Arber, Agnes (1879–1960)

English botanist and plant morphologist who researched into gymnosperms (cone-bearing plants) and monocotyledons (seed-bearing plants with a single seed leaf).

Arber's work on the comparative anatomy of monocotyledon plants culminated in the book Monocotyledons: A Morphological Study 1925. She also produced a popular book on herbals, Herbals, Their Origin and Evolution, which she illustrated herself.

Robertson was born in London. She inherited her love of botany from her mother, and her artistic ability from her father. She attended University College, London, and after graduating was admitted to Newnham College, Cambridge, where she studied Natural Science. Following her graduation from Cambridge she went to work with Ethel Sargent in Reigate, and in 1908 was awarded a lectureship in botany at University College. In 1909 she married Edward Alexander Newell Arber, a university demonstrator in palaeobotany at Cambridge, and continued her research after her marriage, first at the Balfour Laboratory and then at home. She was elected to the Royal Society 1946 and won the Linnaean Society's Gold medal in 1948. Upon her death, she was buried at Girton College, Cambridge.