Johann Jakob Bernhardi (1 September 1774, in

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital (political), capital and largest city of the Central Germany (cultural area), Central German state of Thuringia, with a population of around 216,000. It lies in the wide valley of the Gera (river), River Gera, in the so ...

– 13 May 1850, in Erfurt) was a German doctor and

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 ...

Biography

Johann J. Bernhardi studied Medicine and Botany at the

University of Erfurt The University of Erfurt () is a public university located in Erfurt, the capital city of the German state of Thuringia. It was founded in 1379, and closed in 1816. It was re-established in 1994, three years after German reunification. Therefore ...

, and after graduation practiced medicine for a time in his native city. In 1799 he was named director of the

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is ...

at ''Gartenstraße'', and in 1809 was appointed professor of botany, zoology, mineralogy and

materia medica ''Materia medica'' ( lit.: 'medical material/substance') is a Latin term from the history of pharmacy for the body of collected knowledge about the therapeutic properties of any substance used for healing (i.e., medications). The term derives f ...

at the university.Amtsblatt Nr. 24 vom 24.12.2004 - Erfurt
/ref> He served as director of the botanical garden until his death in 1850, being buried in the central avenue of this botanical garden. Throughout his life thanks to acquisitions and interchanges with other botanists, he assembled a considerable

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant biological specimen, 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 sh ...

of 60,000 plants with specimens from North America, South America, Asia, and Africa. After his death this herbarium did not remain in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

but due to the efforts of

George Engelmann George Engelmann, also known as Georg Engelmann, (2 February 1809 – 4 February 1884) was a German-American botanist. He was instrumental in describing the flora (plants), flora of the west of North America, then very poorly known to Europeans; ...

, who, in 1857, shortly after the death of Bernhardi bought the complete herbarium for the amount of 600 dollars for Henry Shaw, founder of the Botanical Garden of Missouri in the U.S.A., forms the nucleus of the collection and the initial museum of this Botanical Garden (at the moment the "Missouri Botanical Garden herbarium" contains over 6.2 million specimens and the library over 120,000 volumes). Johann J. Bernhardi studied and described several species of

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Orchids are cosmopolitan plants that are found in almost every habitat on Eart ...

s, including ''

Epipactis atrorubens ''Epipactis atrorubens'', the dark-red helleborine or royal helleborine, is an herbaceous plant in the orchid family, Orchidaceae. As with many other species of orchids, the species is legally protected in some countries. Plantlife designated th ...

''. He described a species of rose without thorns, ''Rosa × francofurtana'', found in the garden of the house of Johann Wolfgang von

Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), German state of Thuringia, in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt to the west and Jena to the east, southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together w ...

. The genus ''Bernhardia'' (family

Psilotaceae Psilotaceae is a family of ferns (class Polypodiopsida) consisting of two genera, ''Psilotum'' and ''Tmesipteris'' with about a dozen species. It is the only family in the order (biology), order Psilotales. Description Once thought to be descend ...

) is named in his honor. He was editor of the ''Thüringischen Gartenzeitung'' (Thuringian garden newspaper) and the ''Allgemeinen deutschen Gartenmagazin'' (General German garden magazine).translated biography
@

Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB; ) 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 Academy of Sciences between 1875 and 1912 in 56 volumes, printed in Lei ...

The thoroughfare, ''Jacob-Bernhardi-Straße'' in Erfurt, is named in his honor.

Works

* ''Catalogus plantarum horti Erfurtensis'', 1799. * ''Systematisches Verzeichnis der Pflanzen, welche in der Gegend um Erfurt gefunden werden'', 1800 - Systematic catalog of plants that are found in the vicinity of Erfurt. * ''Anleitung zu Kenntnis der Pflanzen'', 1804 - Botanical instruction manual. * ''Beobachtungen über Pflanzengefäße'', 1805 - Observations involving planters. * ''Ueber den Begriff der Pflanzenart und seine Anwendung'', 1835 - On the concept of "species" and its application.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernhardi, Johann Jakob German taxonomists 1774 births 1850 deaths Missouri Botanical Garden people Botanists with author abbreviations Academic staff of the University of Erfurt University of Erfurt alumni Physicians from Erfurt 18th-century German botanists 18th-century German physicians Scientists from Erfurt 19th-century German botanists 19th-century German physicians