Jan Commelin (23 April 1629 – 19 January 1692), also known as Jan Commelijn, Johannes Commelin or Johannes Commelinus, was 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 ...

, and was the son of historian Isaac Commelin; his brother Casparus was a bookseller and newspaper publisher. Jan became a professor of botany when many plants were imported from the Cape and Ceylon and a new system had to be developed. As

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...

of the city, together with

burgomaster Burgomaster (alternatively spelled burgermeister, literally "master of the town, master of the borough, master of the fortress, master of the citizens") is the English form of various terms in or derived from Germanic languages for the chief m ...

Johan Huydecoper van Maarsseveen he led the arrangement of the new botanic garden Hortus Medicus, later becoming Hortus Botanicus. He cultivated exotic plants on his farm 'Zuyderhout' near Haarlem. Commelin amassed a fortune by selling herbs and drugs to apothecaries and hospitals in Amsterdam and other Dutch cities. Commelin did a great deal of the work in publishing ''Hortus malabaricus'' of Rheede, and ''Nederlandse Flora'' published in 1683 as well as contributing commentaries to the second and third volumes. He also prepared for publication "Horti Medici Amstelodamensis Rariorum" which appeared in 1697 and dealt mainly with plants from the

East East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...

and

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

, and was illustrated mainly by

Jan Moninckx Jan Moninckx (c1656 Leende - buried 20 May 1714 Amsterdam), was a Dutch botanical artist and painter, best known for the colour plates he and his daughter, Maria Moninckx, created and which make up the nine-volume ''Moninckx Atlas''. This was pub ...

and his daughter

Maria Moninckx Maria Moninckx (22 April 1673 (baptised) - 26 February 1757 (buried)) was a Dutch botanical artist and painter, best known for the colour plates she and her father, Jan Moninckx, created and which make up the nine-volume ''Moninckx Atlas''. Th ...

. His nephew

Caspar Commelin Caspar Commelijn or Caspar Commelin (14 October 1668 Amsterdam – 25 December 1731 Amsterdam), was a Dutch botanist. Life and work He was the son of the bookseller, historian and publisher, Casparus Commelijn and his first wife, Margrieta Heyd ...

(1667-1734) became the director of the Amsterdam botanic garden after

Peter Hotton Petrus Houttuyn (18 June 1648, Amsterdam – 10 January 1709, Leiden), often cited as Peter Hotton, was a Dutch botanist and medical professor of medicine and botany at Leiden University. As professor of botany, he was ex officio supervisor of th ...

left. Caspar finished the work of his uncle and had it published with the help of

Frederik Ruysch Frederik Ruysch (; March 28, 1638 – February 22, 1731) was a Dutch botany, botanist and anatomy, anatomist. He is known for developing techniques for preserving anatomical specimens, which he used to create dioramas or scenes incorporating hum ...

. * In

Maarssen Maarssen () is a town in the middle of the Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht, along the river Vecht and the Amsterdam–Rhine Canal. The west of Maarssen is called Maarssen-BroekStatistics are taken from thSDU Staatscourant whereas the east ...

there is a Commelinhof. * The genus ''

Commelina ''Commelina'' is a genus of approximately 170 species commonly called dayflowers due to the short lives of their flowers. They are less often known as widow's tears. It is by far the largest genus of its family, Commelinaceae. The Swedish taxonom ...

'' is named after him.

Works

* ''Nederlantze Hesperides'' (1676) * ''Catalogus plantarum indigenarum Hollandiae'' (1683) * ''Horti medici Amstelodamensis rariorum...'' (1697-1701)

Sources

Wilfrid Blunt Wilfrid Scawen Blunt (17 August 1840 – 10 September 1922), sometimes spelt Wilfred, was an English poet and writer. He and his wife Lady Anne Blunt travelled in the Middle East and were instrumental in preserving the Arabian horse bloodlines ...

: ''The Art of Botanical Illustration: An Illustrated History''. Dover Publications, 1994. *

Gordon Douglas Rowley Gordon Douglas Rowley (1921–2019) was a British botanist and writer specialising in cacti and succulents. Personal life Rowley was born on 31 July 1921 in London, UK to Cecil and Florence Gladys (née Goldsworthy) Rowley. He went to The Low ...

: ''A History of Succulent Plants''. Strawberry Press, 1997.
D.O. Wijnands (Herausgeber): ''The Botany of the Commelins''. Rotterdam, 1983.

References

1629 births 1692 deaths 17th-century Dutch botanists Pre-Linnaean botanists Scientists from Amsterdam {{Netherlands-botanist-stub