Marian Busk

{{short description|British botanist (1861-1941)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

Lady Marian (née Balfour) Busk (1861 – 31 March 1941) was a British botanist and translator.{{cite book |last1=Desmond |first1=Ray |title=Dictionary Of British And Irish Botanists And Horticulturists: Including plant collectors, flower painters and garden designers |date=1994 |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=9780850668438 |page=123|contribution=Busk, Lady Marian (née Balfour) (1861–1941)| contribution-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=thmPzIltAV8C&pg=PA123 |accessdate=9 August 2018}}

She was known for her translation of Das Pflanzenleben der Donauländer by Anton Kerner von Marilaun.{{cite book |last1=Hughes |first1=Damian |title=Natural Visions: Photography and ecological knowledge, 1895-1939 |date=2016 |publisher=De Montfort University |page=40 |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/77603341.pdf |accessdate=9 August 2018}}

Busk was the daughter of silk merchant Lewis Balfour. After private study in botany and chemistry she earned in 1883 one of the first bachelor's degrees given to women by Queen's College, London.{{cite journal

| date = June 1943

| doi = 10.1111/j.1095-8312.1943.tb00329.x

| issue = 3

| journal = Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London

| pages = 270–300

| title = Obituaries

| volume = 154}} See in particular pp. 271–272. In 1905 she became one of the earliest female fellows of the Linnean Society of London,{{cite book|title=The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science: Pioneering Lives from Ancient Times to the Mid-20th Century, Volume 1|editor-first=Marilyn Bailey|editor-last=Ogilvie|editor-first2=Joy|editor-last2=Harvey|editor-link=Marilyn Bailey Ogilvie|editor-link2=Joy Harvey|publisher=Routledge|year=2000|isbn=9780415920384|contribution=Busk, Lady Marian (Balfour) (1861–1941)|page=[https://archive.org/details/biographicaldict00ogil_0/page/n256 215]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/biographicaldict00ogil_0}} which began admitting female fellows in 1904.{{cite web|url=https://academic.oup.com/biolinnean/pages/230th_anniversary_of_the_linnean_society|title=Celebrating the 230th anniversary of the Linnean Society of London: The first female Fellows|work=Biological Journal of the Linnean Society}}

Beyond botany, her interests also included women's suffrage. She married legal scholar Edward Henry Busk in 1880; he was knighted in 1901.