Olga Herrera-MacBryde

Olga Herrera-MacBryde (1937–2007) was an Ecuadorian-American botanist and international conservationist.

Early life Olga Sabina Herrera Carvajal was born in 1937 in Guayaquil, Ecuador. She studied at the Colegio Normal Rita Lecumberry, following which she taught Spanish, Ecuadorian history and natural sciences in primary and high school. In 1963, she obtained a secondary school teaching certificate from the University of Guayaquil, and the following year, an undergraduate degree in botany. She then studied at the University of Houston and Saint Louis University, from which she received a master's degree in biology.

Herrera met her husband, Bruce MacBryde, in St. Louis.

Career Herrera-MacBryde worked at the Missouri Botanical Garden on taxonomy, before joining the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador at Quito, where she chaired the biology department between 1970–72. She co-founded a herbarium at the university, depositing nearly 1500 collections. From 1972–75, she moved to Canada, where she participated in the first comprehensive coverage of the wild plants of British Columbia. She also co-authored a book on Central American weeds.

Herrera-MacBryde joined the Smithsonian's botany department as an editor and scientific coordinator, specialising in the botany of the region from Mexico through South America. She was a co-author of the book Centres of Plant Diversity. She ran environmental training courses and monitored the Smithsonian's biodiversity programme between 1995–2004. She edited a book on the Beni Biosphere Reserve in Bolivia, and reported on the Mayan forests of Mexico and Central America. as well as the Psychotria olgae, a tree species in the Chagres National Park in Panama.

Selected publications