Jens Laurentius Moestue Vahl (27 November 1796 – 12 November 1854) was a

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

botanist and pharmacist.

Biography

He was son of the

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

botanist and

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and d ...

Martin Vahl Martin Henrichsen Vahl (10 October 1749 – 24 December 1804) was a Danish-Norwegian botanist, herbalist and zoologist. Biography Martin Vahl was born in Bergen, Norway and attended Bergen Cathedral School. He studied botany at the University ...

(1749-1804). Jens Vahl graduated as a pharmacist in 1819 and then started studying

botany 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 w ...

and chemistry. Vahl participated W. A. Graah's expedition to uninhabited areas of East

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland i ...

in 1828–1830 with the purpose to search for the lost

Eastern Norse Settlement The Eastern Settlement ( non, Eystribygð ) was the first and by far the larger of the two main areas of Norse Greenland, settled by Norsemen from Iceland. At its peak, it contained approximately 4,000 inhabitants. The last written record from t ...

. The expedition - in

umiak The umiak, umialak, umiaq, umiac, oomiac, oomiak, ongiuk, or anyak is a type of open skin boat, used by both Yupik and Inuit, and was originally found in all coastal areas from Siberia to Greenland. First arising in Thule times, it has tradition ...

s - was largely unsuccessful, but Vahl's botanical collections extended the previous knowledge much. Financial support from king Christian VIII of Denmark enabled Vahl to continue his investigations. So he travelled in West

from 1829 to 1836, visiting all the

colonies from Julianehåb in the South to

Upernavik Upernavik (Kalaallisut: "Springtime Place") is a small town in the Avannaata municipality in northwestern Greenland, located on a small island of the same name. With 1,092 inhabitants as of 2020, it is the twelfth-largest town in Greenland. It c ...

in the North. He returned to

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

in 1836 with very extensive plant collections, which he later donated to the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public research university in Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia after Uppsala Unive ...

. The Vahl collections added several lengths to the previous investigations by

Paul Egede Paul or Poul Hansen Egede (9 September 1708 – 6 June 1789) was a Dano-Norwegian theologian, missionary, and scholar who was principally concerned with the Lutheran mission among the Kalaallit people in Greenland that had been established by his ...

, Morten Wormskjold and others, and effectively laid the foundation of knowledge about the

flora of Greenland The flora of Greenland consists of a total of 583 species or 614 taxa (species and subspecies) of vascular plants, of which 13 are endemic, and 87 taxa introduced by humans, most of which are naturalized. Apiaceae *'' Angelica archangelica ...

. In contrast to his predecessors, Vahl made meticulous notes on the finding circumstances, like exact location and

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

of the plants. In 1838–1839, Vahl participated in a French expedition lead by Joseph Paul Gaimard (1796–1858) to

Nordkapp ), North Cape, Norway, other uses, North Cape (disambiguation) Nordkapp ( en, North Cape; sme, Davvinjárga or ; fkv, Kappa or ) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the tow ...

and Spitsbergen. In 1840, he was made assistant at the

Botanic Garden 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 ...

. He described many new species, e.g. ''

Draba arctica ''Draba'' is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Brassicaceae, commonly known as whitlow-grasses (though they are not related to the true grasses). Species There are over 400 species: *'' Draba abajoensis'' Windham & Al-Shehbaz *'' ...

'', but he did not finish the planned

flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' ...

before his death. His successor,

Johan Lange Johan Martin Christian Lange (20 March 1818 – 3 April 1898) was a prominent Danish botanist. He held the post of Librarian at the Botanical library of the University of Copenhagen from 1851 to 1858. He was Director of the Botanical Garden ...

, picked up the task two decades later, which resulted in ''Conspectus Florae Groenlandicae'' (1887–1894). Together with Salomon Drejer and

Joakim Frederik Schouw Joakim Frederik Schouw (7 February 1789 – 28 April 1852) was a Danish lawyer, botanist and politician. From 1821, professor in botany at the University of Copenhagen — first extraordinary professor, but after the death of J.W. Hornemann in ...

, Vahl was the publisher of ''

Flora Danica ''Flora Danica'' is a comprehensive atlas of botany from the Age of Enlightenment, containing folio-sized pictures of all the wild plants native to Denmark, in the period from 1761 to 1883. History ''Flora Danica'' was proposed by G. C. Oede ...

'' Fasc. 38. Two plant genera have been named in his honour: * '' Vahlodea''

Fries French fries (North American English), chips (British English), finger chips ( Indian English), french-fried potatoes, or simply fries, are '' batonnet'' or ''allumette''-cut deep-fried potatoes of disputed origin from Belgium and France. Th ...

(1842) in Poaceae * '' Mostuea'' Didr. (1853) in

Gelsemiaceae Gelsemiaceae is a family of flowering plants, belonging to the order Gentianales. The family contains only three genera: '' Gelsemium'', '' Mostuea'' and '' Pteleocarpa''. ''Gelsemium'' has three species, one native to Southeast Asia and southern ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vahl, Jens 1796 births 1854 deaths 19th-century Danish botanists Botanists active in the Arctic University of Copenhagen alumni