Ruth Mason

Ruth Mason is perhaps best known for her research into the ecology of water plants – over approximately two decades from 1949 she collected an astonishing 13,500 specimens, using her own drying and handling techniques. She found new species and clarified others, publishing widely.¹

Mason had started as an assistant botanist at the Department of Science and Industrial Research’s Wellington division in 1939. She established a seed herbarium, which was useful for identifying the gut contents of pest species such as the possum. She also identified seeds from a moa gizzard. During World War II, Mason looked into the establishment of a flax industry near Timaru.²

Mason was a dedicated environmental scientist and conservationist. She was made a life member of the New Zealand Ecological Society in 1974 – as of 2016, the only woman to have ever been awarded that honour.³

References:

1. New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu Taonga, ‘Mason, Ruth’, Web page, accessed 20 September 2017, /en/biographies/5m38/mason-ruth.

2. ‘NZBotSoc No 20 June 1990 - Nzbotsoc-1990-20.Pdf’, accessed 20 September 2017, http://www.nzbotanicalsociety.org.nz/newsletter/nzbotsoc-1990-20.pdf.

3. ‘The Times They Are A-Changing? NZ Ecological Society Diversity over 64 Years - Women-in-Ecology-NZAS-Diversity.Pdf’, accessed 20 September 2017, http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/publications/researchpubs/women-in-ecology-NZAS-diversity.pdf.

This profile is part of the series 150 Women in 150 Words that celebrates women’s contributions to expanding knowledge in New Zealand, running as part of our 150th Anniversary.