August Heinrich Rudolf Grisebach () was a German
botanist
Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...
and
phytogeographer. He was born in
Hannover
Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German States of Germany, state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germa ...
on 17 April 1814 and died in
Göttingen
Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...
on 9 May 1879.
Biography
Grisebach studied at the Lyceum in
Hanover
Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
, the cloister-school at
Ilfeld
Ilfeld is a village and a former municipality in the district of Nordhausen, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated at the south foot of the Harz, at the entrance to the Bährethal, north from Nordhausen by the railway to Wernigerode. Since 1 J ...
, and the
University of Göttingen
The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...
. He graduated in medicine from the
University of Berlin
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...
in 1836.
He undertook expeditions to
Provence
Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...
, Turkey, the
Balkans
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
, and
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
.
In 1837 he became associate professor and in 1847 full professor at the medical faculty in
Göttingen
Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...
and was named director of
the botanical garden there in 1875.
While his main fields of interest were phytogeography and systematics, especially the
Gentianaceae
Gentianaceae is a family of flowering plants of 103 genera and about 1600 species.
Etymology
The family takes its name from the genus '' Gentiana'', named after the Illyrian king Gentius.
Distribution
Distribution is cosmopolitan.
Characteri ...
and
Malpighiaceae
Malpighiaceae is a family of flowering plants in the order Malpighiales. It comprises about 73 genera and 1315 species, all of which are native to the tropics and subtropics. About 80% of the genera and 90% of the species occur in the New World ( ...
, he considered his ''Flora of the British West Indian Islands'' his most important work.
Much of his collection, especially the
types
Type may refer to:
Science and technology Computing
* Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc.
* Data type, collection of values used for computations.
* File type
* TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file.
* Typ ...
of species described by him, are housed at the Göttingen University Herbarium.
Göttingen University, Department of Systematics, Biodiversity and Evolution of Plants (with Herbarium)
/ref> His taxonomic classification is set out in his ''Grundriss der systematischen Botanik'' (1854). His son Eduard
Eduard Model Accessories is a Czech manufacturer of plastic models and finescale model accessories.
Formed in 1989 in the city of Most, Eduard began in a rented cellar as a manufacturer of photoetched brass model components. Following the succ ...
was an author, lawyer and diplomat.
Selected works
* (Grundr. Syst. Bot.: Schema p. 68)
* ''Die Vegetation der Erde nach Ihrer Klimatischen Anordnung'' (The Earth's vegetation after its climatic arrangement), 1872 (1st Edition), 1884 (2nd Edition).
* ''Flora of the British West Indian Islands'', Lovell Reeve & Co., London, 1864
References
Bibliography
Some Biogeographers, Evolutionists and Ecologists: Chrono-Biographical Sketches
* ttp://www.retrobibliothek.de/retrobib/seite.html?id=107237 Biographical entry in Meyers Konversationslexikon
Obituary in Botanische Zeitung 1879
External links
Complete bibliography on WorldCat
''Plantae Wrightianae e Cuba Orientali'' at Botanicus
''Catalogus plantarum cubensium''
(Catalog of Plants of Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
) 1866, at Botanicus
''Plantae Wrightianae e Cuba Orientali'' by A. Grisebach at the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
Grisebach, A. (1857) ''Systematische Untersuchungen über die Vegetation der Karaiben, insbesondere der Insel Guadeloupe'' at the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grisebach, August
German phytogeographers
1814 births
1879 deaths
German taxonomists
Scientists from Hanover
People from the Kingdom of Hanover
University of Göttingen alumni
19th-century German botanists