Johann Jakob Bernhardi (1 September 1774, in

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits i ...

– 13 May 1850, in Erfurt) was a German doctor 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 ...

Biography

Johann J. Bernhardi studied Medicine and Botany at the University of Erfurt, and after graduation practiced medicine for a time in his native city. In 1799 he was named director of the

botanical 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 ...

at ''Gartenstraße'', and in 1809 was appointed professor of botany, zoology, mineralogy and materia medica at the university.Amtsblatt Nr. 24 vom 24.12.2004 - Erfurt
/ref> He served as director of the botanical garden until his death in 1850, being buried in the central avenue of this botanical garden. Throughout his life thanks to acquisitions and interchanges with other botanists, he assembled a considerable

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sheet of paper (called ...

of 60,000 plants with specimens from North America, South America, Asia, and Africa. After his death this herbarium did not remain in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

but due to the efforts of

George Engelmann George Engelmann, also known as Georg Engelmann, (2 February 1809 – 4 February 1884) was a German-American botanist. He was instrumental in describing the flora of the west of North America, then very poorly known to Europeans; he was particu ...

, who, in 1857, shortly after the death of Bernhardi bought the complete herbarium for the amount of 600 dollars for Henry Shaw, founder of the Botanical Garden of Missouri in the U.S.A., forms the nucleus of the collection and the initial museum of this Botanical Garden (at the moment the "Missouri Botanical Garden herbarium" contains over 6.2 million specimens and the library over 120,000 volumes). Johann J. Bernhardi studied and described several species of

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

s, including '' Epipactis atrorubens''. He described a species of rose without thorns, ''Rosa × francofurtana'', found in the garden of the house of Johann Wolfgang von

Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as treat ...

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...

. The genus ''Bernhardia'' (family

Psilotaceae Psilotaceae is a family of ferns (class Polypodiopsida) consisting of two genera, ''Psilotum'' and ''Tmesipteris'' with about a dozen species. It is the only family in the order Psilotales. Description Once thought to be descendants of early va ...

) is named in his honor. He was editor of the ''Thüringischen Gartenzeitung'' (Thuringian garden newspaper) and the ''Allgemeinen deutschen Gartenmagazin'' (General German garden magazine).translated biography
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Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' (ADB, german: Universal German Biography) is one of the most important and comprehensive biographical reference works in the German language. It was published by the Historical Commission of the Bavarian Aca ...

The thoroughfare, ''Jacob-Bernhardi-Straße'' in Erfurt, is named in his honor.

Works

* ''Catalogus plantarum horti Erfurtensis'', 1799. * ''Systematisches Verzeichnis der Pflanzen, welche in der Gegend um Erfurt gefunden werden'', 1800 - Systematic catalog of plants that are found in the vicinity of Erfurt. * ''Anleitung zu Kenntnis der Pflanzen'', 1804 - Botanical instruction manual. * ''Beobachtungen über Pflanzengefäße'', 1805 - Observations involving planters. * ''Ueber den Begriff der Pflanzenart und seine Anwendung'', 1835 - On the concept of "species" and its application.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernhardi, Johann Jakob German taxonomists 1774 births 1850 deaths Missouri Botanical Garden people Botanists with author abbreviations Academic staff of the University of Erfurt University of Erfurt alumni Physicians from Erfurt 18th-century German botanists 18th-century German physicians Scientists from Erfurt 19th-century German botanists 19th-century German physicians