Edward Strieby Steele (1850–1942) was an American botanist.^[1]

Steele graduated from Oberlin College with a bachelor's degree in 1872 and a seminary degree in 1877. In 1889 he went to Washington, D.C., to work for the editorial staff of the Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia.^[2] In Washington, D.C., on 28 January 1891 he married Grace Avery King (1848–1932). Mr. and Mrs. Steele were botanical co-collectors for many years.^[3] Edward S. Steele worked for the U.S. federal government for twenty-seven years in "various capacities including a botanical clerk for the U.S. Department of Agriculture as well as an editorial assistant for the United States National Museum, Division of Plants, 1912–1918, and an assistant botanist."^[2] He moved to Los Angeles in 1932 when his wife died. He and his niece, Helen Steele Pratt (1883–1965), were botanical co-collectors in Southern California and sent about 350 botanical specimens to the Oberlin herbarium.

Helen S. Pratt graduated from Oberlin College with an A.B. in 1906. She was a naturalist and nature teacher, credited as the main person responsible for California's adoption of the California quail as the state bird.^[4][5] Edward S. Steele's father, James Steele, was involved in helping the Amistad captives return to Africa.

Eponyms

• Eutrochium steelei – discovered in 1990 by Eric E. Lamont and named in honor of Edward S. Steele^[6][7]

References