Lewellin, Madeline Mary Ravenna (1854 - 1944)

Born in Vic., 1854; died in Hampton, Vic., 24 November 1944.

One of five daughters, to a physician, Dr John Henry Hill Lewellin (c.1818-1886), and Grace Elizabeth (née Danneby) (d.1888). The family lived in Prahran.

Madeline was an artist and collected and painted MEL specimens (fungi) at 'Tarwin Meadows' run, 1880,
including types of:

Hygrophorus lewellinae Kalchbr. (1880), named for her,
Agaricus rhytipelta F.Muell. (1882),
Agaricus acutatus Kalchbr. & F.Muell. (1882),
Agaricus glaucescens Kalchbr. (1882),
Hygrophorus gilvus Kalchbr. (1882),
Clavaria kalchbrenneri F.Muell. ex Kalchbr. (1882), and
Clavaria lurida Kalchbr. (1882).

Madeline died in Hampton, Vic., in 1944 aged 88, unmarried.

Károly Kalchbrenner identified Madeline's fungal specimens for Mueller.

Madeline's hosts at 'Tarwin Meadows' were George Black (1813-1902) and Isabella Emily née Watson, a renowned wildflower painter.

Madeline was elected a member of the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria in 1885.

Her mother sent specimens of skeletonised leaves to John Lubbock via Mueller.

One letter from Madeline's mother to Mueller, and one letter from Mueller to Madeline survives.

Some of Madeline's non-botanical landscape paintings are held in the State Library of Victoria.

Source: extracted from: Maroske, Sara and Vaughan, Alison (2014) 'Ferdinand Mueller's female plant collectors: a biographical register', Muelleria Vol.32 [consult for source references];
State Library of Victoria: http://trove.nla.gov.au/picture/result?q=Madeline++Lewellin