Hans Schinz (6 December 1858 – 30 October 1941) was a Swiss explorer and

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 ...

who was a native of

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

. In 1884 he participated in an exploratory expedition to

German Southwest Africa German South West Africa (german: Deutsch-Südwestafrika) was a colony of the German Empire from 1884 until 1915, though Germany did not officially recognise its loss of this territory until the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. With a total area of ...

that was organized by German merchant

Adolf Lüderitz Franz Adolf Eduard Lüderitz (16 July 1834 – end of October 1886) was a German merchant and the founder of German South West Africa, Imperial Germany's first colony. The coastal town of Lüderitz, located in the ǁKaras Region of southern N ...

(1834–1886). For the next few years Schinz undertook extensive scientific studies of the northern parts of the colony. As a result of the expedition, he published ''Deutsch-Südwestafrika, Forschungsreisen durch die deutschen Schutzgebiete Groß- Nama- und Hereroland, nach dem Kunene, dem Ngamisee und Kalahari884-1887'' (German South West Africa: Research Expedition of

Herero Herero may refer to: * Herero people, a people belonging to the Bantu group, with about 240,000 members alive today * Herero language, a language of the Bantu family (Niger-Congo group) * Herero and Namaqua Genocide * Herero chat, a species of b ...

and Nama Country, the

Kunene Region Kunene is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia. Its capital is Opuwo, its governor is Marius Sheya. The region's name comes from the Kunene River which forms the northern border with Angola. Besides the capital Opuwo, the region contains the ...

Lake Ngami Lake Ngami is an endorheic lake in Botswana north of the Kalahari Desert. It is seasonally filled by the Taughe River, an effluent of the Okavango River system flowing out of the western side of the Okavango Delta. It is one of the fragmented remn ...

and the

Kalahari The Kalahari Desert is a large semi-arid sandy savanna in Southern Africa extending for , covering much of Botswana, and parts of Namibia and South Africa. It is not to be confused with the Angolan, Namibian, and South African Namib coastal de ...

; 1884–1887). This work was an important scientific,

geographic Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...

and

ethnographic Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...

study of the colony, and was one of the first comprehensive works on the

Ovamboland Ovamboland, also referred to as Owamboland, was a Bantustan in South West Africa (present-day Namibia), intended by the apartheid government to be a self-governing homeland for the Ovambo people. The term originally referred to the parts of ...

region. It was during this expedition that he made the acquaintance of the Finnish missionary Martti Rautanen (1845–1926) at

Olukonda Olukonda is a settlement in the Oshikoto Region in the north of Namibia. It is the district capital of the Olukonda electoral constituency. During colonial time of German South West Africa the missionary station and settlement was known as the ...

, and named the tree '' Ricinodendron rautanenii'' after him. In 1889 he received his habilitation at

, where in 1895 he became a professor and director of the

botanical gardens A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

. With Robert Keller (1854–1939), he was the author of ''Flora der Schweiz'', a work on Swiss flora that published over several editions from 1900 to 1923. Several taxa have been named in his honour; In 1889, Swiss botanist

Victor Fayod Victor Fayod (23 November 1860 – 28 April 1900) was a Swiss mycologist, who created an influential novel classification of the agaric fungi and who described a number of new genera and species. Biographical overview Fayod was born on 23 Nove ...

published '' Schinzinia'', which is a fungal

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 ...

in the family

Agaricaceae The Agaricaceae are a family of basidiomycete fungi and include the genus ''Agaricus'', as well as basidiomycetes previously classified in the families Tulostomataceae, Lepiotaceae, and Lycoperdaceae. Taxonomy The family Agaricaceae was publishe ...

. Also in 1889, ''Melioschinzia'' (in the

Meliaceae Meliaceae, the mahogany family, is a flowering plant family of mostly trees and shrubs (and a few herbaceous plants, mangroves) in the order Sapindales. They are characterised by alternate, usually pinnate leaves without stipules, and by syncarp ...

family), was published by K.Schum., this genus is now a synonym of '' Chisocheton''. ''Schinzafra'' (in

Bruniaceae Bruniaceae is a family of shrubs native to the cape region of South Africa. They are mostly restricted to the Cape Province, but a small number of species occur in KwaZulu-Natal. Description Species belonging to the Bruniaceae are heath-like s ...

family) was published by

Kuntze Kuntze is a surname of German origin. People with that name include: * Carl Kuntze (1922-2006), Dutch rower who competed at the 1952 Summer Olympics * Edward J. Kuntze (1826-1870), Prussian-born American sculptor * Otto Kuntze (1843-1907), German ...

in 1891, this genus is now a synonym of ''

Thamnea ''Thamnea'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Bruniaceae Bruniaceae is a family of shrubs native to the cape region of South Africa. They are mostly restricted to the Cape Province, but a small number of species occur in ...

''. Then in 1895, botanist

Ernst Friedrich Gilg Ernest (or Ernst) Friedrich Gilg (12 January 1867 in Baden-Württemberg, Germany – 11 October 1933 in Berlin) was a German botanist. Life Gilg was curator of the Botanical Museum in Berlin. With fellow botanist Adolf Engler, he co-authore ...

published '' Schinziella'', a

monotypic genus In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

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 from Africa, belonging to the family

Gentianaceae Gentianaceae is a family of flowering plants of 103 genera and about 1600 species. Etymology The family takes its name from the genus '' Gentiana'', named after the Illyrian king Gentius. Distribution Distribution is cosmopolitan. Characteri ...

. Lastly, from the

Euphorbiaceae Euphorbiaceae, the spurge family, is a large family of flowering plants. In English, they are also commonly called euphorbias, which is also the name of a genus in the family. Most spurges, such as ''Euphorbia paralias'', are herbs, but some, e ...

family, '' Schinziophyton'' was published in Kew Bull. 45: 157 (in 1990) by Hutch. ex Radcl.Sm.

Notes

References

Biographies of Namibian Personalities
by Klaus Dierks

External links

* Swiss explorers Swiss taxonomists 1858 births 1941 deaths University of Zurich faculty Swiss Protestants 19th-century Swiss botanists 20th-century Swiss botanists {{Switzerland-botanist-stub

See also

Notes

References

External links