Fanny Andrews Shepard (1856-1920), Her Turkish Plant Collection and Her Contribution to the Turkish Flora

Authors: Asuman BAYTOP

Abstract: Fanny Andrews Shepard (1856-1920) was an American doctor who lived in Gaziantep between 1882 and 1919. She lectured in Medical Botany at the Medical Department of the Central Turkey College. She collected her plant specimens, which still survive in herbaria, in this region and on the Amanus. In the history of Turkish Botany, she claims the privilege of being the first woman lecturer of Medical Botany and the first woman to make a collection of Turkish plants. F. Shepard did not publish her specimens. She gave them to G.E. Post (1838-1909) of the American University of Beirut who was then preparing his Flora of Syria, Palestine and Sinai. Her collection is in the Post Herbarium (PH) located at the Herbarium of the American University of Beirut (BEI). Her type specimens are in the Conservatoire Botanique de Gen�ve (G). The New York Botanical Garden (NY) keeps 288 duplicates. Her collection, a hundred years old, seems to include at least 300 specimens. F. Shepard was able to collect rare plants. She added seven new endemic species to the Turkish flora. Six of them bear the epithet shepardii. They belong to the following genera: Astragalus, Medicago, Knautia, Pterocephalus, Paracaryum and Galium. The seventh species is Verbascum postianum.

Keywords: F. A. Shepard, Plant collection, Turkish endemics.