Christian Knaut (August 16, 1656 – April 11, 1716) was a German physician,

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

librarian A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users. The role of the librarian has changed much over time, ...

born in

Halle an der Saale Halle (Saale), or simply Halle (; from the 15th to the 17th century: ''Hall in Sachsen''; until the beginning of the 20th century: ''Halle an der Saale'' ; from 1965 to 1995: ''Halle/Saale'') is the largest city of the German state of Saxony-Anh ...

. His older brother, Christoph Knaut (1638–1694) was also a physician and botanist. He studied medicine at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

, where he had as instructors

Gottfried Welsch Gottfried Welsch (November 12, 1618 – September 5, 1690) was a German physician born in Leipzig. In 1644 he became a professor of anatomy at the University of Leipzig, and afterwards a professor of physiology (1647), pathology (1662) and therap ...

Paul Amman Paul Amman (31 August 1634 – 4 February 1691), German physician and botanist. Biography Amman was born at Breslau in 1634. In 1662 he received the degree of doctor of physic from the university of Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) ...

, Michael Ettmüller and Johannes Bohn. In 1682 he obtained his doctorate from the

University of Jena The University of Jena, officially the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (german: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, abbreviated FSU, shortened form ''Uni Jena''), is a public research university located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany. The un ...

with a dissertation titled ''De fermentatione in sanguine non existente''. Afterwards he returned to Halle, where he served as a librarian and personal physician to Prince Emanuel Lebrecht of

Anhalt-Köthen Anhalt-Köthen was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire ruled by the House of Ascania. It was created in 1396 when the Principality of Anhalt-Zerbst was partitioned between Anhalt-Dessau and Anhalt-Köthen. The first creation lasted until 1562 ...

. As a librarian he was the author of a

chronicle A chronicle ( la, chronica, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and lo ...

and description involving the counties of Ballenstädt and

Aschersleben Aschersleben () is a town in the Salzlandkreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated approximately 22 km east of Quedlinburg, and 45 km northwest of Halle (Saale). Geography Aschersleben lies near the confluence of the r ...

(1698). As a botanist he published ''Compendium Botanicum sive Methodus plantarum genuina'', in which he provided a classification system for

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s based on

petal Petals are modified Leaf, leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often advertising coloration, brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''c ...

number and arrangement.

Carolus Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his Nobility#Ennoblement, ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalise ...

named the plant genus ''

Knautia ''Knautia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Caprifoliaceae The Caprifoliaceae or honeysuckle family is a clade of dicotyledonous flowering plants consisting of about 860 species, in 33, to 42 genera, with a nearly cosmopolitan ...

'' in honor of Christian and Christoph Knaut.The Plant Lover's Companion: Plants, People & Places
by Julia Brittain

References

* ''This article is based on a translation of the equivalent article from the German Wikipedia.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Knaut, Christian 17th-century German botanists German librarians 1656 births 1716 deaths People from Halle (Saale) 18th-century German botanists