Otto Sendtner (27 June 1813 – 21 April 1859) was a German

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

phytogeographer Phytogeography (from Greek φυτόν, ''phytón'' = "plant" and γεωγραφία, ''geographía'' = "geography" meaning also distribution) or botanical geography is the branch of biogeography that is concerned with the geographic distribution o ...

born in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. He received his education at the University of Munich, where he was a student of

Karl Friedrich Schimper Karl Friedrich Schimper (15 February 1803 – 21 December 1867) was a German botany, botanist, Natural science, naturalist and poet. Life Early life and education Schimper was born in Mannheim, on February 15, 1803, to Friedrich Ludwig ...

(1803–1867). Afterwards he served as a private secretary to a

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

n nobleman, and during his spare time performed studies of cryptogramic flora of the

Sudetenland The Sudetenland ( , ; Czech and sk, Sudety) is the historical German name for the northern, southern, and western areas of former Czechoslovakia which were inhabited primarily by Sudeten Germans. These German speakers had predominated in the ...

. In 1841 he was appointed

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

of the ''Leuchtenbergsche Naturalienkabinett'' in Eichstätt. Two years later he accompanied Mutius von Tommasini (1794–1879) on a botanical excursion through

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 ...

and

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

, and in 1847 conducted botanical research in

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...

. During this time period he also performed phytogeographical studies in southern Bavaria. In 1854 he became an associate professor, and in 1857 was appointed to the second chair of botany, as well as first curator of the

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 ...

at the University of Munich. Sendtner was a pioneer in the field of

phytogeography Phytogeography (from Greek φυτόν, ''phytón'' = "plant" and γεωγραφία, ''geographía'' = "geography" meaning also distribution) or botanical geography is the branch of biogeography that is concerned with the geographic distribution o ...

, and in his research conducted important analyses involving the vertical distribution patterns of different types of vegetation. The genus ''Sendtnera''

Endl. Stephan Ladislaus Endlicher also known as Endlicher István László (24 June 1804, Pressburg, Bratislava (Pozsony) – 28 March 1849, Vienna) was an Austrian Empire, Austrian botanist, numismatist and Sinologist. He was a director of the Botan ...

(1840) is probably named after him, although no etymology is given. Also the

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

of '' Halacsya sendtneri'' (Boiss.) Dörfl. was also named in his honour. As a taxonomist he described many plants within the family

Solanaceae The Solanaceae , or nightshades, are a family of flowering plants that ranges from annual and perennial herbs to vines, lianas, epiphytes, shrubs, and trees, and includes a number of agricultural crops, medicinal plants, spices, weeds, and orn ...

. In 1993, the University of Munich started producing ''Sendtnera'', an annually published botanical magazine of the university botany department. It was named after Otto Sendtner. Until Volume 8 in 2002.

Selected publications

* ''Die Vegetationsverhältnisse Südbayerns nach den Grundsätzen der Pflanzengeographie und mit Bezugnahme auf die Landeskultur'' (Vegetation conditions of southern Bavaria in accordance with principles of plant geography and with reference to the local culture), 1854 * ''Die Vegetationsverhältnisse des Bayerischen Waldes nach den Grundsätzen der Pflanzengeographie'' (Vegetation conditions of the Bavarian Forest in accordance with the principles of plant geography), 1860

References

* This article is based on a translation of an article from 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), ...

that includes information from: *
ADB:Sendtner, Otto
@

Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' (ADB, german: Universal German Biography) is one of the most important and comprehensive biographical reference works in the German language. It was published by the Historical Commission of the Bavarian Aca ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sendtner, Otto 19th-century German botanists Scientists from Munich Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich faculty German phytogeographers 1813 births 1859 deaths German taxonomists

Selected publications

See also

References