Berthold Carl Seemann (25 February 1825, in

Kingdom of Hanover The Kingdom of Hanover () was established in October 1814 by the Congress of Vienna, with the restoration of George III to his Hanoverian territories after the Napoleonic Wars, Napoleonic era. It succeeded the former Electorate of Hanover, and j ...

– 10 October 1871, in

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

) was a German

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

. He travelled widely and collected and described plants from the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

. In 1844 he travelled to the United Kingdom to study

botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

at the

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,10 ...

. On the recommendation of Sir WJ Hooker, he was appointed naturalist on the voyage of exploration of the American west coast and Pacific by

Henry Kellett Vice Admiral Sir Henry Kellett, (2 November 1806 – 1 March 1875) was an Irish naval officer and explorer. Career Born at Clonacody in Tipperary County, Ireland, on 2 November 1806, Kellett joined the Royal Navy in 1822. He spent three years ...

on HMS ''Herald'', 1847–1851, along with the naturalists Thomas Edmondston, and John Goodridge. The expedition returned via

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

and the

East Indies The East Indies (or simply the Indies) is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The ''Indies'' broadly referred to various lands in Eastern world, the East or the Eastern Hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainl ...

, calling at the Cape in March 1851. Here he met up with his old acquaintance Zeyher, and with Baur and Juritz they climbed

Table Mountain Table Mountain (; ) is a flat-topped mountain forming a prominent landmark overlooking the city of Cape Town in South Africa. It is a significant tourist attraction, with many visitors using the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway, cableway or hik ...

on 13 March 1851, Ecklon being unwell and unable to accompany them. On 16 March Zeyher introduced him to Bowie at Wynberg. He left the Cape on 27 March and was back in England on 6 June 1851. The botanical results of the voyage were published as ''Botany of the Voyage of HMS Herald'' and he was awarded a Ph.D. by the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen (, commonly referred to as Georgia Augusta), is a Public university, public research university in the city of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1734 ...

in 1853. In 1859 he travelled to

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

. Based on his travels he wrote ''Viti: An Account of a Government Mission to the Vitian or Fijian Islands in the Years 1860-1'', and a botanical catalogue of the flora of the islands, entitled ''Flora Vitiensis: a description of the plants of the Viti or Fiji Islands with an account of their history and properties''. This was published in 10 parts between 1865 and 1873. In this work, Seeman named and described 204 of the 297 currently identified plant species. It was the foundation for ''Flora Vitiensis Nova'', published by Albert C. Smith from 1979 to 1991. In the 1860s he visited

, travelling in

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

in 1864 and

from 1866 to 1867. He later managed a sugar estate in

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

and the Javali gold mine in Nicaragua, where he finally succumbed to

malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

. He started and edited the journal ''Bonplandia'' from 1853–1862 and the '' Journal of Botany, British and Foreign'' from 1863–1871. "Revision of the natural order Hederaceae" was a series of articles written by Seemann on what is now called the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Araliaceae The Araliaceae are a family of flowering plants composed of about 43 genera and around 1500 species consisting of primarily woody plants and some herbaceous plants commonly called the ginseng family. The morphology of Araliaceae varies widely ...

. They appeared in the '' Journal of Botany, British and Foreign'' from 1864 to 1868.Berthold Carl Seeman. 1864 - 1868. "Revision of the natural order Hederaceae". ''Journal of Botany, British and Foreign'' vol. 2(1864):235-250, 289-309 – vol. 3(1865):73-81, 173-181, 265-276, 361-363 – vol. 4(1866):352-353 – vol. 5(1867):236-239, 285-286 – vol. 6(1868):129-142. (see External links below). In 1868, Seemann published a book by the same title.Berthold Carl Seemann. 1868. ''Revision of the Natural Order Hederaceae: Being a Reprint, with Numerous Additions and Corrections, of a Series of Papers Published in the "Journal of Botany" British and Foreign''. Original publisher: Reeve and Company. Reprint: Book on Demand Pod. It contained some original material, as well as reprints of the articles. It was the definitive work on Araliaceae until

Hermann Harms Hermann August Theodor Harms (16 July 1870 – 27 November 1942) was a German taxonomist and botanist. Harms was born in Berlin. He worked as a botanist at the Berlin-Dahlem Botanical Garden and Botanical Museum, Botanical Museum in Berlin. ...

published his

monograph A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...

on the family in '' Die Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien'' in 1898. Specimens collected by Seemann are cared for at multiple institutions worldwide, including the

Natural History Museum, London The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum (Lo ...

and the

National Herbarium of Victoria The National Herbarium of Victoria (Index Herbariorum code: MEL) is one of Australia's earliest herbaria and the oldest scientific institution in Victoria. Its 1.56 million specimens of preserved plants, fungi and algae—collectively known ...

Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria (RBGV) are botanical garden, botanic gardens across two sites–Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, Melbourne and Royal Botanic Gardens, Cranbourne, Cranbourne. Melbourne Gardens was founded in 1846 when land w ...

. The plant genus '' Seemannia'' Regel. (

Gesneriaceae Gesneriaceae, the gesneriad family, is a family (biology), family of flowering plants consisting of about 152 genera and ca. 3,540 species in the tropics and subtropics of the Old World (almost all Didymocarpoideae) and the New World (most Ges ...

), ''Seemannantha'' Alef. and '' Seemannaralia'' R. Viguier (

) were named in his honour.

References

External links

* *
Seemann, BertholdSeemann, Berthold, 1825-1871Biodiversity Heritage Library
*
Journal of botany, British and foreign volumes 2-6 (1864-1868)JTitlesBiodiversity Heritage Library
:
volume 2 (1864)page 235page 289volume 3 (1865)page 73page 173page 265page 361volume 4 (1866)page 352volume 5 (1867)page 236page 285volume 6 (1868)page 129

''Revision of the Natural Order Hederaceae''Google Books

''Revision of the natural order Hederaceae''Amazon.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seeman, Berthold Carl 1825 births 1871 deaths 19th-century German botanists Botanists with author abbreviations Scientists from Hanover