Jens Wilken Hornemann (6 March 1770 – 30 July 1841) 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 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 ...

Biography

He was a lecturer at the

University of Copenhagen Botanical Garden The University of Copenhagen Botanical Garden ( da, Botanisk have), usually referred to simply as Copenhagen Botanical Garden, is a botanical garden located in the centre of Copenhagen, Denmark. It covers an area of 10 hectares and is particularly ...

from 1801. After the death of

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 ...

in 1804, the task of publishing the

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 ...

was given to Hornemann, who subsequently issued fasc. 22-39 (1801–1840) with a total of 1080 plates. J.W. Hornemann was professor of

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 ...

at the

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

from 1808 and director of 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 ...

(from 1817). In 1815, he was elected a corresponding 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 ...

, and in 1816, his status was changed to that of foreign member.

Honours

Several plant

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

have been named in his honour, however for reasons of

taxonomy Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

and

nomenclature Nomenclature (, ) is a system of names or terms, or the rules for forming these terms in a particular field of arts or sciences. The principles of naming vary from the relatively informal naming conventions, conventions of everyday speech to the i ...

all names are today synonyms. ''Hornemannia''

Willd. Carl Ludwig Willdenow (22 August 1765 – 10 July 1812) was a German botanist, pharmacist, and plant taxonomist. He is considered one of the founders of phytogeography, the study of the geographic distribution of plants. Willdenow was al ...

(1809), once placed in

Scrophulariaceae The Scrophulariaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the figwort family. The plants are annual and perennial herbs, as well as shrubs. Flowers have bilateral (zygomorphic) or rarely radial (actinomorphic) symmetry. The Scr ...

, contained on two species, both of which are now referred to other genera (one to the genus ''

Mazus ''Mazus'' is a genus of low-growing perennial plants. It has been placed in various plant families including Phrymaceae, Scrophulariaceae, and recently in the family Mazaceae. page 47 Consisting of around 30 species, this genus is generally foun ...

'' Lour. (1790) and the other to ''

Lindernia The genus ''Lindernia'' is a group of plants in the family Linderniaceae. They are native to warm regions in both the Eastern and Western Hemisphere. The genus name of ''Lindernia'' is in honour of Franz Balthasar von Lindern (1682–1755), Fren ...

'' All. (1766)). This fact prohibits the use of the names ''Hornemannia''

Vahl Vahl is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Christian-Friedrich Vahl (born 1955), German cardiac surgeon * Emanuel Vahl (born 1938), Ukrainian-Israeli composer *Herbert-Ernst Vahl, German SS general *Jens Vahl (1796–1854), Danis ...

(1810) for the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

genus of

Ericaceae The Ericaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the heath or heather family, found most commonly in acidic and infertile growing conditions. The family is large, with c.4250 known species spread across 124 genera, making it th ...

(now to be called ''

Symphysia ''Vaccinium'' is a common and widespread genus of shrubs or dwarf shrubs in the Ericaceae, heath family (Ericaceae). The fruits of many species are eaten by humans and some are of commercial importance, including the cranberry, blueberry, bilbe ...

'' C.B. Presl (1827)) and ''Hornemannia'' Benth. (1846) for the

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...

tic genus of

(now to be called ''

Ellisiophyllum ''Ellisiophyllum'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Plantaginaceae. It contains just 1 species, ''Ellisiophyllum pinnatum'' (Wall. ex Benth.) Makino Its native range is Central Himalaya to New Guinea. It is found ...

'' Maxim. (1871)). He is also commemorated in the specific epithets for the

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

Carduelis hornemanni The Arctic redpoll or hoary redpoll (''Acanthis hornemanni'') is a bird species in the finch family Fringillidae. It breeds in tundra birch forest. It has two subspecies, ''A. h. hornemanni'' (Greenland or Hornemann's Arctic redpoll) of Greenla ...

'' (Arctic Redpoll), the

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 ...

Epilobium hornemannii ''Epilobium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Onagraceae, containing about 197 species. The genus has a worldwide distribution. It is most prevalent in the subarctic, temperate and subantarctic regions, whereas in the subtropics and ...

'' Rchb. (Hornemann's willowherb) and the agaric fungus '' Stropharia hornemannii'' (Fr.) S. Lundell & Nannf. (1934).

Private life

Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fairy tales, consisti ...

was a frequent visitor in Hornemann's home in

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 ...

. Andersen used him as model for "the Professor of Botany", who understands the gestures of the flowers, in the tale "Little Ida's Flowers".

References

1770 births 1841 deaths 18th-century Danish botanists University of Copenhagen faculty Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences 19th-century Danish botanists {{denmark-botanist-stub