Diedrich Christian Rutenberg (11 June 1851,

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 ...

– 25 August 1878) was a German explorer and botanical collector.Plett - Schmidseder
by K. G. Saur Verlag GmbH & Company He studied medicine and natural sciences at

Jena Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a popu ...

and

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

, where one of his instructors was

Ernst Haeckel Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel (; 16 February 1834 – 9 August 1919) was a German zoologist, naturalist, eugenicist, philosopher, physician, professor, marine biologist and artist. He discovered, described and named thousands of new sp ...

. In 1872, with Haeckel, he participated in scientific investigations in

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

and

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see #Name, names in other languages) is one of the four historical region, historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of ...

. After obtaining his medical doctorate (1875), he trained as an

ophthalmologist Ophthalmology ( ) is a surgery, surgical subspecialty within medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders. An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Followin ...

and spent time as a military physician in

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

.JSTOR Global Plants
biographical information In 1877, he journeyed to South Africa, collecting botanical specimens in Natal and

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name Transvaal. * South African Republic (1856–1902; af, ...

, then travelling to

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...

and

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

. He collected specimens on the northwestern coast of Madagascar prior to crossing the island to the eastern side near the village of Beravi. At the age of 27, he was murdered by local inhabitants in Madagascar. His specimens from Madagascar eventually came into the possession of Bremen botanist

Franz Georg Philipp Buchenau Franz Georg Philipp Buchenau (12 January 1831 – 23 April 1906) was a German botanist and phytogeography, phytogeographer who was a native of Kassel. He specialized in flora of northwestern Germany. He studied at the Universities of University of ...

, who issued a series of papers titled "Reliquiae Rutenbergianae". Here, he along with numerous other authors described Rutenberg's collections (605 total species, 5 new genera and 168 new species and varieties). The moss genus ''Rutenbergia'' ( Geh. & Hampe ex Besch., 1880 in the

Isobryales Isobryales are an order of mosses. Its taxonomic status is not clear. The Integrated Taxonomic Information System and National Center for Biotechnology Information databases consider it as a synonym of Bryidae and Hypnales, respectively. The Glo ...

order) is named after him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rutenberg, Diedrich Christian 1851 births 1878 deaths 19th-century German botanists Scientists from Bremen (city) Heidelberg University alumni University of Jena alumni German people murdered abroad People murdered in Madagascar Murdered explorers Physicians from Bremen (city) 19th-century crimes in Madagascar