Johann August Ludwig Preiss (21 November 1811 – 21 May 1883) was a German-born British botanist and zoologist.

Early life

Preiss was born in Herzberg am Harz. He obtained a doctorate, probably at

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, then emigrated to

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

Australia

Preiss was one of a number of influential German-speaking residents such as

William Blandowski Johann Wilhelm Theodor Ludwig von Blandowski, known as William Blandowski (21 January 1822 – 18 December 1878), was a German explorer, soldier, zoologist and mining engineer of Polish roots, he is most famous for his exploration of the Murray an ...

, Ludwig Becker,

Hermann Beckler Dr. Hermann Beckler (28 September 1828, in Höchstädt an der Donau – 10 December 1914, in Fischen im Allgäu) was a German doctor with an interest in botany. He went to Australia to collect specimen for Ferdinand von Mueller and served as med ...

Amalie Dietrich Koncordie Amalie Dietrich (née Nelle) (26 May 1821 – 9 March 1891) was a German naturalist who was best known for her work in Australia from 1863 to 1872, collecting specimens for the Museum Godeffroy in Hamburg. Australia Dietrich was one ...

Diedrich Henne Diedrich Henne (1834 – 21 January 1913) was a German-born botanist and plant collector. He emigrated to Australia and was employed as an assistant to the colonial botanist Ferdinand von Mueller at the Melbourne Herbarium. Henne was one of a n ...

, Gerard Krefft, Johann Luehmann,

Johann Menge Johannes Menge (4 January 1788 – 1852), is regarded as South Australia's first geologist, though he had no formal qualifications. An early explorer of the new colony, he was influential in the settlement of the Barossa Valley. He has been call ...

, Carl Ludwig Christian Rümker (a.k.a. Ruemker),

Moritz Richard Schomburgk Moritz Richard Schomburgk (5 October 1811 – 24 March 1891), generally known as Richard Schomburgk, was a German botanist and curator of the Adelaide Botanic Garden. Family Schomburgk was born in Freyburg, Saxony, the son of Johann Friedrich Lu ...

, Richard Wolfgang Semon, George Ulrich, Eugene von Guérard, Robert von Lendenfeld,

Ferdinand von Mueller Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (german: Müller; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Vict ...

Georg von Neumayer Georg Balthazar von Neumayer (21 June 1826 – 24 May 1909), was a German polar explorer and scientist who was a proponent of the idea of international cooperation for meteorology and scientific observation. Biography Early years Born i ...

, and

Carl Wilhelmi Johann Freiderich Carl Wilhelmi (1829–1884) was a Dresden born seedsman who made large collections of botanical specimens in southern Australia. Wilhelmi was one of a number of influential German-speaking residents such as Ludwig Becker, Herman ...

who brought their "epistemic traditions" to Australia, and not only became "deeply entangled with the Australian colonial project", but also "intricately involved in imagining, knowing and shaping colonial Australia" (Barrett, et al., 2018, p.2). He arrived at the Swan River Colony on board the ''Britmart'' on 4 December 1838, remaining there until January 1842; during this time he became a British subject.

Specimens

During his time in Western Australia, Preiss collected about 200,000 plant specimens, containing from 3,000 to 4,000 species. His collections, together with those of James Drummond, formed the basis for early study of Western Australian flora. In 1842, he left Western Australia for

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, where he broke up and sold his plant collection to recoup his costs. Various botanists published species based on his specimens, and these were later collated by Johann Lehmann to form the multi-volume ''Plantae Preissianae Sive Enumeratio Plantarum Quas in Australasia Occidentali et Meridionale Occidentali Annis 1838-41 Collegit L'', published in Hamburg between 1844 and 1848. The specimens collected by Preiss were not limited to plants: they included birds, reptiles, insects and molluscs. The molluscs were described by Karl Theodor Menke and published in

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

in 1843 titled ''Molluscorum Novae Hollandiae Specimen''. In October 1839, Preiss tried to sell his collection of bird skins to the colonial government in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

, but it was declined. Preiss's collection of animals was sold in parts throughout Europe to museums and collectors. The only distinguishable collection of any note, still extant, is in the Municipal Museum of Halberstadt. The collection of bird skins, representatives of 181 species, was also distributed to various museums; one set that was viewed in 1937 at Hamburg's Zoölogical Museum was lost when the building was destroyed in the subsequent bombing campaigns at the city. The first specimen of the

Western Swamp Tortoise The western swamp turtle or western swamp tortoise (''Pseudemydura umbrina'') is a critically endangered species of freshwater turtle endemic to a small portion of Western Australia. It is the only member of the genus ''Pseudemydura'' in the mon ...

was collected by Preiss in 1839 and sent to the Vienna Museum where it was labelled ''New Holland'', but was not named ''Pseudemydura umbrina'' until 1901 by Seibenrock. No further collections of the species were recorded until 1953.National Recovery Plan for the Western Swamp Tortoise (Pseudemydura umbrina)
Dept Environment and Water Resources

Germany

Preiss returned to Herzberg am Harz in 1844 and settled there. He died there on 21 May 1883. It had been on his recommendation that

moved to Australia in 1847.

Commemorated

Preiss is commemorated in the names of about 100 species of flora in Western Australia, including plants in the genera '' Acacia'', ''

Allocasuarina ''Allocasuarina'' is a genus of trees in the flowering plant family Casuarinaceae. They are endemic to Australia, occurring primarily in the south. Like the closely related genus '' Casuarina'', they are commonly called sheoaks or she-oaks. ...

'', ''

Eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including '' Corymbia'', they are commonly known as e ...

'', ''

Grevillea ''Grevillea'', commonly known as spider flowers, is a genus of about 360 species of evergreen flowering plants in the family Proteaceae. Plants in the genus ''Grevillea'' are shrubs, rarely trees, with the leaves arranged alternately along the b ...

'', ''

Hakea ''Hakea'' ( ) is a genus of about 150 species of plants in the Family ''Proteaceae'', endemic to Australia. They are shrubs or small trees with leaves that are sometimes flat, otherwise circular in cross section in which case they are sometimes d ...

'', ''

Kunzea ''Kunzea'' is a genus of plants in the family Myrtaceae and is endemic to Australasia. They are shrubs, sometimes small trees and usually have small, crowded, rather aromatic leaves. The flowers are similar to those of plants in the genus '' Lep ...

'', '' Melaleuca'', ''

Santalum ''Santalum'' is a genus of woody flowering plants in the Santalaceae family, the best known and commercially valuable of which is the Indian sandalwood tree, '' S. album''. Members of the genus are trees or shrubs. Most are root parasites w ...

'', ''

Xanthorrhoea ''Xanthorrhoea'' () is a genus of about 30 species of flowering plants endemic to Australia. Species are known by the name grass tree. Description All are perennials and have a secondary thickening meristem in the stem. Many, but not all, ...

'' and '' Callitris''.

Footnotes

References

* Barrett, L., Eckstein, L., Hurley, A.W. & Schwarz A. (2018), "Remembering German-Australian Colonial Entanglement: An Introduction", ''Postcolonial Studies'', Vol.21, No.1, (January 2018), pp.1-5. * Calaby, J.H. (1967
Preiss, Johann August Ludwig (1811–1883)
'' Australian Dictionary of Biography'' accessed 2 February 2007 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Preiss, Ludwig 1811 births 1883 deaths People from Herzberg am Harz Botanists active in Australia Botanical collectors active in Australia Botany in Western Australia 19th-century Australian zoologists 19th-century German botanists Settlers of Western Australia