Franz Stephani (15 April 1842 – 23 February 1927) was a German bryologist specializing in

liverworts The Marchantiophyta () are a division of non-vascular land plants commonly referred to as hepatics or liverworts. Like mosses and hornworts, they have a gametophyte-dominant life cycle, in which cells of the plant carry only a single set of ge ...

. This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation Steph. when citing a

botanical name A botanical name is a formal scientific name conforming to the '' International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (ICN) and, if it concerns a plant cultigen, the additional cultivar or Group epithets must conform to the ''Intern ...

. Stephani was born 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 ...

Province of Brandenburg The Province of Brandenburg (german: Provinz Brandenburg) was a province of Prussia from 1815 to 1945. Brandenburg was established in 1815 from the Kingdom of Prussia's core territory, comprised the bulk of the historic Margraviate of Brandenburg ...

, in 1842. He attended and graduated from the Königliches Gymnasium, whereupon he began training to be a businessman in the

wool Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. As ...

-spinning industry. He worked both in a toy shop, and in a publishing house. In 1869, he married Marie Kell, daughter of the

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

Julius Kell and had two children. By the age of 34, Stephani began publishing papers on the subject of liverworts. He never attended university, and it is not known how his interest in bryology was sparked. Stephani is most remembered for his ''Species Hepaticarum'', a six-volume attempt to catalog all of the world's species of liverworts and

hornwort Hornworts are a group of non-vascular Embryophytes (land plants) constituting the division Anthocerotophyta (). The common name refers to the elongated horn-like structure, which is the sporophyte. As in mosses and liverworts, hornworts have a ...

s. In 1894 Stephani met with M. W. Barbey-Boissier, son-in-law of

Edmond Boissier Pierre Edmond Boissier (25 May 1810 Geneva – 25 September 1885 Valeyres-sous-Rances) was a Swiss prominent botanist, explorer and mathematician. He was the son of Jacques Boissier (1784-1857) and Caroline Butini (1786-1836), daughter of Pier ...

and owner of the Barbey-Boissier Herbarium in Geneva. In 1897 the Herbarium concluded an agreement with Stephani, by which they would publish ''Species Hepaticarum''. Stephani in turn bequeathed them his herbarium, drawings, library, notes and scientific correspondence. The first editions of the work appeared in 1898, in the ''Bulletin de l'Herbier Boissier'', and the final volume 27 years later, in 1925. This is the only work that has ever attempted such a broad treatment of those groups, and saw the first publication of many new names. Almost 10,000 species are included, with more than 4,000 new ones described by Stephani. Unfortunately, the work is "often much condemned" for being of very poor quality, and "holds the reputation of being one of the most notorious publications in bryology." Stephani created many new names for species that already had published names, and later researchers were left to sort out the nomenclature problems his work created. It is estimated perhaps only 25 to 35% of his species will prove to be valid upon investigation. A more precise figure cannot be made because "taxonomists are still busy clearing the mess." The poor quality of Stephani's work in his later years may have been the result of a progressive brain disease that affected work on the final three volumes, and the remnants of his life's work were published posthumously by Bonner in 1953.

Selected publications

*Stephani, F. (1898–1924). ''Species Hepaticarum'', vols. I–VI. Geneva.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stephani, Franz Botanists with author abbreviations 1842 births 1927 deaths 19th-century German botanists Scientists from Berlin People from the Province of Brandenburg