Hatch Science Library

From the "Flora of Maine," Bowdoin College Library, Special Collections.

Kate Furbish (1834-1931), was born in Exeter, New Hampshire, and lived much of her life in Brunswick, Maine.

Around 1870, Kate began to collect local plants and produce highly detailed and beautiful botanical illustrations. She was a self-taught botanist, relying on public lectures attended during trips to Boston, and popular texts of the day, especially Asa Gray's &searchscope=1"Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States."

A field botanist of boundless energy, Kate spent much of the rest of her long life immersed in work, often going alone on extensive and sometimes dangerous collecting trips throughout the state.

She is best known as the discoverer Furbish's Lousewort, a relative of the snapdragon, found only in the St. John valley of northern Maine and Canada.

She was a founding member of the Josselyn Botanical Society and served a term as its president.

By the early 1900's, Kate had amassed a collection of over 4,000 plant specimens, and had produced more than 1,300 watercolors and sketches. Most of the watercolors were assembled in 14 bound volumes to form her "Flora of Maine", which now resides in the Special Collections Department, Bowdoin College Library.