Notable Women Botanists
By Nancy Sorrells
It seems only fitting that a notable female botanist should author an article about some of Virginia’s other notable female botanists. And so it is that Marion Lobstein, a founding Society member, as well as a Professor Emeritus at Northern Virginia Community College where she taught for 35 years at the Manassas Campus, has an article that has been published in the Centennial issue of the Virginia Academy of Science’s (VAS) Virginia Journal of Science.
At the 2023 VAS Annual Meeting, the centennial of the establishment of the Academy, Marion delivered a presentation “Some notable women botanists in the VAS: their roles in supporting the development of the modern Flora of Virginia.” She was encouraged to expand the presentation into an article for the Academy’s journal highlighting the contributions of Lena Artz, Dr. Martha Roane, Dr. Dorothy Bliss, Dr. Donna Ware, and Dr. Andrea Weeks, as well as Marion’s own contributions. In the article the importance of the VNPS activities of Bliss, Ware, and Lobstein are noted. The paper was published as “Some Notable Women Botanists in the VAS: Their Roles in Supporting the Development of the Modern Flora of Virginia.”
Marion’s botanical accomplishments run deep. She was a charter member of the Prince William Wildflower Society (PWWS) and served on the first Virginia Wildflower Preservation Society (now VNPS) board of directors. She continues to serve as Botany Chair of PWWS and has been a frequent contributor to the PWWS newsletter since 1982. Marion was a founding member of the Foundation of the Flora of Virginia Project (FFVP) and served on that board for 20 years. She was gifted a VNPS Life Membership for her work on FFVP and VNPS.
Since 1977, Marion has been an active VAS member. When she attended her first meeting in 1977, she met Dr. Martha Roane, who chaired the Academy’s Flora Committee and learned about the effects of the Flora Committee established in 1926 to develop a modern flora for Virginia. When she first moved to Virginia in 1974, one of Marion's first questions was “Is there a Flora of Virginia?” Having used the Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas when she completed a plant taxonomy class with Dr. Ritchie Bell at UNC-Chapel Hill, she was fascinated by the use of a flora to identify plants. Dr. Roane was very welcoming, which encouraged Marion’s activity in the Academy and later with the Flora Committee.
Marion also met Dr. Bliss at VAS and later interacted with her as they both came involved with the establishment of VNPS. Dr. Bliss was the first Life Member of the VWPS and a charter member of the Blue Ridge Chapter. She was the first VNPS Registry Chair and instrumental in establishing that program.
Dr. Ware was also an active VAS member, which is where Marion first met her. She was instrumental in the founding of the VNPS John Clayton Chapter and has been active at the Society level including organizing and leading field trips and presenting programs on native plants. She was a charter member of the Foundation of the Flora of Virginia Project and co-authored “A history of Botanical Exploration in Virginia” chapter in the 2012 Flora of Virginia manual as well as the current Flora of Virginia App.
Dr. Weeks is a George Mason University Botany Professor and Curator of the Ted Bradley Herbarium. She serves on the current FFVP Board of Directors and has become an expert on the life of Lena Artz and her contributions to botanical knowledge in Virginia. At the 2024 VNPS Annual meeting, Dr. Weeks presented a program on Artz. Dr. Weeks and her students have been the recipients of a number of VNPS grants involving native plants.
Marion has been interested in the information on the life and botanical contributions of Artz that Dr. Weeks has found and shared in a number of programs and writings. Although Marion never met Artz, she was familiar with her exploration of the shale barrens in Fort Valley in Shenandoah County.
This article originally appeared, in slightly different form, in the Winter 2024 issue of Sempervirens.