Maxwell "Max" Koch (17 July 1854 – 1 April 1925) was a German-born

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n botanical collector.

Biography

Born in Berlin, Koch was apprenticed to a merchant's office, but, not liking the work, joined the crew of a Glasgow-based sailing ship at Bremerhaven. Koch disembarked at Port Augusta, South Australia in April 1878, taking work at a wheat farm. Later he moved to Mount Lyndhurst sheep station, where he remained for many years. Around 1896 he began serious botanical collecting. Koch visited Germany around 1902–1903, then returned to Australia, and in 1904 moved to the extreme south-west of Western Australia, where he spent the next 17 years working in the timber industry. By that time he had a large family, and he supplemented his income by plant specimens, and, in his later years, seed. He died at

Pemberton, Western Australia Pemberton is a town in the South West region of Western Australia, named after original settler Pemberton Walcott. History The region was originally occupied by the Bibbulmun people who knew the area as Wandergarup, which in their language me ...

in 1925.

Legacy

During his lifetime, Koch very highly regarded by botanists, who considered him to be an outstanding botanical collector. In total his collections amount to about 820 species in South Australia and 2880 in Western Australia. These went to a range of botanists, herbaria, and botanic gardens, including

Joseph Henry Maiden Joseph Henry Maiden (25 April 1859 – 16 November 1925) was a botanist who made a major contribution to knowledge of the Australian flora, especially the genus ''Eucalyptus''. This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation when citing ...

in Sydney (who used Koch's specimens as exchange material), the botanic gardens at Adelaide and Brisbane, and several overseas recipients. More than 40 plant species were published from specimens collected by him, including ''

Lechenaultia macrantha ''Lechenaultia macrantha'', commonly known as wreath leschenaultia, is a species of flowering plant in the family Goodeniaceae and is endemic to inland areas of south-western Western Australia. It is a low-lying, wreath-like herb or subshrub wit ...

'', ''

Eucalyptus brachycorys ''Eucalyptus comitae-vallis'', commonly known as Comet Vale mallee or Cowcowing mallee, is a mallee that is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It has rough, flaky to ribbony bark on the trunk and larger branches, smooth withish bar ...

'' and '' Eucalyptus kochii''. The last of these was named in his honour, as were species of several other genera, including ''

Acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus na ...

'', '' Aizoon'', '' Scirpus'', ''

Thryptomene ''Thryptomene'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Myrtaceae and is endemic to Australia. Plants in the genus ''Thryptomene'' are shrubs with small leaves arranged in opposite pairs and white or pink flowers. About forty-seven specie ...

'' and '' Zygophyllum''.

Biography

Legacy

References

Further reading