Rebecca Merritt Austin

Rebecca Merritt Austin ( Smith, formerly Leonard; March 10, 1832 – March 4, 1919) was an American botanist and naturalist who collected and sold native plants in California and Oregon. Lomatium austiniae She studied the chemistry, natural history of, and insects captured by the carnivorous pitcher plant Darlingtonia californica, and sold collected specimens to botanists and collectors.

Life Rebecca Merritt Smith was born on March 10, 1832

In June 1852, Rebecca married Dr. Alva Leonard, of Magnolia. They moved to Peoria, Illinois. She learned some medicine from her husband. They had two children: Byron died young, and Mary was born after Dr. Leonard's death. Rebecca lost her savings in the Panic of 1857. She moved to Tennessee to teach, but was threatened and left because of her abolitionist sentiments.

In spite of the demands of working to support her family and looking after three children, Rebecca began collecting and studying plants. She did "pioneering fieldwork" She was the first specimen collector in Modoc County.

In 1872, she met the botanist J. G. Lemmon, who applauded her work as a naturalist.

She died on March 4, 1919, aged 86, in Chico, California. She is buried with her second husband, J. Thomas Austin, in Chico Cemetery.