Elizabeth Herriott

Elizabeth Maude Herriott (1882 – 13 March 1936) was a New Zealand scientist and academic. She was the first woman appointed to the permanent teaching staff at Canterbury College, now the University of Canterbury.

Education Herriott was born in Canterbury in 1882. Herriott attended Christchurch East School and Christchurch Girls' High School, where she was head prefect in 1899. She won a scholarship to attend Canterbury College, and studied botany and chemistry there from 1900 to 1905. She graduated with a B.A. in 1904 and a M.A. in 1905. Her Master's research was on the leaf anatomy of Subantarctic Islands species, and involved the study of plants brought back from an expedition in 1903 by Leonard Cockayne.

Herriott was particularly interested in the unusual anatomical adaptations that plants made to better survive in harsh environments. Her most significant piece of work is considered to be her study of the development of the flora in the area of west Christchurch occupied by Hagley Park (which she also presented at the First New Zealand Science Congress in 1919).

Death On 13 March 1936, Herriott died at her home at St Andrews Square in the Christchurch suburb of Strowan.

Publications On the Leaf-structure of some Plants from the Southern Islands of New Zealand. Notes on the Occurrence and Habits of the Fresh-water Crustacean Lepidurus viridis Baird. A History of Hagley Park, Christchurch, with Special Reference to its Botany. Some Morphological Notes on the New Zealand Giant Kelp, Durvillea antarctica(Chamisso).