Federico Johow, born as Friedrich Richard Adalbert Johow; (February 5, 1859–April 30, 1933) was a

German-Chilean German Chileans ( es, germanochilenos; german: Deutsch-Chilenen) are Chileans descended from German immigrants, about 30,000 of whom arrived in Chile between 1846 and 1914. Most of these were from Bavaria, Baden and the Rhineland, and also from ...

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

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 ...

born in Chodziesen (known as Colmar after 1878),

Province of Posen The Province of Posen (german: Provinz Posen, pl, Prowincja Poznańska) was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1848 to 1920. Posen was established in 1848 following the Greater Poland Uprising as a successor to the Grand Duchy of Posen, w ...

Life

Friedrich began his higher education at the

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...

, and afterwards studied

zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

and

botany 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 w ...

at the

University of Bonn The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine U ...

, where he obtained his doctorate in 1880. In 1882 he took part on a study trip to

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

and the

Lesser Antilles The Lesser Antilles ( es, link=no, Antillas Menores; french: link=no, Petites Antilles; pap, Antias Menor; nl, Kleine Antillen) are a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. Most of them are part of a long, partially volcanic island arc betwe ...

, financed by the Royal Academy of Sciences in

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 1888 he was an appointed associate professor of

natural sciences Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...

at the

Chile

In 1889, he was invited by

José Manuel Balmaceda José Manuel Emiliano Balmaceda Fernández (; July 19, 1840 – September 19, 1891) served as the 10th President of Chile from September 18, 1886, to August 29, 1891. Balmaceda was part of the Castilian-Basque aristocracy in Chile. While he wa ...

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

, where he became a professor at the Instituto Pedagógico de Chile (together with the Germans Alfred Beutell, Friedrich Hanssen,

Hans Steffen 250px, Picture of Dr. Hans Steffen in 1916 Hans Steffen Hoffman (20 July 1865, in Fürstenwerder, Prussia – 7 April 1936, in Davos, Switzerland) was a German geographer and explorer of the Aysén Region in western Patagonia. Steffen also wor ...

, Rudolf Lenz, Reinhold von Lilienthal, and Jürgen Heinrich Schneider). Here he remained for the next 36 years, retiring in 1925. Johow led a series of scientific journeys to the

Juan Fernandez Archipelago ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...

, and in 1896 was author of a book on the flora of the islands titled ''Estudios sobre la flora de las Islas de Juan Fernández''. He died on April 30, 1933, in

Valparaíso Valparaíso (; ) is a major city, seaport, naval base, and educational centre in the commune of Valparaíso, Chile. "Greater Valparaíso" is the second largest metropolitan area in the country. Valparaíso is located about northwest of Santiago ...

. 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 plant genus '' Centaurodendron''. In 1937 the genus ''Johowia'' (family

Lamiaceae The Lamiaceae ( ) or Labiatae are a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint, deadnettle or sage family. Many of the plants are aromatic in all parts and include widely used culinary herbs like basil, mint, rosemary, sage, savory ...

) was named in his honor by

Carl Epling Carl Clawson Epling (15 April 1894 – 17 November 1968) was an American botanist and taxonomist. He is best known for being the major authority on the Lamiaceae (mint family) of the Americas from the 1920s to the 1960s. In his later years he als ...

and

Gualterio Looser Gualterio Looser Schallemberg (September 4, 1898, Santiago – July 22, 1982) was a Chilean botanist and engineer of Swiss parentage. He owned a factory that made agricultural implements. In 1928 Looser joined the American Fern Society, and ...

. A synonym for this taxa is ''

Cuminia ''Cuminia'' is a genus of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae, first described in 1835. It contains only one known species, ''Cuminia eriantha''. It is endemic to Robinson Crusoe Island, one of the Juan Fernández Islands in the southeast Pa ...

''. GRIN Taxonomy for Plants
Johowia

Familie

Friedrich was the son of Carl Hermann Adalbert Johow and his wife Marie Luise, née Biehler. He had five siblings, his brother Georg Reinhold Franz Julius Johow (1862–1945) was Generalmajor of the

German Army (German Empire) The Imperial German Army (1871–1919), officially referred to as the German Army (german: Deutsches Heer), was the unified ground and air force of the German Empire. It was established in 1871 with the political unification of Germany under the l ...

and

Generalleutnant is the Germanic variant of lieutenant general, used in some German speaking countries. Austria Generalleutnant is the second highest general officer rank in the Austrian Armed Forces (''Bundesheer''), roughly equivalent to the NATO rank of O ...

of the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...

(''Tannenberg-General''). Dr. phil. Johow was married to Magdalena, née Schäfer. They had three children: Margarita, Dolly, and Ernst Arnulf (1893–1965)

References

Universidad de Concepcion: Federico Johow
(biography) 1859 births 1933 deaths People from Chodzież County 20th-century Chilean botanists German emigrants to Chile 19th-century German botanists People from the Province of Posen Academic staff of the University of Bonn 19th-century Chilean botanists {{chile-botanist-stub