Plant Hunters: Dr. Isabella Aiona Abbott

Another plant hunter - this time collecting plants of the sea! This report is about ethnobotanist Dr. Isabella Aiona Abbott (1919 - 2010), affectionately nicknamed "First Lady of Limu". Limu is the Polynesian term for edible plants living underwater, such as seaweed, or plants living near the water, like algae. Isabella's love of botany, including limu, started when she was a child, learning at her mother's side. I first learned about Isabella through an article on women botanists of California that was published by the East Bay Regional Parks (unfortunately, the link is no longer active). Regardless, the article captured my attention about her life and work, and I wanted to know more.  

Dr. Isabella Aiona Abbott
(photo is in the public domain)

Isabella Kauakea Yau Yung Aiona (a.k.a., "Izzie") was born in Hāna on Maui, Hawaii to a Chinese father and Kanaka Maoli mother. Her father had come to Hawaii to work on a plantation, and then opened a general store once he had completed his contract. The family moved to Honolulu for educational opportunities, but returned to Maui during summer vacations. They stayed with her maternal grandmother and spent time at the beach, where her mother taught Izzie and her brother the names of edible limu and their uses.

Maui coast and limu-covered rocks at low tide
(photo by Starr Environmental, Creative Commons)

Isabella graduated from Kamehameha School for Girls, and then earned a bachelor’s degree in botany at University of Hawaii Mānoa in 1941. While at the University, she met zoology major, Donald P. Abbott, and they married in 1943. Isabell earned a master’s degree in botany from the University of Michigan in 1942; and a doctorate in algal taxonomy from the University of California, Berkeley in 1950. She was the first Kanaka Maoli woman to receive a Ph.D. in science.

Dr. Donald P. Abbott became a zoologist at Stanford University, and the couple made California their home. In 1960 Isabella began teaching at Hopkins Marine Station at Stanford (the first Kanaka Maoli faculty member at Stanford), and in 1972 she became a full professor in Stanford University’s biology department. She published her book Marine Algae of California in 1976 with George J. Hollenberg (earning her the nickname of "First Lady of Limu").

Dr. Abbott collecting limu
(photo source unknown; possibly Celia M. Smith, Stanford)

After retiring from Stanford in 1982, the Abbotts returned to Hawaii where Isabella began teaching botany at University of Hawaii. She later taught Hawaiian ethnobotany at the University, incorporating what she had learned about traditional Hawaiian foods and the Hawaiian language from her mother. She worked to create an ethnobotany major to help advance Hawaiian knowledge. Her efforts contributed to the Hawaiian Renaissance that had started in the 1970s.

Dr. Abbott describes edible limu species (screen shot from
An Introduction to Ethnobotany, ~marker 5:07) 

During the course of her career Isabella studied and cataloged limu, coral reefs, and medical plants. She wrote over 150 articles and eight books, and discovered over 200 species of limu. She was know as a warm person and wonderful cook, often experimenting with culinary uses of limu (including a seaweed cake that was featured in Gourmet magazine in 1987). She collected oral histories and combed through archival material to understand Kanaka Maoli culture and cuisine, and published her book Lāʻau Hawai‘i: Traditional Hawaiian Uses of Plants in 1992. I recommend watching several of the YouTube videos listed below, to experience this pioneering ethnobotanist.

Learn More

• Edible Limu...Gifts from the Sea (https://www.hawaii.edu/reefalgae/publications/ediblelimu/index.htm). Poster based upon the book Limu: An Ethnobotanical Study of Some Hawaiian Seaweeds, by I.A. Abbott. National Tropical Botanical Garden, Kauai, Hawaii, 1984. Useful visual presentation of important Hawaiian seaweed species.

• Ethnobotany of Limu (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeWi1PlaaLI). 73rdStProductions, "Introduction to Ethnobotany" series, Video 14, May 17, 2012. Presented by Isabella Aiona Abbott. This episode discusses some of the species of algae that are eaten in Hawaii, and the life experiences of Isabella Abbott as a native Hawaiian scientist.

• Isabella Abbott. Wikipedia article on Dr. I.A. Abbott (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabella_Abbott). Good summary of Dr. Abbott's life and career, with a comprehensive list of publications.

• Isabella Aiona Abbott. Long Story Short, interview with Leslie Wilcox (https://youtu.be/4qvIXFS5k-k). PBS Hawaii, 2017 (original air date 2008). This interview really captures Dr. I.A. Abbott's personality and presence, as well as her accomplishments.

• Isabella Aiona Abbott - Seaweed Lady, by Heather Irvine, Medical Plants Educator (https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/isabella-aiona-abbott-seaweed-lady-heather-irvine/). Linked In, March 29, 2023. This article provides an interesting biography of Dr. I.A. Abbott.

• Lāʻau Hawai‘i: Traditional Hawaiian Uses of Plants, by Dr. Isabella Aiona Abbott (https://bishopmuseumpress.org/products/laau-hawaii). Bishop Museum Honolulu, 1992. This book provides a detailed description of the Polynesian canoe and Hawaiian native plants that are important for Hawaiian culture.

• Limu: An Ethnobotanical Study of Some Hawaiian Seaweeds, by Dr. Isabella Aiona Abbott (https://www.nativebookshawaii.org/products/limu-an-ethnobotanical-study-of-some-hawaiian-seaweeds). National Tropical Botanical Garden, 1984. This book describes fourteen species of limu that are food sources for Hawaiians.

• Pioneering Professor is First Lady of Limu, by Jennifer Crites (https://www.hawaii.edu/malamalama/2010/10/isabella-abbott/). Malamalama: The Light of Knowledge: The magazine of the University of Hawaii, October 21, 2010. This article provides a biography of Dr. I.A. Abbott and her career.

• Seaweed Wiz, by Louis Bergeron (https://stanfordmag.org/contents/seaweed-wiz). Stanford Magazine, March/April 2011. This article provides a brief biography of "Izzie" Abbott.