Christian Friedrich Schwägrichen (16 September 1775,

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

– 2 May 1853, Leipzig) was a German botanist specializing in the field of

bryology Bryology (from Greek , a moss, a liverwort) is the branch of botany concerned with the scientific study of bryophytes ( mosses, liverworts, and hornworts). Bryologists are people who have an active interest in observing, recording, classifying ...

. In 1799 he obtained his medical doctorate from 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 was later an associate professor of natural history (1803–1815) and afterwards a full professor on the same subject (1815–1852). Concurrently, he served as an associate professor of botany (1807–1852) at Leipzig.Professorenkatalog der Universität Leipzig , catalogus professorum lipsiensium
(biography) Prior to 1837, he was director of the

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

at Leipzig, being succeeded by

Gustav Kunze Gustav Kunze (4 October 1793, Leipzig – 30 April 1851, Leipzig) was a German professor of zoology, an entomologist and botanist with an interest mainly in ferns and orchids. Kunze joined the Wernerian Natural History Society in Edinburgh in 18 ...

, a specialist in the field of

pteridology A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes except th ...

. Schwägrichen died on 2 May 1853 as the result of a fall down a flight of stairs. He is the

taxonomic authority In biology, taxonomy () is the scientific study of naming, defining ( circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxa (singular: taxon) and these groups are given ...

of the

bryophyte The Bryophyta s.l. are a proposed taxonomic division containing three groups of non-vascular land plants (embryophytes): the liverworts, hornworts and mosses. Bryophyta s.s. consists of the mosses only. They are characteristically limited in s ...

families

Polytrichaceae Polytrichaceae is a common family of mosses. Members of this family tend to be larger than other mosses with a thickened central stem and a rhizome. The leaves have a midrib that bears photosynthetic lamellae on the upper surface. Species in ...

and Funariaceae. The genus ''Schwaegrichenia'' is named in his honor.

Published works

* "Topographiae botanicae et entomologicae Lipsiensis", four volumes, (1799-1806). * "Joannis Hedwig...species muscorum frondosorum descriptae et tabulis aeneis lxxvii coloratis illustratae /opus posthumum, editum a Friderico Schwaegrichen". Lipsiae (Leipzig) : sumtu J. A. Barthii ; Parisiis, A. Koenig, 1801. (as editor, main author

Johann Hedwig Johann Hedwig (8 December 1730 – 18 February 1799), also styled as Johannes Hedwig, was a German botanist notable for his studies of mosses. He is sometimes called the "father of bryology". He is known for his particular observations of sexual r ...

). ** "Catalogue of the Hedwig-Schwägrichen Herbarium (G)". by Michelle J Price, (2005).WorldCat Title
Catalogue of the Hedwig-Schwägrichen Herbarium * ''Leitfaden zum Unterrichte in der Naturgeschichte für Schulen'', two volumes, (1803) - Guide towards the teaching of natural history in schools. * ''Anleitung zum Studium der Botanik'', Leipzig (1806) - Guide to studies of botany. * "Historiae muscorum hepaticorum prodromus", Leipzig (1814).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schwagrichen, Christian Friedrich 1775 births 1853 deaths Leipzig University alumni Leipzig University faculty Scientists from Leipzig 19th-century German botanists German bryologists