Winifred Mary Curtis AM (15 June 1905 – 14 October 2005) was a British-born Australian botanist, author and a pioneer researcher in plant embryology and cytology who played a prominent role in the department of botany at the University of Tasmania (UTAS), where the main plant science laboratory is named in her honour.
She was a gifted student, and studied science at University College, London from 1924, winning various awards and scholarships.
She graduated in 1927 and completed an honours degree in Botany the following year for research on Spartinia townsendii, and Taraxacum (dandelions).
[1] In 1944 Curtis published Variations in Pultenaea juniperina, the first record of polyploidy in an Australian native plant.
Her doctoral thesis was titled Studies in Experimental Taxonomy and Variation in Certain Tasmanian Plants which was a pioneering work in cytology and polyploidy.