Muzio Giuseppe Spirito de Tommasini, sometimes referred to as Muzio Tommasini or as Mutius von Tommasini (4 June 1794 – 31 December 1879) 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

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

born in

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into provi ...

under Austria-Hungary. He first became interested in botany as a grammar school student in

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...

. While studying medicine at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

, he was inspired by the work of professor

Joseph Franz von Jacquin Joseph "Krystel" Franz Freiherr von Jacquin or Baron Joseph von Jacquin (7 February 1766, in Schemnitz (now Banská Štiavnica) – 26 October 1839, in Vienna) was an Austrian Empire, Austrian scientist who studied medicine, chemistry, zoolog ...

(1766-1839), and conducted investigations of flora in the vicinity of

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. Afterwards, Tommasini studied law at the

University of Graz The University of Graz (german: link=no, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, ), located in Graz, Austria, is the largest and oldest university in Styria, as well as the second-largest and second-oldest university in Austria. History The unive ...

. A career politician, he received his first appointment in 1817 as an official in the district of

Istria Istria ( ; Croatian language, Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; ist, Eîstria; Istro-Romanian language, Istro-Romanian, Italian language, Italian and Venetian language, Venetian: ; formerly in Latin and in Ancient Greek) is the larges ...

. During the following year he was elected district secretary of the city of

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, enterta ...

. From 1839 to 1860 he was mayor of

. Following his retirement in 1860, he devoted his time to investigations of local flora. As a botanist he participated in several noteworthy expeditions. Early in his career he took exploratory trips to the Biokovo Mountains in 1823 and to

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see #Name, names in other languages) is one of the four historical region, historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of ...

in 1827. In 1832 he accompanied Nicolas-Théodore de Saussure (1767-1845) on a botanical excursion through the

Austrian Littoral The Austrian Littoral (german: Österreichisches Küstenland, it, Litorale Austriaco, hr, Austrijsko primorje, sl, Avstrijsko primorje, hu, Osztrák Tengermellék) was a crown land (''Kronland'') of the Austrian Empire, established in 1849. ...

, and in 1837 with British botanist

George Bentham George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studi ...

(1800-1884) he carried out studies in the regions of

Carniola Carniola ( sl, Kranjska; , german: Krain; it, Carniola; hu, Krajna) is a historical region that comprised parts of present-day Slovenia. Although as a whole it does not exist anymore, Slovenes living within the former borders of the region sti ...

Carinthia Carinthia (german: Kärnten ; sl, Koroška ) is the southernmost States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The main language is German language, German. Its regional dialects belong to t ...

and

Friuli Friuli ( fur, Friûl, sl, Furlanija, german: Friaul) is an area of Northeast Italy with its own particular cultural and historical identity containing 1,000,000 Friulians. It comprises the major part of the autonomous region Friuli Venezia Giulia ...

. After his election as mayor in 1839, his scientific studies were largely confined to the vicinity of Trieste. However, in 1840 he journeyed to the

Julian Alps The Julian Alps ( sl, Julijske Alpe, it, Alpi Giulie, , ) are a mountain range of the Southern Limestone Alps that stretch from northeastern Italy to Slovenia, where they rise to 2,864 m at Mount Triglav, the highest peak in Slovenia. A large pa ...

, where he scaled Monte Matajur. Soon afterwards he collaborated with

Otto Sendtner Otto Sendtner (27 June 1813 – 21 April 1859) was a German botanist and phytogeography, phytogeographer born in Munich. He received his education at the University of Munich, where he was a student of Karl Friedrich Schimper (1803–1867). Aft ...

(1813-1859) on an exploratory trip to the coastal areas of Austria, where plants for an

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 ...

were collected. Tommasini played an important part in the creation of the ''

Civico Museo di Storia Naturale di Trieste Civico Museo di Storia Naturale di Trieste is a natural history museum in Trieste, northern Italy. It contains several collections, including more than two millions botanical, zoological, mineralogical, geological, and paleontological specimens. ...

''. The species ''

Crocus tommasinianus ''Crocus tommasinianus'', the woodland crocus, early crocus, or Tommasini's crocus, was named after the botanist Muzio G. Spirito de Tommasini (1794-1879). It is native to Bulgaria, Hungary, Albania, and the former Yugoslavia. It is often refer ...

'' is named in his honor. This plant is commonly referred to as ''Elfenkrokus'' (elfin

crocus ''Crocus'' (; plural: crocuses or croci) is a genus of seasonal flowering plants in the family Iridaceae (iris family) comprising about 100 species of perennials growing from corms. They are low growing plants, whose flower stems remain undergro ...

) in Germany, and sometimes as "tommies" or "tommy" in English speaking countries.Plant World Seeds
Crocus Tommasinianus

References

;Sources * ''This article is based on a translation of an equivalent article at the

German Wikipedia The German Wikipedia (german: Deutschsprachige Wikipedia) is the German-language edition of Wikipedia, a free and publicly editable online encyclopedia. Founded on March 16, 2001, it is the second-oldest Wikipedia (after the English Wikipedia), ...

'', references listed as: *
Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich
(biography) *
Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie
(biography) ;Citations {{DEFAULTSORT:Tommasini, Mutius von 19th-century Austrian botanists 1794 births 1879 deaths University of Vienna alumni University of Graz alumni Austrian politicians Mayors of Trieste