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Ynés Mexía took her first botany course at 51 and made her first collecting expedition at 55. In the thirteen years she had left, she gathered some 150,000 plant specimens across the Americas — with around 500 species new to science.

Ynés Mexía

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She came to the work after years of ill health and two difficult marriages, finding in fieldwork what clinics had failed to give her. She canoed the Amazon, camped alone in the Andes, and out-collected celebrated botanists who had started decades younger; about fifty species now carry her name. When asked about the dangers of travelling solo, she reportedly found the question puzzling — the wilderness, she felt, was the safe part.

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Ynés Mexía ilk botanik dersini 51 yaşında aldı, ilk toplama seferine 55'inde çıktı. Kalan on üç yılında Amerika kıtaları boyunca yaklaşık 150.000 bitki örneği topladı — aralarında bilim için yeni olan 500 kadar tür vardı.

Ynés Mexía

Bu işe yıllar süren sağlık sorunları ve iki zorlu evliliğin ardından geldi; kliniklerin veremediğini arazi çalışmasında buldu. Amazon'da kano sürdü, And Dağları'nda tek başına kamp yaptı ve işe kendisinden onlarca yıl önce başlayan ünlü botanikçilerden daha fazlasını topladı; bugün elli kadar tür onun adını taşıyor. Tek başına seyahatin tehlikeleri sorulduğunda, anlatılana göre soruyu şaşırtıcı bulurdu — ona göre asıl güvenli yer vahşi doğaydı.

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Background reading: Ynés MexíaAttribution and context are revised when stronger evidence appears. Corrections are welcome through the editorial page.

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Ynés Mexía took her first botany course at 51 and made her first collecting expedition at 55. In the thirteen years she had left, she gathered some 150,000 plant specimens across the Americas — with around 500 species new to science.

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