13 Facts About Edith Coleman

Edith Coleman was an Australian naturalist and nature writer who made important observations on pollination syndromes in Australian plant species.

Edith Coleman emigrated with her family to Australia in 1887 and became a school teacher.

Edith Coleman died on 3 June 1951 at Sorrento, Victoria.

Edith Coleman joined the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria on 11 September 1922.

Edith Coleman published over 350 popular and scientific articles from that time onwards in The Victorian Naturalist as well as newspapers and magazines.

Edith Coleman published a singular book in her career about her observations on Victorian Wattles.

Edith Coleman made significant scientific contributions to the study of many Australian species, including orchids, mistletoe, spiders, insects, birds and fish as well as papers on herbs, gardening and history.

Edith Coleman's work demonstrated that, instead of producing nectar to attract pollinators, some orchid species mimicked female wasps with scent, visual and tactile cues so effectively that the male wasps preferentially copulate with the orchids.

Edith Coleman's work was republished internationally by Oxford biologist Edward Bagnall Poulton and acclaimed by Harvard entomologist Oakes Ames.

Edith Coleman worked with and influenced many naturalists including Rica Erickson, Herman Rupp, Jean Galbraith, and Richard Sanders Rogers who named Prasophyllum colemaniae after her and her daughters.

Edith Coleman was an enthusiastic promoter of Australian in her writing and was regarded by Kate Baker as one of the foremost figures in Australian literature at the time.

Edith Coleman was awarded the Australian Natural History Medallion in 1949.

Edith Coleman became the first woman in history to ever receive this honour.