Catharina Helena Dörrien (1 March 1717, in

Hildesheim Hildesheim (; nds, Hilmessen, Hilmssen; la, Hildesia) is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of the Lei ...

– 8 June 1795, in

Dillenburg Dillenburg, officially Oranienstadt Dillenburg, is a town in Hesse's Gießen (region), Gießen region in Germany. The town was formerly the seat of the old Dillkreis district, which is now part of the Lahn-Dill-Kreis. The town lies on the German-N ...

) 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 teacher, recognized as "the most celebrated German-speaking female naturalist of the period". She was a talented artist who painted over 1,400

watercolor Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

botanical illustration Botanical illustration is the art of depicting the form, color, and details of plant species, frequently in watercolor paintings. They must be scientifically accurate but often also have an artistic component and may be printed with a botanical ...

s, and published a catalogue of plants of the

Principality of Orange-Nassau The House of Orange-Nassau (Dutch: ''Huis van Oranje-Nassau'', ) is the current reigning house of the Netherlands. A branch of the European House of Nassau, the house has played a central role in the politics and government of the Netherlands ...

in 1777. She was also the first woman to name a

fungal A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from th ...

taxon In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular nam ...

Early life

Dörrien was the daughter of Pastor Johann Jonas Dörrien and Lucia Catharina (née Schrader), and was the second of their four children. The pastor educated his children at home, including in botany. Dörrien took over the running of the family home after her mother died in 1733, but her father died four years later.

Career

Dörrien left

and started working as a governess in

for her childhood friend Sophie Anna Blandina (née von Alers) in 1746, when she was 30. Dörrien initially painted for pleasure, but was encouraged by Sophie's husband, Anton Ulrich von Erath, to create an illustrated flora of the principality of Orange-Nassau. Dörrien produced the catalogue in 1777, being one of the first Germans to use the Linnean system of classification. In the catalogue she introduced two varieties, becoming the first woman to name a fungal taxon.

Honours

Dörrien was an honorary member of numerous societies: honorary member of the Societatis Botanicae Florentinae (Botanical Society of Florence, from 1766), the Gesellschaft Naturforschender Freunde zu Berlin ( Berlin Society of Friends of Nature, from 1776), the first female member of the Berlinischen Gesellschaft (Berlin Society, from 1776) and the Botanischen Gesellschaft zu Regensburg (Regensburg Botanical Society, from 1790). ''Doerriena'', a genus of

chickweed ''Stellaria media'', chickweed, is an annual and perennial flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae.Fernald, M. L. 1950. “Gray's Manual of Botany”. Eight Edition. American Book Company, New York, NY. 1632 pp. It is native to Euras ...

s is named after Dörrien.

Publications

: Dörrien CH (1770a). Von der Fragaria sterilis. ''Hannoverisches Magazin'' 8(35): 557–560. : Dörrien CH (1770b). Von den Wurzeln der Cuscuta. ''Hannoverisches Magazin''8(56): 891–896. : Dörrien CH (1773). Erfahrung von verschiedenem Ungeziefer, welches den Salat verfolget, und den Mitteln dagegen. ''Dillenburgische Intelligenz-Nachrichten'' 5 June: 153–154. : Dörrien CH (1777) s ‘1779’ ''Verzeichniß und Beschreibung der sämtlichen in den Fürstlich Oranien-Naussauischen Landen wildwachsenden Gewächse''. Bey Christian Gottfried Donatius, Lübeck, Germany. L-2 31.113, 2 editions: Dörrien CH (1785). Nachrichten von Katharina Helena Dörrien, von ihr selbst erzählt, in einem Briefe an Herrn Professor Seybold''. Magazin für Frauenzimmer'' 1785(4): 125–135.

References

External links