Gustav Wilhelm Körber (10 January 1817, Hirschberg – 27 January 1885, Breslau) was a German lichenologist. He studied natural sciences in Breslau and Berlin, obtaining his PhD in 1839 with the thesis ''De gonidiis lichenum''. After graduation, he served as an instructor at the "Elisabethanum" in Breslau, and from 1862, worked as a private teacher. In 1873 he became an associate professor at the

University of Breslau A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

.JSTOR Global Plants
(biography) Best known for his investigations 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.Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

, he also examined specimens found in central and southeastern Europe as well as lichen collected from

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

and

Arctic region The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenland), Finland, Iceland, N ...

s. Körber is credited with introducing the term in an 1855 publication to describe the distinctive multi-chambered

spore In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many plants, algae, f ...

s of the lichen genera ''

Rhizocarpon ''Rhizocarpon'' is a genus of crustose, saxicolous (or sometimes lichenicolous), lichens in the family Rhizocarpaceae. The genus is common in arctic-alpine environments, but also occurs throughout temperate, subtropical, and even tropical regio ...

'' and ''

Umbilicaria Rock tripe is the List of common names of lichen genera, common name for various lichens of the genus ''Umbilicaria'' that grow on rocks. They are widely distributed, including on bare rock in Antarctica, and throughout northern parts of North Am ...

'', as well as the terms and in later publications. He published the

exsiccata Exsiccata (Latin, ''gen.'' -ae, ''plur.'' -ae) is a work with "published, uniform, numbered set of preserved specimens distributed with printed labels". Typically, exsiccatae refer to numbered collections of dried herbarium specimens respectivel ...

''Lichenes selecti Germanici''. The genera '' Koerberia'' (within the Placynthiaceae family) and '' Koerberiella'' (in the

Lecideaceae The Lecideaceae are a family of lichens in the order Lecideales (Ascomycota, class Lecanoromycetes). Genera According to a recent (2022) estimate, the Lecideaceae comprise 29 genera and about 260 species. The following list indicates the genus ...

family) are named after him.

Selected works

* ''Grundriss der kryptogamen-kunde'', 1848 – Outline of

cryptogam A cryptogam (scientific name Cryptogamae) is a plant (in the wide sense of the word) or a plant-like organism that reproduces by spores, without flowers or seeds. The name ''Cryptogamae'' () means "hidden reproduction", referring to the fact ...

ic species. * ''Systema lichenum Germaniae: Die Flechten Deutschlands'', 1855 – "Systema lichenum Germaniae": German lichens. * ''Parerga lichenologica: Ergänzungen zum Systema lichenum'', 1865 – "Parerga lichenologica": Supplement to "Systema lichenum". * ''Lichenen aus Istrien, Dalmatien u. Albanien'': (with Emanuel Weiss), 1867 – Lichens of

Istria Istria ( ; Croatian language, Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; ist, Eîstria; Istro-Romanian language, Istro-Romanian, Italian language, Italian and Venetian language, Venetian: ; formerly in Latin and in Ancient Greek) is the larges ...

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see #Name, names in other languages) is one of the four historical region, historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of ...

and

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

. * ''Lichenen Spitzbergens und Novaja-Semlja's, auf der graf Wilczek'schen expedition'', 1872 – Lichens of

Spitzbergen Svalbard ( , ), also known as Spitsbergen, or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it is about midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the group range ...

and

Novaya Zemlya Novaya Zemlya (, also , ; rus, Но́вая Земля́, p=ˈnovəjə zʲɪmˈlʲa, ) is an archipelago in northern Russia. It is situated in the Arctic Ocean, in the extreme northeast of Europe, with Cape Flissingsky, on the northern island, ...

, from the Wilczek expedition.Google Search
publications)

References

1817 births 1885 deaths German lichenologists People from Jelenia Góra People from the Province of Silesia University of Breslau faculty 19th-century German botanists {{Germany-botanist-stub

Selected works

See also

References