American botany remain little known, and her writing mostly unpublished. This account drawn from the letters of her father, Dr. Cadwallader Colden, chronicles her life on his then-remote farm, his introduction to her botanic studies, and her gathering over 300 plant descriptions that comprise her work, known now as the Botanic Manuscript. Her entries, offered here by a seasonal view, March through October, gives her own voice through detailed plant descriptions and comments that include outspoken correction of the great botanist Linnaeus. A full list of her plants adds the current botanical names. The book—Jane Colden’s Botanic Manuscript (APS Press, 2026)—is richly illustrated with Jane’s own handwriting and leaf sketches, with color given by current flower photographs, plus further historical images. Though no plant has yet been named for her, this book recognizes her legacy as one of America’s great early botanists.

Richly illustrated with her own sketches and handwriting, this volume presents a full examination of Colden’s Manuscript, its important contributions to the early study of America’s flora, and, three hundred years after her birth, restores Colden’s legacy as one the country’s great botanists.

Click here to learn more and purchase a copy of the book.

Fenella Greig Heckscher’s interest in biology began with the study of wildflowers as a child in England. She went on to study zoology at Oxford University, and then practiced medicine in New York. From there, she and her husband, Morrison Heckscher, moved to a historic house in New York’s Hudson Valley, which offered a landscape of wildflowers waiting to be explored, as well as opportunities to meet new gardening friends. She learned of Jane Colden and her Botanic Manuscript at a meeting of the Garden Club of America, and became fascinated by Colden’s descriptions of plants native to the United States. Since her retirement from medical practice, she has devoted much of her time to the study of Jane Colden’s contributions to the American botanical Enlightenment.