Background
Stevenson was born in Auckland, New Zealand, the oldest of four children of William Stevenson and his wife Grace Mary Scott.
Stevenson was born in Auckland, New Zealand, the oldest of four children of William Stevenson and his wife Grace Mary Scott.
The Stevenson family moved to Dunedin in 1914, and Greta attended Columba College from 1925 to 1928. She later went on to the University of Otago in 1929, from which she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in 1932, and then an Master of Science in botany with first-class honors in 1933. After graduating she moved to London to attend the Imperial College of Science and Technology, where she completed a Doctor of Philosophy in mycology and plant pathology.
She described many new species of Agaricales (gilled mushrooms). William was the managing director of the canned food manufacture Irvine and Stevenson. Her thesis was about the life history of the rare parasitic Korthalsella.
During this time she also taught science at several secondary schools.
Stevenson held several appointments: Otago University. Wellington City Council.
Cawthron Institute, Nelson. Imperial College, London.
Crawley College of Further Education.
And King Alfred"s College. Stevenson died in London on 18 December 1990, at the age of 79. Stevenson published three books on ferns and fungi, all of which were illustrated with her own drawings.
She is known for her five-part series on the Agaricales of New Zealand, published in the Kew Bulletin between 1962 and 1964, in which she described over 100 new species.
Entoloma stevensoniae East.Horak (1980). A nomen novum for Entoloma niveum G. Stev.
(1962)
Hygrocybe stevensoniae T.W.May & A.E.Wood (1995).