Joseph August Schenk (17 April 1815, in

Hallein Hallein () is a historic town in the Austrian state of Salzburg (state), Salzburg. It is the capital of Hallein (district), Hallein district. Geography The town is located in the ''Tennengau'' region south of the City of Salzburg, stretching alo ...

– 30 March 1891, in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

) was an Austrian-born, 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 ...

and

paleobotanist Paleobotany or palaeobotany, also known as paleophytology, is the branch of botany dealing with the recovery and identification of plant fossils from geological contexts, and their use for the biological reconstruction of past environments (pale ...

. In 1837 he obtained his medical doctorate from the

University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

, followed by studies in botany at the Universities of

Erlangen Erlangen (; , ) is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt (former administrative district Erlangen), and with 119,810 inhabitants (as of 30 September 2024), it is the smalle ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

and

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. In 1840 he earned his PhD in botany at Munich and during the following year, received his habilitation for botany with the dissertation "''Genera et species Cyperacearum, quae in regno Graeco, archipelago et in insulis''". From 1850 to 1868, he was a full professor of botany at the

University of Würzburg The Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg (also referred to as the University of Würzburg, in German ''Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg'') is a public research university in Würzburg, Germany. Founded in 1402, it is one of the ol ...

, followed by a professorship at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

(1868 to 1887),Prof. Dr. med. et phil. Joseph August Schenk - Universität Leipzig
(biographical information) where he was a successor to

Georg Heinrich Mettenius Georg Heinrich Mettenius (24 November 1823 – 18 August 1866) was a German botanist born in Frankfurt am Main. He was son-in-law to botanist Alexander Braun (1805–1877). In 1845 he received his medical doctorate from the University of Heidelb ...

.ADB:Schenk, August
@

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 ...

At Leipzig, he was also director of its

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 ...

s. The genus ''

Schenkia ''Schenkia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the gentian family, Gentianaceae. It is sometimes included in the genus ''Centaurium''. Selected species *'' Schenkia australis'' ( R.Br.) G.Mans. (Australia) *'' Schenkia sebaeoides'' Griseb. &nda ...

'' (family

Gentianaceae Gentianaceae is a family of flowering plants of 105 genera and about 1600 species. Etymology The family takes its name from the genus ''Gentiana'', named after the Illyrian king Gentius. Distribution Distribution is cosmopolitan (species), cosm ...

) was named in honor by

August Grisebach August Heinrich Rudolf Grisebach (; 17 April 18149 May 1879) was a German botanist and phytogeographer. Biography Grisebach studied at the Lyceum in Hanover, the cloister-school at Ilfeld, and the University of Göttingen. He graduated in me ...

in 1853.

Published works

With

Christian Luerssen Christian Luerssen (6 May 1843, Bremen – 28 June 1916) was a German botanist. He was an authority in the field of pteridology. In 1872, at Leipzig, he graduated as a university teacher of botany, and was later appointed professor of botany ...

, he was co-author o
''Mittheilungen aus dem Gesammtgebiete der Botanik''
(Volume 1-2, 1874). Also, he made contributions towards Ferdinand Freiherr von Richthofen's "China" (Volume 4), and edited the section on

Alstroemeriaceae Alstroemeriaceae is a family of flowering plants, with 254 known species in four genera, almost entirely native to the Americas, from Central America to southern South America. One species of '' Luzuriaga'' occurs in New Zealand, and the genus '' ...

Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius Carl Friedrich Philipp (Karl Friedrich Philipp) von Martius (17 April 1794 – 13 December 1868) was a German botany, botanist and explorer. Between 1817 and 1820, he travelled 10,000 km through Brazil while collecting botanical specimens. His m ...

' ''

Flora Brasiliensis ''Flora Brasiliensis'' is a book published between 1840 and 1906 by the editors Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius, August Wilhelm Eichler, Ignatz Urban and many others. It contains taxonomic treatments of 22,767 species, mostly Brazilian angiosper ...

''. The following are a few of Schenk's principal works: * ''Flora der Umgebung von Würzburg. Aufzählung der um Würzburg vorkommenden phanerogamen Gefäßpflanzen. Ein Beitrag zur Flora von Bayern'',

Regensburg Regensburg (historically known in English as Ratisbon) is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the rivers Danube, Naab and Regen (river), Regen, Danube's northernmost point. It is the capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the ...

1848 - Flora around Würzburg, etc. * ''Beiträge zur Flora des Keupers und der rätischen Formation'', 1864 - Contributions to the flora of the

Keuper The Keuper is a lithostratigraphic unit (a sequence of rock strata) in the subsurface of large parts of west and central Europe. The Keuper consists of dolomite, shales or claystones and evaporites that were deposited during the Middle and Lat ...

and

Rhaetian The Rhaetian is the latest age (geology), age of the Triassic period (geology), Period (in geochronology) or the uppermost stage (stratigraphy), stage of the Triassic system (stratigraphy), System (in chronostratigraphy). It was preceded by the N ...

formations. * ''Beiträge zur Flora der Vorwelt'', two volumes,

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...

1866-1871 - Treatise on flora of the primeval world. * ''Die fossile Flora der Grenzschichten des Keupers und Lias Frankens'',

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden (; ) is the capital of the German state of Hesse, and the second-largest Hessian city after Frankfurt am Main. With around 283,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 24th-largest city. Wiesbaden form ...

1867 - Fossil flora involving the boundary layers of the Keuper and

Franconia Franconia ( ; ; ) is a geographical region of Germany, characterised by its culture and East Franconian dialect (). Franconia is made up of the three (governmental districts) of Lower Franconia, Lower, Middle Franconia, Middle and Upper Franco ...

n Lias. * ''Handbuch der Botanik'', four volumes, Breslau, (as an editor, Series: Encyklopaedie der Naturwissenschaften) 1879-1890 - Manual of botany.Biodiversity Heritage Library
Handbuch der Botanik * ''Fossile Pflanzen aus der Albourskette'', (collected by geologist

Emil Tietze Emil Ernst August Tietze (15 June 1845, Breslau – 4 March 1931, Vienna) was an Austrian geologist. He received his education at the Universities of Breslau and Tübingen. Afterwards, he joined the Geological Survey of Austria (1870), an ...

) 1887 - Fossil plants of the Elburz chain. * ''Die fossilen Pflanzenreste'', Breslau, E. Trewendt, 1888 - Fossilized plant remains.

References

External links

WorldCat Search
(Publications by Schenk). {{DEFAULTSORT:Schenk, August 1815 births 1891 deaths Academic staff of Leipzig University Academic staff of the University of Würzburg People from Hallein 19th-century German botanists Paleobotanists People from Salzburgkreis 19th-century Austrian botanists