Karl Georg Theodor Kotschy pl, Teodor Koczy (15 April 1813 – 11 June 1866) was an Austrian botanist and explorer. On his botanical investigations, Kotschy collected large amount of plants and herbs. He also described forty species of oaks in this work, some of them new to science.

Biography

Kotschy was born in

Ustroń Ustroń (german: Ustron) is a health resort town in Cieszyn Silesia, southern Poland. It is situated in the Silesian Voivodeship (since 1999), having previously been in Bielsko-Biała Voivodeship (1975–1998). It lies in the Silesian Beskids ...

Austrian Silesia Austrian Silesia, (historically also ''Oesterreichisch-Schlesien, Oesterreichisch Schlesien, österreichisch Schlesien''); cs, Rakouské Slezsko; pl, Śląsk Austriacki officially the Duchy of Upper and Lower Silesia, (historically ''Herzogth ...

(today

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

). He was the son of theologian

Carl Friedrich Kotschy Carl Friedrich Kotschy ( pl, Karol Fryderyk Kotschy, Karol Koczy, 26 January 1789 – 9 February 1856) was an Austrian Protestant theologian and botanist born in Cieszyn, Teschen (today Cieszyn, Poland). He was the father of botanist Theodor K ...

(1789–1856). Kotschy studied theology in Vienna from 1833. From 1836 to 1862 he performed extensive botanical research throughout the Middle East and northern Africa, in which he collected over 300,000 botanical specimens. Beginning in 1836, he accompanied

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althoug ...

Joseph Russegger Joseph Ritter von Russegger (18 October 1802 – 20 June 1863) was an Austrian geologist who was a native of Salzburg. He received his education in Salzburg, and in the years 1823 to 1825, was associated with the Mining and Forestry Academy at S ...

(1802–1863) on a scientific trip to

Cilicia Cilicia (); el, Κιλικία, ''Kilikía''; Middle Persian: ''klkyʾy'' (''Klikiyā''); Parthian: ''kylkyʾ'' (''Kilikiyā''); tr, Kilikya). is a geographical region in southern Anatolia in Turkey, extending inland from the northeastern coa ...

and Syria, afterwards journeying through

Nubia Nubia () (Nobiin: Nobīn, ) is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the first cataract of the Nile (just south of Aswan in southern Egypt) and the confluence of the Blue and White Niles (in Khartoum in central Sudan), or ...

and

Sennar Sennar ( ar, سنار ') is a city on the Blue Nile in Sudan and possibly the capital of the state of Sennar. It remains publicly unclear whether Sennar or Singa is the capital of Sennar State. For several centuries it was the capital of the F ...

. Following the dissolution with Russegger's expedition, he remained in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

. He later traveled to

Kurdufan Kordofan ( ar, كردفان ') is a former province of central Sudan. In 1994 it was divided into three new federal states: North Kordofan, South Kordofan and West Kordofan. In August 2005, West Kordofan State was abolished and its territory ...

(1839),

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

, Syria,

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the ...

and

Kurdistan Kurdistan ( ku, کوردستان ,Kurdistan ; lit. "land of the Kurds") or Greater Kurdistan is a roughly defined geo-cultural territory in Western Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, languages ...

(1840–41); and during 1842–43 he undertook an expedition to

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. He was appointed Assistant Curator in 1847 and Custos-Adjunct in 1852 at Vienna. In 1862 he performed additional botanical research in Egypt, Palestine, and Lebanon (1855) in Cyprus, Asia Minor, and Kurdistan (1859), and back to Cyprus (1862). He died in Vienna at the age of 53.

Legacy

The plant genus ''

Kotschya ''Kotschya'' is a genus of legumes in the family Fabaceae, and was recently assigned to the informal monophyletic ''Dalbergia'' clade of the Dalbergieae The tribe Dalbergieae is an early-branching clade within the flowering plant subfamily ...

'' from the family Fabaceae is named in his honor. His name is associated with a species of lizard, "Kotschy’s gecko" ('' Cyrtopodion kotschyi'' ), and with the Cyprus bee orchid (''Ophrys kotschyi'').Cyprus Bee Orchid. ''ukwildflowers.com''.
Retrieved 4 August 2017. His name is also used for a

crocus ''Crocus'' (; plural: crocuses or croci) is a genus of seasonal flowering plants in the family Iridaceae (iris family) comprising about 100 species of perennials growing from corms. They are low growing plants, whose flower stems remain under ...

species - '' Crocus kotschyanus'', discovered by him in SE Turkey.

Selected publications

* ''Reise in den cilicischen Taurus überTarsus''. (1858); First description of the region of Bulghar Dagh, western

Taurus Taurus is Latin for 'bull' and may refer to: * Taurus (astrology), the astrological sign * Taurus (constellation), one of the constellations of the zodiac * Taurus (mythology), one of two Greek mythological characters named Taurus * '' Bos tauru ...

. * ''Abbildungen und Beschreibungen neuer und seltener Thiere und Pflanzen, in Syrien und im westlichen Taurus gesammelt'', (Illustrations and descriptions of new and rare animals and plants, in Syria and western Taurus); (1843) * ''Analecta botanica'' (with

Heinrich Wilhelm Schott Heinrich Wilhelm Schott (7 January 1794 in Brünn (Brno), Moravia – 5 March 1865 at Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna) was an Austrian botanist well known for his extensive work on aroids (Araceae). He studied botany, agriculture and chemistry at ...

(1794–1865) and Carl Fredrik Nyman 1820–1893), (1854) * ''Coniferen des Cilicischen Taurus'' (Conifers of Cilician Taurus), (with Franz Antoine 1815–1886), (1855) * ''Die Eichen Europas und des Orients'', (Oaks of Europe and the Orient); (1858–1862) * ''Plantae Tinneanae'' (with

Johann Joseph Peyritsch Johann Joseph Peyritsch (20 October 1835 – 14 March 1889) was an Austrian physician and botanist born in Völkermarkt. In 1864 he earned his medical doctorate from Vienna, and from 1866 to 1871 was associated with Vienna General Hospital. He lat ...

1835–1889); (1867)

References

Note

* ''Parts of this article are based on a translation of an equivalent article at the German Wikipedia.''

External links

Itinerary in southern Persia 1842-43
biography of Theodor Kotschy
Die Eichen Europas und des Orients
- High-resolution scan of Kotschy's book of descriptions and illustrations of oaks. 1813 births 1866 deaths People from Ustroń 19th-century Austrian botanists People from Austrian Silesia Austrian people of Polish descent {{Austria-botanist-stub