Edmund August Friedrich Russow (russian: Эдму́нд Фридрихович Ру́ссов, translit=Èdmúnd Fridrichovič Rússov; – ) was a Baltic German

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

Academic career

Son of a military engineer, Edmund Russow studied at the Universities of Dorpat (now Tartu, Tartu County,

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

) and

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 ...

. In 1867 he became an associate professor at Dorpat, where from 1874 to 1897, he served as a full professor. In 1895-97 he was president of the Estonian Naturalists' Society. Russow was at the forefront of

nature conservation Nature conservation is the moral philosophy and conservation movement focused on protecting species from extinction, maintaining and restoring habitats, enhancing ecosystem services, and protecting biological diversity. A range of values unde ...

, and associated with the work of Hugo Conwentz (1865-1922), a founder of nature conservation efforts throughout Europe.

Botanical work

Russow was an authority on

Sphagnaceae The Sphagnaceae is a family of moss with only one living genus ''Sphagnum ''Sphagnum'' is a genus of approximately 380 accepted species of mosses, commonly known as sphagnum moss, peat moss, also bog moss and quacker moss (although that term ...

(

sphagnum mosses ''Sphagnum'' is a genus of approximately 380 accepted species of mosses, commonly known as sphagnum moss, peat moss, also bog moss and quacker moss (although that term is also sometimes used for peat). Accumulations of ''Sphagnum'' can store wa ...

) and remembered for his research in

plant anatomy Plant anatomy or phytotomy is the general term for the study of the internal structure of plants. Originally it included plant morphology, the description of the physical form and external structure of plants, but since the mid-20th century plant ...

and

histology Histology, also known as microscopic anatomy or microanatomy, is the branch of biology which studies the microscopic anatomy of biological tissues. Histology is the microscopic counterpart to gross anatomy, which looks at larger structures vis ...

, in particular studies of the

plant family Family ( la, familia, plural ') is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between order and genus. A family may be divided into subfamilies, which are intermediate ranks between the ranks of ...

Marsileaceae Marsileaceae () is a small family of heterosporous aquatic and semi-aquatic ferns, though at first sight they do not physically resemble other ferns. The group is commonly known as the "pepperwort family" or as the "water-clover family" because ...

(aquatic and semi-aquatic

fern 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 t ...

s). The plant genus ''

Russowia ''Russowia'' is a genus of Asian plants in the tribe Cardueae within the family Asteraceae. Species The only known species is ''Russowia sogdiana'', native to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Xinjiang, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan ...

'' is named in his honor, as is ''Sphagnum russowii'' (

Russow's sphagnum ''Sphagnum russowii'', Russow's sphagnum or Russow's bogmoss, is a species of peat moss with a Holarctic The Holarctic realm is a biogeographic realm that comprises the majority of habitats found throughout the continents in the Northern Hemis ...

Written works

* '' Histologie und Entwicklungsgeschichte der Sporenfrucht von Marsilia''. Dissertation. Dorpat (1871)
''Entwickelungsgeschichte der Sporenfrucht von Marsilia''
(1873). In: ''Mémoires de l'Académie Impériale des Sciences de Saint-Pétersbourg'', série VII, tome XIX, p. 42
''Vergleichende Untersuchungen betreffend die Histiologie … der leitbundel Kryptogamen''
In: ''Mémoires de l'Académie Impériale des Sciences de St.-Pétersbourg'', 1872 * ''Betrachtungen über das leitbundel- und grundgewebe aus vergleichend morphologischem und phylogenetischem geschichtspunkt'' (1875).
Open Library, authors

References

* "Biographical information based on an equivalent article at the

Estonian Wikipedia The Estonian Wikipedia ( et, Eestikeelne Vikipeedia) is the Estonian version of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, started on 24 August 2002. As of , the edition has about articles. On 7 December 2008 Estonian Wikipedian Andres Luure was o ...

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Russow, Edmund 1841 births 1897 deaths People from Tallinn People from the Governorate of Estonia Baltic-German people 19th-century German botanists University of Tartu faculty Burials at Raadi cemetery