Biography

Welsh medical doctor who collected ferns in South East Asia. Dr. Eryl Smith (née Glynne) was born in Glyndyl near Bangor in North Wales. After beginning her studies at University College, Bangor, she continued to work towards her medical degrees in London at the London School of Medicine for Women and the Royal Free Hospital, and was awarded her M.B. and B. by the University of London in 1918. Following this she held medical appointments in Britain and overseas before marrying Dr. Malcolm Smith, who was practising in Bangkok.

Eryl Smith joined her husband in Thailand (then known as Siam) in 1921, and was immediately taken by the country's flora. Specialising in ferns, she began to collect plants, gathering a large number of specimens 1922 in the peninsular part of the country. Nearly 2,000 specimens collected during her travels that year were deposited at the British Museum herbarium (BM). After this she visited the Chinese island of Hainan (1923), Cambodia (1925), Celebes (Sulawesi) and Timor (1925) before returning to England. Smith presented many of her collections to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, where she worked on the ferns of the Malay Peninsula. Her aim of completing a substantial work on the ferns of Siam was never realised, however, for her life was cut short by a motor accident in 1930. Among the plant species that commemorate her are Lobelia eryliae Fischer.

Sources:
Anon., 1930, Kew Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information, 1930(4): 175; (5): 398
M.J. van Steenis Kruseman, "Cyclopedia of Collectors", Flora Malesiana, online edn:
http://www.nationaalherbarium.nl/FMCollectors/S/SmithEG.htm.