Clara Henriette Hasse | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1880 |
| Died | 10 October 1926 Muskegon, Michigan |
| Alma mater | University of Michigan |
| Known for | Identified the cause ofcitrus canker |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Botanist focused onplant pathology |
| Institutions | Bureau of Plant Industry,U.S. Department of Agriculture; Florida Agricultural Experiment Station |
| Author abbrev. (botany) | C.H.Hasse |
Clara Henriette Hasse (1880 – 10 October 1926) was an Americanbotanist whose research focused onplant pathology. She is known for identifying the cause ofcitrus canker, which was threatening crops in theDeep South.
Hasse attended the University of Michigan. While at U of M, she was appointed an assistant in botany in 1902.[1] Hasse was a founding member of the Women's Research Club at U of M as women were not allowed in the Research Club at the time.[2] After graduating from theUniversity of Michigan in 1903 with a PhB,[3][4] she went toWashington, D.C., to take up an appointment as assistanthorticulturist and botanist in theBureau of Plant Industry at theU.S. Department of Agriculture underErwin Frink Smith, the USDA's pathologist-in-charge.[3] Hasse was one of the twenty assistants that Smith hired during his tenure at the USDA. She later worked at theFlorida Agricultural Experiment Station.[5] Hasse died at her home inMuskegon, Michigan, aged 46.[6]
Her paper "Pseudomonas citri, the cause of Citrus canker", published in theJournal of Agricultural Research in 1915, was the first to identify the cause ofcitrus canker. While originally it was believed that citrus canker was of fungoid origin, Hasse found that bacteria are at its source.[7] Hasse isolated the bacteria, now known asXanthomonas axonopodis pv.citri[8][9]. Her work was included in Department of Agriculture bulletins to index the diseases of economic plants.[10]
Thomas Swann Harding credits this research with resulting "in control methods which prevented this disease from wiping out the citrus crop in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas."[11]
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