Georg Ludwig August Volkens (13 July 1855 – 10 January 1917) was a German

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 ...

born in Berlin. He studied natural sciences at the Universities of Berlin and Würzburg, graduating in 1882 with the thesis ''Ueber Wasserausscheidung in liquider Form an den Blaettern hoeherer Pflanzen''. As a student he was influenced by Alexander Braun (1805–1877), Julius von Sachs (1832–1897) and

Simon Schwendener Simon Schwendener (10 February 1829 – 27 May 1919) was a Swiss botanist who was a native of Buchs in the Canton of St. Gallen. In 1856 he received his doctorate at the University of Zurich, where afterwards he was an assistant to Carl Wilhelm ...

(1829–1919). In 1884-85 he conducted botanical research in Egypt on behalf of the ''Königlich-Preußischen Akademie der Wissenschaften''. In 1887 he obtained his habilitation, followed by work as an assistant to Adolf Engler (1844–1930) at the Botanical Museum in Berlin. Later he journeyed to East Africa, where he performed phytogeographical studies at

Mount Kilimanjaro Mount Kilimanjaro () is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It has three volcanic cones: Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world: above sea level and ab ...

, as well as conducting investigations on the regions' resources from an economic standpoint. On the expedition he collected numerous plant species new to science. In the years 1899 to 1900 he took part in a scientific/economic mission to the

Mariana Mariana may refer to: Literature * ''Mariana'' (Dickens novel), a 1940 novel by Monica Dickens * ''Mariana'' (poem), a poem by Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson * ''Mariana'' (Vaz novel), a 1997 novel by Katherine Vaz Music *"Mariana", a so ...

and Caroline Islands, where he spent seven months on the island of Yap. In 1902 he performed botanical duties at Buitzenborg, Java in an effort to distribute plants to Africa, New Guinea, Samoa and the Carolines for agricultural purposes. In 1900 he returned to Berlin, where he taught classes and conducted scientific research at the museum. The plant genus ''

Volkensinia ''Volkensinia'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Amaranthaceae. It only contains one known species; ''Volkensinia prostrata''. It is in the subfamily Amaranthoideae. Its native range is north eastern and eastern T ...

'' is named after him, as are numerous botanical species. Another genus was named ''Volkensiella'' , but that is now a synonym of '' Oenanthe'' L.

Selected writings

* ''Die Flora der ägyptisch-arabischen Wüste, auf Grundlage anatomisch-physikalischer Forschungen dargestellt'' (The flora of the Egyptian-Arabian desert, shown on the basis of anatomical and physiological research), 1887 * '' Chenopodiaceae'' in: Engler- Prantl's "Natürliche Pflanzenfamilien". III, 1, a, p 36–91. 1892 * ''Der Kilimandscharo'', 1897 * ''Über die Bestäubung einiger Loranthaceen und Proteaceen''. Festschrift für Schwendener. S. 251–270. (On the pollination of some

Loranthaceae Loranthaceae, commonly known as the showy mistletoes, is a family of flowering plants. It consists of about 75 genera and 1,000 species of woody plants, many of them hemiparasites. The three terrestrial species are ''Nuytsia floribunda'' (the W ...

and

Proteaceae The Proteaceae form a family of flowering plants predominantly distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. The family comprises 83 genera with about 1,660 known species. Together with the Platanaceae and Nelumbonaceae, they make up the order Pro ...

), 1899. * ''Laubfall und Lauberneuerung in den Tropen'', (Leaf fall and leaf regeneration in the tropics), 1911.
Deutsches Kolonial-Lexikon (1920), Band III, S. 630

References

The Conchological Society of Great Britain and Ireland
(biography) {{DEFAULTSORT:Volkens, Georg Scientists from Berlin 19th-century German botanists 1855 births 1917 deaths 20th-century German botanists