Violetta White Delafield
Violetta White Delafield, née Violetta Susan Elizabeth White, was an American botanist, mycologist, scientific illustrator and horticulturist.
Early life
Violetta Susan White was born in Florence, Italy, to expatriate American parents. She spent most of her childhood in southern France. In 1890, Violetta returned to the United States, where she began collecting mushrooms and studying mycology and botany.Scientific work
Delafield was particularly interested in fungi, and her earliest illustrations date back to 1899. She specialized in Gasteromycetes and many of her specimens were collected in New England and the Hudson Valley.In the early 20th century, Delafield published three scientific papers under her maiden name, V.S. White, on fungi of the Tylostomaceae and Nidulariaceae families in North America. She also cataloged fungi on Mount Desert Island, Maine, to supplement Edward Lothrop Rand's 1894 work Flora of Mount Desert Island. She also studied Geastrales, more commonly known as earthstars, for a manuscript that remained unpublished. Delafield worked with Lucien Underwood at the New York Botanical Garden where she became a registered investigator, and with Charles H. Peck of the New York State Museum.
Delafield is credited with the discovery of several species of fungi, including eight species of Tulostoma. She corresponded with and borrowed mycological specimens from William Alphonso Murrill, the founder of the journal Mycologia. After her marriage, she devoted less time to scientific work but continued to collect specimens in several locations including Buck Hill Falls, Pennsylvania, the Catskills, New York and Litchfield, Connecticut.