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Margaret Ensign Lewis

botanist (1919-2017)

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 31, 2026
Entity authorityQ21388723 ↗
Source-derived summary

Margaret Ruth Ensign Lewis (1919 – November 2017) was an American botanist, taxonomist, and professor specializing in California flora.

The International Plant Names Index lists 38 plant names published by Margaret Ruth Ensign.

Publications

Ensign, Margaret (March 1942). "A Revision of the Celastraceous Genus Forsellesia (Glossopetalon)". American Midland Naturalist. 27 (2): 501. doi:10.2307/2421016.

Lewis, Harlan; Lewis, Margaret (1953). "New Species and Changes in Nomenclature in the Genus Clarkia (Onagraceae)". Madroño.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Margaret Ensign Lewis” is botanist (1919-2017). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Margaret, Ensign and Lewis, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1919, 2017, 1942, 1953—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1919-01-01. For this dossier, Margaret, Ensign and Lewis is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “botanist (1919-2017)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q21388723. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1919, 2017, 1942 and 1953.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Margaret Ensign Lewis”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Margaret Ensign Lewis primary sources, Margaret Ensign Lewis archive and Margaret research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Margaret Ensign Lewis”?
  2. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
  3. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Margaret Ensign Lewis” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.