Ethel Anson Steel Peckham

Ethel Anson (Steel) Peckham (1879–1965) was an American horticulturist and botanical artist who bred plants that grow from bulbs and rhizomes such as iris and daffodil. She was a founding member and early director of the American Iris Society (AIS), editor of its first major checklists, and author of its iris-judging rules. She bred iris herself and is credited with helping to introduce a new class, the miniature tall bearded iris. She is one of only a dozen people to have received the AIS Gold Medal, the society's highest honor, and she was also awarded the Gold Medal of the British Iris Society for her paintings of iris.

Biography Ethel Anson Steel was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on November 30, 1879, to William White Garrigues Steel and Juliet (Rauch) Steel.