Franz Xaver Freiherr von Wulfen 1728-1805

Franz Xaver Freiherr von Wulfen (5 November 1728 – 17 March 1805) was an Austrian botanist, zoologist, mineralogist, alpinist, and

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

priest. He is credited with discovering the flowering plants ''

Wulfenia carinthiaca ''Wulfenia carinthiaca'', commonly known as wulfenia, is a plant in the plantain family. It is endemic to the Gartnerkofel mountain of the Carnic Alps at the Austria, Austro-Italian border. It was discovered in 1779 by Franz Xaver von Wulfen, f ...

'', ''

Saxifraga moschata ''Saxifraga'' is the largest genus in the family Saxifragaceae, containing about 465 species of holarctic perennial plants, known as saxifrages or rockfoils. The Latin word ''saxifraga'' means literally "stone-breaker", from Latin ' ("rock" or " ...

'', and '' Stellaria bulbosa''. In 1845 the lead molybdate mineral

wulfenite Wulfenite is a lead molybdate mineral with the formula Pb Mo O4. It can be most often found as thin tabular crystals with a bright orange-red to yellow-orange color, sometimes brown, although the color can be highly variable. In its yellow form ...

was named in his honor by Wilhelm Karl von Haidinger.

Life

Wulfen was born in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

. His father, Christian Friedrich von Wulfen, was a high-ranking lieutenant in the

Austrian Army The Austrian Armed Forces (german: Bundesheer, lit=Federal Army) are the combined military forces of the Republic of Austria. The military consists of 22,050 active-duty personnel and 125,600 reservists. The military budget is 0.74% of natio ...

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

descent. His mother, née Mariassy, was a Hungarian countess. Franz's education took place at Kaschau Gymnasium in present-day

Košice Košice ( , ; german: Kaschau ; hu, Kassa ; pl, Коszyce) is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary. With a population of app ...

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

. When he was 17, he joined a Jesuit school in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. Following his graduation, he became a school instructor (chiefly of mathematics and physics) in Vienna,

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...

, Neusohl, Gorz, Laibach (

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...

), and from 1764

Klagenfurt Klagenfurt am WörtherseeLandesgesetzblatt 2008 vom 16. Jänner 2008, Stück 1, Nr. 1: ''Gesetz vom 25. Oktober 2007, mit dem die Kärntner Landesverfassung und das Klagenfurter Stadtrecht 1998 geändert werden.'/ref> (; ; sl, Celovec), usually ...

. After the

Suppression of the Society of Jesus The suppression of the Jesuits was the removal of all members of the Society of Jesus from most of the countries of Western Europe and their colonies beginning in 1759, and the abolishment of the order by the Holy See in 1773. The Jesuits were ...

in the 1760s, he remained in Klagenfurt until his death. By 1763, he was officially a priest. Wulfen died at the age of 76 years.

Work

From his twenty-second year he devoted himself to botany. The upland and valley flora of the Eastern Alps was his chief study. To find specimens, Wulfen frequently hiked up the

Großglockner The Grossglockner (german: Großglockner ; or just ''Glockner'') is, at 3,798 metres above the Adriatic (12,461 ft), the highest mountain in Austria and the highest mountain in the Alps east of the Brenner Pass. It is part of the larger Glock ...

and was a pioneer in exploring the Austrian Alps. In 1781, he published his studies in the well-illustrated ''Plantae rariorum Carinthicae'' (Rare Plants of

Carinthia Carinthia (german: Kärnten ; sl, Koroška ) is the southernmost States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The main language is German language, German. Its regional dialects belong to t ...

). With particular success, he conducted research of

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.algae Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular mic ...

. He made numerous trips to the south (on many occasions to the Adriatic Sea) and to the north as far as Holland. Wulfen was also a researcher of the fauna of the

Inner Austria Inner Austria (german: Innerösterreich; sl, Notranja Avstrija; it, Austria Interiore) was a term used from the late 14th to the early 17th century for the Habsburg hereditary lands south of the Semmering Pass, referring to the Imperial duchies ...

and the

Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) to t ...

. He concerned himself primarily with insects, fish, and birds.

Recognitions and commemoration

In 1796, Wulfen was elected a foreign member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien) is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special ...

. The

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

Wulfenia ''Wulfenia'' is a plant genus in the family Plantaginaceae. The genus was named after Franz Xaver von Wulfen (1728–1805), an Austrian botanist, zoologist, mineralogist, alpinist, and Jesuit priest. It was first described in 1781 by Nikolaus Jo ...

'' (in the family

Plantaginaceae Plantaginaceae, the plantain family, is a large, diverse family of flowering plants in the order Lamiales that includes common flowers such as snapdragon and foxglove. It is unrelated to the banana-like fruit also called "plantain." In older cl ...

) was named in 1782 in his honor by

Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin Nikolaus Joseph Freiherr von Jacquin (16 February 172726 October 1817) was a scientist who studied medicine, chemistry and botany. Biography Born in Leiden in the Netherlands, he studied medicine at Leiden University, then moved first to P ...

. Then in 1980 botanist D.Y.Hong published '' Wulfeniopsis'' which is a genus of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s belonging to the family Plantaginaceae, it also honor's Franz Xaver von Wulfen. Also, he is commemorated in about 22 plants with the specific epithet of ''wulfenii''. such as '' Dianthus wulfenii'' and '' Rosa wulfenii'' A monument in Klagenfurt, was erected in 1838, honors him, describing him as "equally great as priest, scholar and man".

Works

* ''Plantae rariores carinthiacae''. V: Miscellanea austriaca ad botanicam, chemiam et historiam naturalem spectantia, vol. I (1778) str. 147–163 in vol. II (1781) str. 25-183 * ''Abhandlung vom Kärntner Bleispate'', 1785 * ''Plantae rariores carinthiacae''. V: Collectanea ad botanicam, chemiam et historiam naturalem, vol. I (1786) str. 186–364, vol. II (1788) str. 112–234, vol. III (1789) str. 3–166, vol. IV (1790) str. 227-348 * ''Descriptiones Quorumdam Capensium Insectorum'', 1786 * ''De Plumbo Spatoso Carinthiaco'', 1791 * ''Plantae rariores descriptae'', 1803 * ''Cryptogama aquatica'', 1803 * ''Flora Norica phanerogama'',1858 (published posthumously like much of his work)

References

Wulfen, Franz Xaver Freiherr von
@ Austria Forum.
IPNI
List of plants described and co-described by Wulfen.

Sources