Karl (or Carl) Wilhelm Leopold Krug (January 7, 1833 – April 4, 1898) was a
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
businessman, naturalist, ethnographer,
diplomat
A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...
and supporter of scientific collections.
Early life and education
Born on the estate of
Mühlenbeck in the vicinity of
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
on January 7, 1833, he was educated by private tutors and in several schools (gymnasia), obtaining his matriculation certificate in 1854.
Puerto Rico
After a short apprenticeship in
Bremen
Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...
, Krug arrived in
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...
in 1857 and started work in the international trading company of Lahmayer & Co. (later Schulze & Co.) in
Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. He became partner, and later sole owner of the company. He became vice-consul in Mayaguez of both Germany and Great Britain.
Under the influence of his legal advisor Don
Domingo Bello y Espinoza, Krug became an avid collector of plants and insects. He underwrote several collecting expeditions by the zoologist
Juan Gundlach
Juan Cristóbal Gundlach (17 July 1810 in Marburg – 14 March 1896 in Havana), born Johannes Christoph Gundlach was a Cuban naturalist and taxonomist.
Biography
Gundlach graduated from Marburg University, where his father was professor of phys ...
. These collecting activities resulted in a large amount of scientific material, which became part of the Zoological Museum and Ethnographic Museum in Berlin.
Berlin
Krug retired from his business activities in 1876. He worked from then on in close collaboration with
Ignatz Urban
Ignatz Urban (7 January 1848 – 7 January 1931) was a German botanist. He is known for his contributions to the flora of the Caribbean and Brazil, and for his work as curator of the Berlin Botanical Garden. Born the son of a brewer, Urban s ...
, the director of the
Berlin Botanical Garden
The Berlin Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum (german: Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum Berlin) is a botanical garden in the locality of the borough of , Berlin, Germany. Constructed between 1897 and 1910 under the guidance of archi ...
. Krug and (to some extent the Berlin Academy of Sciences) underwrote the collecting expeditions of
Paul Sintenis
Paul Ernst Emil Sintenis (4 April 1847 Seidenberg, Oberlausitz, Prussia – 6 March 1907) was a German botanist, pharmacist and important plant collector.
Biography
He studied at the gymnasium in Görlitz, became a pharmacist's apprentice in 1 ...
and of the baron
Eggers
Eggers is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
*Alfred J. Eggers (1922–2006), senior NASA administrator
* Bartholomeus Eggers (c.1637–1692), Flemish sculptor active in the Dutch Republic
*Dave Eggers (born 1970), American writer ...
, at the time commanding officer of the Danish forces on
St. Thomas. These, together with his own extensive material and other acquisitions became the basis of the Herbarium Krug et Urban, which was destroyed in the Second World War.
He died of congestive heart failure in
Groß-Lichterfelde
Lichterfelde () is a locality in the borough of Steglitz-Zehlendorf in Berlin, Germany. Until 2001 it was part of the former borough of Steglitz, along with Steglitz and Lankwitz. Lichterfelde is home to institutions like the Berlin Botanical G ...
on April 4, 1898.
Legacy
The plant genera ''
Krugia'' (
Myrtaceae
Myrtaceae, the myrtle family, is a family of dicotyledonous plants placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtle, pōhutukawa, bay rum tree, clove, guava, acca (feijoa), allspice, and eucalyptus are some notable members of this group. All speci ...
) and ''
Krugiodendron'' (
Rhamnaceae
The Rhamnaceae are a large family of flowering plants, mostly trees, shrubs, and some vines, commonly called the buckthorn family. Rhamnaceae is included in the order Rosales.
The family contains about 55 genera and 950 species. The Rhamnaceae h ...
) were named in his honor.
A species of lizard, ''
Anolis krugi'' , is named in his honor.
[Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Krug", p. 147).]
Sources
*
Urban, Ignatz (1898). ''Leopold Krug''. Berlin: Gebrüder Borntraeger. (in German).
*Wunschmann, Ernst (1906). "Krug, Leopold". In: ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' (ADB), Volume 51. Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot. pp. 401-403. (in German).
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Krug, Karl Wilhelm Leopold
19th-century German botanists
Botanists active in the Caribbean
1833 births
1898 deaths
Scientists from Berlin