Fanny Searls

Fanny Searls, also known by her married name Fanny Gradle, was an American physician and botanical collector. Dalea searlsiae, Searls' prairie clover, is named after her. Born in Waukegan, Illinois, she attended Northwestern University and the University of Michigan, gaining her medical degree in 1877. She then worked at Bellevue Hospital as a student nurse as there were few opportunities for women to gain medical internships at the time. In the meantime, she had developed skills as a concert pianist and a collector of botanical and geological specimens. In the last capacity, she donated a collection of 215 specimens gathered in Nevada to Northwestern University, including the first subsequently named Searls' prairie clover. She moved to Santa Barbara, dying there in 1939.