Background
Mary Leebody was born in Portaferry, County Down around 1847.
Mary Leebody was born in Portaferry, County Down around 1847.
She is sometimes known as Mary Elizabeth Leebody, and in other sources Mary Isabella Leebody. Leebody died in Derry 19 September 1911. Known as a diligent field botanist, her work focused on Counties Antrim, Londonderry, and Donegal.
During the 1890s she collaborated with Praeger and Matilda Cullen Knowles, contributing material for Praeger"s 1895 The Flora of the North-east of Ireland supplement.
Leebody is credited with adding a number of new Irish records, including American orchid Spiranthes romanzoffiana, in 1893, marking the beginning of her published work. Other records she published were Dryas octopetala on Muckish, Teesdalia nudicaulis on Lough Neagh, and Malaxis on Slieve Snaght.
She was an active member of the Belfast Naturalists" Field Club, though she did not take up Praeger"s idea of setting up a Derry Naturalists" Field Club.
