Hjalmar Frederik Christian Kiærskou (6 August 1835 in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

– 18 March 1900), sometimes also stated as Hjalmar Kiaerskov, was a Danish botanist. Hjalmar Kiærskou was the son of landscape artist Frederik Christian Jakobsen Kiærskou (1805–1891). In 1862 he graduated as Magister for Science. In 1861 he became an assistant at the

University of Copenhagen Botanical Garden The University of Copenhagen Botanical Garden (), usually referred to simply as Copenhagen Botanical Garden, is a botanical garden located in the centre of Copenhagen, Denmark. It covers an area of 10 hectares and is particularly noted for its ext ...

. From 1875 to 1883 he was librarian at the botanical library. In 1873 he married his cousin Margrethe Olivia Gindrup. In 1883 he became an inspector at the

Natural History Museum of Denmark The Natural History Museum of Denmark () is a natural history museum located in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is affiliated with the University of Copenhagen The museum became an organizational entity in 2004 with the merger of Copenhagen's Zoological ...

. From 1869 to 1893 he was editor of the journal ''Botanisk Tidsskrift''. From 1882 to 1889 he was teacher in the Monrad'ske Kursus (a course named in honour to the Danish prime minister

Ditlev Gothard Monrad Ditlev Gothard Monrad (24 November 1811 – 28 March 1887) was a Danish politician and bishop, and a founding father of Danish constitutional democracy; he also led the country as Council President in its huge defeat during the Second Schles ...

) at Danmarks Lærerhøjskole (Denmark's Teacher's College). In 1882 he was lecturer as the polytechnic institute. From 1876 to 1883 he was assistant at the chemical laboratory of Sigfred Frederik Edvard Valdemar Stein. Kiærskou published the scientific descriptions of several plant taxa from the families

Lythraceae Lythraceae is a family (biology), family of flowering plants, including 32 genus, genera, with about 620 species of Herbaceous plant, herbs, shrubs, and trees. The larger genera include ''Cuphea'' (275 spp.), ''Lagerstroemia'' (56), ''Nesaea (pl ...

and

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 ...

, in particular from Spain and Brazil. Together with Samsøe Lund he wrote a monograph about the cultivated forms of the

cabbage Cabbage, comprising several cultivars of '' Brassica oleracea'', is a leafy green, red (purple), or white (pale green) biennial plant grown as an annual vegetable crop for its dense-leaved heads. It is descended from the wild cabbage ( ''B.& ...

, the

beet The beetroot (British English) or beet (North American English) is the taproot portion of a '' Beta vulgaris'' subsp. ''vulgaris'' plant in the Conditiva Group. The plant is a root vegetable also known as the table beet, garden beet, dinner ...

, and the

rapeseed Rapeseed (''Brassica napus'' subsp. ''napus''), also known as rape and oilseed rape and canola, is a bright-yellow flowering member of the family Brassicaceae (mustard or cabbage family), cultivated mainly for its oil-rich seed, which naturall ...

. This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation Kiaersk. when citing a

botanical name A botanical name is a formal scientific name conforming to the ''International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (ICN) and, if it concerns a plant cultigen, the additional cultivar or cultivar group, Group epithets must conform t ...

Selected works

*1884: En monografisk skildring af havekaalens, rybsens og rapsens kulturformer (with Samsøe Lund) *1890: Myrtaceae ex India occidentali a dominis Eggers, Krug, Sintenis, Stahl aliisque collectae *1893: Enumeratio Myrtacearum Brasiliensium quas collegerunt viri doctissimi Glaziou, Lund, Mendona, Raben, Reinhardt, Schenck, Warming aliique. Hauniae. Apud. Jul. Gjellerup. Ex Officina. Hoffensbergiana, 1893.

Notes

References

*Hans Olrik: Danmarks Lærerhøjskole. 1856–1906. Nordisk Forlag, Copenhagen, 1906.
Projekt Runeberg: Dansk biografisk Lexikon
* Botanists with author abbreviations 19th-century Danish botanists Scientists from Copenhagen 1835 births 1900 deaths {{denmark-botanist-stub