[1] Born in Lafayette, Indiana, Janet was the daughter of Cyrus Grovenor Perkins and Jane Rose Houghteling.

[2] Travelling to Europe, she was employed as a private tutor in Hildesheim, Germany, and undertook the study of languages and music in Paris, France.

She spent eight semesters studying in Berlin under Adolf Engler and his associates, then transferred to the Heidelberg University where she was awarded a Ph.D. in 1900.

Her thesis was titled Eine Monographie der Gattung Mollinedea—a monograph on the genus Mollinedia of flowering plants.

[4] During 1901—1902, she served as a scientific aid to the United States Department of Agriculture in Berlin, where she was engaged in a revision of the Leguminosae of Porto Rico.