Background
She was born in Orleans, New York in 1863 and attended the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary in Lima, New New York
She was born in Orleans, New York in 1863 and attended the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary in Lima, New New York
She attended the Wellesley College where she graduated in botany and chemistry in 1891, receiving her Doctor of Philosophy in botany from Cornell University in 1901.
She later became professor of botany and head of the department at Wellsley College in 1930. Ferguson worked on a variety of systems including Fungi, Pine and Petunia. Her study on the latter revealed how plant flower color and pattern do not follow Mendelian laws of inheritance.
Ferguson encouraged many women botanists during her time at Wellesley College where lab work was a major of her teaching.
She died of a heart attack in 1951. Greenhouses in the Wellesley College Botanic Gardens are named in her honour.
