Ynes Mexia, 1870-1938

Ynes Mexia WWP

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A Mexican-American botanist, plant collector, and adventurer.



Ynés Enriquetta Julietta Mexía was born in Washington, DC, where her father worked as a Mexican diplomat. When she was 3, her parents separated, her father returned to Mexico, and she, her mother, and six half-siblings moved around until settling down in Maryland.

At 17, after completing her studies, she intended to join a convent but eventually moved to Mexico to supervise her father’s ranch, which she took over after he died. In 1897, at 27, Mexía married her first husband. After he died in 1904, she operated a pet and poultry stock-raising business and remarried. After her second husband bankrupted her company, she divorced him in 1906.

Following a mental and physical breakdown, 39 years old Mexía left Mexico to receive medical treatment in San Francisco. There, she became active in the early environmental movement in California and joined the Sierra Club and Save the Redwoods League. She began hiking, went camping, and became interested in nature, specifically plants.

In 1921, at 51, Mexía enrolled at UC Berkeley to study botany and began to collect and categorize plants. Four years later, she went on her first plant-collecting expedition to Mexico. Soon, she realized she preferred to work alone and broke off from her group, collecting 500 specimens in two months.

During the next 13 years, Mexía traveled the Americas, collecting plants from Tierra del Fuego on the border of Chile and Argentina to the northern regions of Alaska. Mexía stood out not only by the number of expeditions she had or the mileage she covered but also by being an older woman who traveled alone on horseback, wearing trousers, and camping outdoors.

Mexía regularly published the documentation of her adventures in the Audubon Society of the Pacific’s newsletter. While not on one of her expeditions, she lectured about them at various scientific organizations.

In 1938, Mexía got sick during her expedition in Mexico. She had to cut the trip short and go back to the US. She died from lung cancer the following month at 68.

In only 13 years of her career, Mexía collected over 145,000 plant specimens, discovering 500 new species.

Ynés Mexía: Mexican-American Botanist and Adventurer | Unladylike2020 | American Masters | PBS

Official website: http://www.pbs.org/unladylike2020 | #Unladylike2020PBS
Ynés Mexía became one of the most accomplished plant collectors of her time, discovering over 500 new plant species of which 50 are named in her honor.

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An early participant in the environmental movement, U.S.-born Mexican American Ynés Mexía (1870-1938) began her scientific career at age 51, leading botanical expeditions across Mexico, Central America, and South America. She became one of the most accomplished plant collectors of her time, discovering over 500 new plant species of which 50 are named in her honor. UNLADYLIKE2020 brings her story of personal development and adventure back to life through rare archival imagery, captivating original artwork and animation, and interviews with Durlynn Anema, author of The Perfect Specimen: The 20th Century Renown Botanist Ynes Mexia, and ethnobotanist Ina Vandebroek, Associate Curator and Caribbean Program Director for the New York Botanical Garden.

___________________________________

Launched in 1986 on PBS, American Masters has earned 28 Emmy Awards — including 10 for Outstanding Non-Fiction Series and five for Outstanding Non-Fiction Special — 13 Peabodys, an Oscar, three Grammys, two Producers Guild Awards, and many other honors. To further explore the lives and works of masters past and present, American Masters offers streaming video of select films, outtakes, filmmaker interviews, the American Masters Podcast, educational resources and more. The series is a production of THIRTEEN PRODUCTIONS LLC for WNET and also seen on the WORLD channel.

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“In all my travels I’ve never been attacked by a wild animal, lost my way or caught a disease… I don’t think there’s any place in the world where a woman can’t venture.”

“In all my travels I’ve never been attacked by a wild animal, lost my way or caught a disease… I don’t think there’s any place in the world where a woman can’t venture.”

Fun Facts

  • Various species that she discovered were named in her honor, including the Mimosa Mexiae and the Zexmenia Mexiae, today called Lasianthaea macrocephala, as well as the Mexianthus Mexicanus Robinson (Compositae) and Spumula quadrifida genera.
  • She lived for three months in the Amazon with the native group of Araguarunas.
  • She was the first botanist to collect plants in what is now Denali National Park.
  • She often worked together with the renowned Canadian American botanist Alice Eastwood.
  • In her will, she gave $25,000 to the Save the Redwoods League and $25,000 to the Sierra Club.
  • Her specimens collections have been presented at various institutions, including the California Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, the Field Museum of Natural History, the Gray Herbarium, the New York Botanical Garden, the Smithsonian Institution, the University of California in Berkeley, the US National Arboretum, and several museums and botanical gardens across Europe.
  • Her personal papers are held at the California Academy of Sciences and the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley.
  • She co-wrote the book Brazilian Ferns Collected by Ynés Mexía, published in 1932.
  • Her biography, The Perfect Specimen: The 20th Century Renown Botanical Collector – Ynes Mexia, was written by Durlynn Anema.
  • On September 15th, 2019, she was honored with a Google Doodle.

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Ynés Mexía: Mexican-American Botanist and Adventurer | Unladylike2020 | American Masters | PBS

Official website: http://www.pbs.org/unladylike2020 | #Unladylike2020PBS
Ynés Mexía became one of the most accomplished plant collectors of her time, discovering over 500 new plant species of which 50 are named in her honor.

Subscribe to the American Masters channel for more clips: http://bit.ly/1JmUCu5
Enjoy full episodes of your favorite American Masters films: http://www.pbs.org/americanmasters

FOLLOW AMERICAN MASTERS:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/americanmasters
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PBSAmerMasters #AmericanMastersPBS
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Shop: http://www.shop.pbs.org/

An early participant in the environmental movement, U.S.-born Mexican American Ynés Mexía (1870-1938) began her scientific career at age 51, leading botanical expeditions across Mexico, Central America, and South America. She became one of the most accomplished plant collectors of her time, discovering over 500 new plant species of which 50 are named in her honor. UNLADYLIKE2020 brings her story of personal development and adventure back to life through rare archival imagery, captivating original artwork and animation, and interviews with Durlynn Anema, author of The Perfect Specimen: The 20th Century Renown Botanist Ynes Mexia, and ethnobotanist Ina Vandebroek, Associate Curator and Caribbean Program Director for the New York Botanical Garden.

___________________________________

Launched in 1986 on PBS, American Masters has earned 28 Emmy Awards — including 10 for Outstanding Non-Fiction Series and five for Outstanding Non-Fiction Special — 13 Peabodys, an Oscar, three Grammys, two Producers Guild Awards, and many other honors. To further explore the lives and works of masters past and present, American Masters offers streaming video of select films, outtakes, filmmaker interviews, the American Masters Podcast, educational resources and more. The series is a production of THIRTEEN PRODUCTIONS LLC for WNET and also seen on the WORLD channel.
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