Flora Murray

Flora Buchan Murray (1 August 1896 – 1968) was a New Zealand botanist, and was the second woman appointed as permanent staff at Canterbury University College.

Early life and education Flora Buchan Murray was born in New Zealand on 1 August 1896 to parents the Reverend Charles and Grace Jane Murray. She grew up in Carterton, near Wellington, and was educated at Christchurch Girls' High School. She enrolled at Canterbury University College in 1915, and was the winner of the prize in zoology for 1916–1917. Murray graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1920, and followed this with an MA with first class Honours in Botany in 1921. She was awarded a doctorate in 1932 by the University of Edinburgh, for a dissertation entitled Studies in the development of the sexual tissues in the genus rhododendron. She appears to have worked both at the University of Edinburgh and at Sunderland College in the UK.

Legacy In 2017, Murray was selected as one of the Royal Society Te Aparangi's 150 women in 150 words, celebrating the contributions of women to knowledge in New Zealand.

Selected work