Esau, Katherine (1898-1997)

Russian-born US botanist. She taught botany at university level and made major contributions to the study of virus-infected plants. She also made fundamental studies of vascular plant anatomy, phloem structure, and differentiation.

She was born in Ekaterinoslav, Russia. She taught at the University of California at Davis, then moved to the University of California at Santa Barbara. She determined that certain plant viruses are transported with the plant's food via the phloem, the food-conducting tissue. After her retirement, she remained an active lecturer at many American institutions.