Bella MacCallum

Bella Dytes MacIntosh MacCallum (née Cross, 1886 – 17 March 1927) was a New Zealand and British botanist and mycologist and was New Zealand's first female doctor of science.

Early life and education MacCallum was born in Timaru, New Zealand, the daughter of George and Rebecca Cross. She attended Timaru Girls' High School, then Canterbury College, earning a bachelor's degree in 1908 and a master's degree in 1909 with First Class Honours in botany, focussing on halophyte plant adaptations to salty soil. Her master's degree involved field observations and anatomical studies, and compared botanical formations in Christchurch to Timaru. She was awarded a National Research Scholarship, which she used to continue research on wetland plants. She represented her university in tennis, was a member of the hockey 1st XI, and the Executive of the Students' Association. In 1919, she married Peter MacCallum at St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh. She had three daughters from her second marriage.

In 2017, MacCallum featured as one of the Royal Society Te Apārangi's "150 women in 150 words" project, celebrating the contributions of women to knowledge in New Zealand.