Friedrich Anton Wilhelm Miquel (24 October 1811 – 23 January 1871) was a Dutch

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 ...

, whose main focus of study was on the

flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring ( indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. ...

of the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, whic ...

Early life

Miquel was born in Neuenhaus and studied medicine at the

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; nl, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, abbreviated as RUG) is a public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen in the Netherlands. Founded in 1614, the university is th ...

, where, in 1833, he received his doctorate. After starting work as a doctor at the Buitengasthuis Hospital in Amsterdam, in 1835, he taught medicine at the clinical school in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte (river), Rotte'') is the second largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the Prov ...

. In 1838 he became correspondent of the Royal Institute, which later became the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...

, and in 1846 he became member. He was professor of botany at the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...

(1846–1859) and

Utrecht University Utrecht University (UU; nl, Universiteit Utrecht, formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2018, it had an enrollme ...

(1859–1871). He directed the Rijksherbarium (National Herbarium) at

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration w ...

from 1862. In 1866, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Research

Miquel did research on the taxonomy of plants. He was interested in the flora of the Dutch Empire, specifically the Dutch East Indies and

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the nor ...

. Although he never traveled far, he knew through correspondence a large collection of Australian and Indian plants. He described many species and genera in important families like

Casuarinaceae The Casuarinaceae are a family of dicotyledonous flowering plants placed in the order Fagales, consisting of four genera and 91 species of trees and shrubs native to eastern Africa, Australia, Southeast Asia, Malesia, Papuasia, and the ...

Myrtaceae Myrtaceae, the myrtle family, is a family of dicotyledonous plants placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtle, pōhutukawa, bay rum tree, clove, guava, acca (feijoa), allspice, and eucalyptus are some notable members of this group. All sp ...

Piperaceae The Piperaceae (), also known as the pepper family, are a large family of flowering plants. The group contains roughly 3,600 currently accepted species in 5 genera. The vast majority of species can be found within the two main genera: '' Piper' ...

and

Polygonaceae The Polygonaceae are a family of flowering plants known informally as the knotweed family or smartweed—buckwheat family in the United States. The name is based on the genus ''Polygonum'', and was first used by Antoine Laurent de Jussieu in ...

. In total, he has published some 7,000 botanical names. Through his partnership with the German botanist

Heinrich Göppert Johann Heinrich Robert Göppert (25 July 1800 – 18 May 1884) was a German botanist and paleontologist. Career He was born in Sprottau, Lower Silesia, and died at Breslau. In 1831 he became a professor of botany, as well as curator of the botan ...

, he became interested in

paleobotany Paleobotany, which is also spelled as palaeobotany, is the branch of botany dealing with the recovery and identification of plant remains from geological contexts, and their use for the biological reconstruction of past environments (paleogeog ...

, the study of

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

plants, notably the fossil

Cycad Cycads are seed plants that typically have a stout and woody (ligneous) trunk with a crown of large, hard, stiff, evergreen and (usually) pinnate leaves. The species are dioecious, that is, individual plants of a species are either male o ...

s. Along with

Jacob Gijsbertus Samuël van Breda Jacob Gijsbertus Samuël van Breda (24 October 1788, in Delft – 2 September 1867, in Haarlem) was a Dutch biologist and geologist. Jacob was the son of Jacob van Breda, a Dutch physician, physicist and politician, and Anna Elsenera van Campen. ...

Pieter Harting Pieter Harting (27 February 1812 – 3 December 1885) was a Dutch biologist and naturalist, born in Rotterdam. He made contributions in a number of scientific disciplines, and is remembered for his work in the fields of microscopy, hydrology, ...

and Winand Staring, he was in the first commission to create a

geological map A geologic map or geological map is a special-purpose map made to show various geological features. Rock units or geologic strata are shown by color or symbols. Bedding planes and structural features such as faults, folds, are shown with st ...

of the Netherlands, which was published in 1852 by Johan Rudolph Thorbecke.

Legacy

Miquel died in Utrecht at the age of 59 in 1871, after which he was succeeded as the director of the National Herbarium by

Willem Frederik Reinier Suringar Willem Frederik Reinier Suringar (28 December 1832, Leeuwarden – 12 July 1898, Leiden) was a Dutch botanist. His son, Jan Valckenier Suringar (1864–1932), was also a botanist. In 1857 he obtained his PhD from the University of Leiden, where ...

. From his estate, the Miquel fund was established, which provides financial support to botanists at the University of Utrecht. The former home of the director of the botanical gardens in the city center of Utrecht is called "Miquel's House". In the Laakkwartier district of

the Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

is a street named after him. He is honoured in the naming of two forms of plant taxa; In 1838, botanist Carl Meissner published '' Miquelia'', which is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

in the

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants t ...

s in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Icacinaceae. They are found in tropical India, Southeast Asia, and the Philippines. Then in 1980, botanist Fric ex

F.Ritter Friedrich Ritter (9 May 1898 – 9 April 1989) was a German Botany, botanist who collected and described many species of cacti. ''Ritterocereus'' is named in his honour. References

1898 births 1989 deaths {{botanist-stub ...

published '' Miqueliopuntia'', which is a genus of

cactus A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Gree ...

from South America.

Key publications

''Genera Cactearum''
Rotterdam, 1839 * ''Monographia Cycadearum'', Utrecht, 1842 * ''Systema Piperacearum'', Rotterdam, 1843-1844 * ''Illustrationes Piperacearum'', Bonn, 1847 * ''Cycadeae quaedam Americanae, partim novae.'' Amsterdam, 1851. * ''Flora Indiae batavae'', Amsterdam, 1855-1859 *
Leerboek der Artensij-Gewassen
', Utrecht, 1859 * ''De Palmis Archipelagi Indici observationes novae.'' Amsterdam, 1868. *

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Miquel, Friedrich Anton Wilhelm 19th-century Dutch botanists 1811 births 1871 deaths Botanists with author abbreviations Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences People from Bentheim