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 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 ...

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 prov ...

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 are ...

. 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 hist ...

, 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 scientist who studied medicine, chemistry, zoology and botany. ...

(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 univers ...

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

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

(1800-1884) he carried out studies in the regions of Carniola, Carinthia 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 Giuli ...

. 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 p ...

, where he scaled Monte Matajur. Soon afterwards he collaborated with Otto Sendtner (1813-1859) on an exploratory trip to the coastal areas of Austria, where plants for an herbarium 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 under ...

) 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'', 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