A Life Among Leaves: The Botanical Journey of Ethel Zoe Bailey

On This Day
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast:

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November 17, 1889

On this day, a most remarkable woman entered the world, one whose life would become as intertwined with botany as the most tenacious of climbing vines.

Ethel Zoe Bailey, daughter of the esteemed horticulturist Liberty Hyde Bailey, was born on the very grounds of Cornell University, a fitting birthplace for one destined to become a custodian of botanical knowledge.

From her earliest days, young Ethel was steeped in the world of plants, accompanying her intrepid father on expeditions that would make even the most seasoned gardener's heart race.

Picture, if you will, a father-daughter duo traipsing through the wilds of Latin America and Asia, their eyes ever watchful for new botanical wonders.

One particularly daring adventure took them to the untamed jungles of Barro Colorado in the Panama Canal Zone.

As one of her obituaries recounts:

One of the pair's most daring expeditions was to the wild jungle island of Barro Colorado in the Panama Canal Zone.

Disregarding warnings about disease and boa constrictors, Miss Bailey her father, then 73, and a few other botanists trekked through hip-deep water of the Mohinja Swamp in search of a rare palm.

They found it growing in the swamp, as Bailey had predicted, and photographed it in the pouring rain with the camera tripod almost submerged in water.

One can almost smell the damp earth and feel the tropical rain as Ethel and her septuagenarian father, undeterred by the elements, captured their prized discovery on film. Such devotion to botany! Such disregard for personal comfort in the pursuit of horticultural knowledge!

Ethel's formal education at Smith College, where she majored in zoology, only served to sharpen her already keen scientific mind. Upon graduation in 1911, she embarked on a career that would see her become the guardian of her father's legacy and a formidable botanist in her own right.

For over two decades, Ethel presided over the Bailey Herbarium at Cornell University, a position she held with the tenacity of a particularly stubborn root. Her dedication to maintaining and expanding the collection was nothing short of heroic.

Even after her official retirement in 1957, Ethel continued to volunteer daily at the Hortorium, driving herself to and from work well into her nineties. One might say she was as evergreen in her commitment as the specimens she tended.

One biography of Ethel noted:

She continued to volunteer on a daily basis at the Hortorium, until her death in 1983. Still driving herself to and from work, Miss Bailey had reached the auspicious age of 93. Driving had always been an important part of Miss Bailey's life. She was the first woman in Ithaca to receive a chauffeur's (driver's) license.

But perhaps Ethel's most enduring contribution to the world of botany was her monumental indexing project. With the patience of a gardener nurturing a particularly slow-growing plant, Ethel created a vast catalog of every plant listed in published plant catalogs during her lifetime.

This Herculean task, accomplished with nothing more than 3" x 5" notecards, became an invaluable resource for researchers and plant enthusiasts worldwide. It's a testament to her meticulous nature that this catalog was later named the Ethel Z. Bailey Horticultural Catalogue in her honor.

Ethel's dedication did not go unnoticed by her peers. She was awarded the George Robert White Medal in 1967 from the Massachusetts Historical Society and the Smith College Medal in 1970, accolades as well-deserved as a perfectly ripe fruit.

As we tend our gardens and pore over our plant catalogs, let us remember Ethel Zoe Bailey, a woman whose life was a testament to the power of botanical passion and the importance of meticulous record-keeping.

Her legacy lives on in every carefully cataloged specimen and in the hearts of botanists and gardeners who continue to benefit from her life's work.

Ethel Zoe Bailey, 1905
Ethel Zoe Bailey, 1905
Ethel Zoe Bailey with her father, Panama, 1931
Ethel Zoe Bailey with her father, Panama, 1931
Ethel Zoe Bailey and her father, L. H. Bailey
Ethel Zoe Bailey and her father, L. H. Bailey

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