Mary Elizabeth Banning and 19th Century Women's #SciArt of Mushrooms

Mary Elizabeth Banning, above, of Talbot County, is one of the fruiting bodies of my research into Maryland women in 19th century natural history and what a jackpot for me personally: she was in to mushroom #sciart illustration! (You all know how I love mushrooming.)

Russula lepida Fr. Mary Banning, The Fungi of Maryland, 19th Century

Blogger Femaleandfungi writes that mushroom foraging is "uniquely female across cultures." "Womyn for long have been the primary mushroom collectors of both specimen and knowledge."
(Above is Henry Herbert La Thangue's The Mushroom Gatherers and I would be overlooking an important addition to my 19th century lady naturalist cosplay if I didn't add that flat straw basket and apron to my wardrobe.  I'm also really in to the pinafore.)

Illustrator and children's author Beatrix Potter, famous for Benjamin Bunny, "perhaps her greatest talent was for science," reported The Guardian.  See her watercolor of the woodear mushroom, below.  I found some on a recent fungi foray. They are gelatinous and soft as ears, earning them the nickname "tree jellyfish."

The light maroon color will remind you of an 1980s dinette set.