Mary Elizabeth Banning

Mary Elizabeth Banning (6 April 1822 – 28 February 1903) was an American mycologist (fungi biologist) and botanical illustrator from Maryland. She formally described 23 previously unknown species of fungi, publishing their type descriptions in the Botanical Gazette and Charles Peck's "Annual Report of the New York State Botanist". She was the first woman outside of Europe to name a fungal taxon.

Early life and education Banning was born in 1822 in Talbot County on Maryland's eastern shore. She was the daughter of Robert Banning and Mary Macky, and was the youngest of her father's eight children (six from a previous marriage). The Bannings were a well-established Maryland family: Mary Elizabeth's grandfather was a representative at Maryland's ratification of the federal constitution, and her father was a military captain, Collector of the Port of Oxford, and Member of the Maryland House of Delegates.

In 1845, when Banning was 23, her father died. In 1855, Banning, her mother, and her sisters moved to Baltimore. Throughout this period she maintained an interest in natural history, finally gravitating to the study of fungi. With her own money, she bought a microscope and started to amass a scientific library and private herbarium. They corresponded for over 30 years; in 1879 Banning wrote to him that “you are my only friend in the debatable land of fungi and your kind instruction is valued above all measure”. The New York State Museum describes these paintings as "extraordinary...a blend of science and folk art, scientifically accurate and lovely to look at". Banning's manuscript took twenty years to complete (1868–1888). Although the Maryland State Archives citing Stegman asserts that "At this point in time, no one had written a book on American fungi" and Haines

She was inducted into the Maryland Women's Hall of Fame in 1994.

Challenges as a female mycologist Banning eventually became the "leading mycologist in her region". Her private letters reveal her deep dissatisfaction with this state of affairs. The other passengers maintained a stony silence for the duration of the trip. On another occasion, a man approached her, asking if she had found any "frog stools" that day. When she replied that she had not, he answered, "And it's a blessed thing you can't find 'em!...Pison [sic] things...Better let frog stools alone! That's my advice to everyone." The man then walked away, muttering about Banning: "Poor thing. Crazy, certain sure. Clean gone mad!". When they brought their finds to the hotel where she was staying and asked where they might find the 'frog stool lady,' the waiter replied, "Off with you! Have you gone crazy? Who ever heard tell of a frog-stool lady?".

Legacy In 1981, John Haines, a mycologist attached to the New York State museum as associate scientist, discovered Banning's manuscript.

An exhibition Outcasts: Mary Banning’s World of Mushrooms runs from March 11, 2025 to January 4, 2026 at the New York State Museum, centred around 28 of Banning's original watercolors and mushroom descriptions taken from her The Fungi of Maryland manuscript.

Mary Banning is the namesake of the provisional species Amanita Banningiana, the "Mary Banning Slender Caesar". Peck named one of the specimens Banning brought to him after her, calling it Hypomyces banningiae.

Partial bibliography

Banning, Mary E. "Notes on Fungi." Botanical Gazette 5, No. 1 (January 1880): 5-10. https://archive.org/details/botanicalgazette56hano (accessed Aug 1, 2013)

Banning, Mary E. "Maryland Fungi. I." Botanical Gazette 6, No. 4 (April 1881): 200-202. https://archive.org/details/botanicalgazette56hano (accessed Aug 1, 2013) Banning, Mary E. "Maryland Fungi. II." Botanical Gazette 6, No. 5 (May 1881): 210-215.https://archive.org/details/botanicalgazette56hano (accessed Aug 1, 2013)

Banning, Mary E. The fungi of Maryland. Unpublished manuscript in the possession of the New York State Museum. Plates accessible at http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/treasures/explore.cfm?coll=29 (Accessed Aug 1, 2013)