Carl August Wilhelm Schwacke (1848–1904) was a German botanist, explorer and naturalist. Born at Alfeld, near

Hannover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

, Germany, Schwacke studied Natural Sciences at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded i ...

and

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

, specializing in

botany Botany, also called plant science (or plant sciences), 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 "bot ...

after graduation. He emigrated to Brazil in 1873 and in March 1874 he was hired as a travelling naturalist ("Naturalista viajante") by the botanical department of the

National Museum A national museum is a museum maintained and funded by a national government. In many countries it denotes a museum run by the central government, while other museums are run by regional or local governments. In other countries a much greater numbe ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of the same name, Brazil's List of Brazilian states by population, third-most populous state, and the List of largest citi ...

. He travelled all over the country, beginning in 1877, assembling a rich collection of plants. In 1891 he left the National Museum and accepted a post as professor of botany at the School of Pharmacy of Ouro Preto, in Ouro Preto (Minas Gerais), where he remained until his death. In the same year he arrived at the School, he was appointed its dean. With the help of students, in numerous botanical excursions he introduced into the course as a regular activity, Schwacke was able to found a

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant 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 sheet of paper (calle ...

in 1892. It still exists today, with more than 30,000 specimens. In 1986 his collection was incorporated into the central herbarium (organized by José Badini) at the

Federal University of Ouro Preto The Federal University of Ouro Preto ( pt, Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto, UFOP) was established on August 21, 1969 in Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais. It resulted from the merger of two century-old higher education institutions: the School of Pharm ...

. His contributions to botany were mainly taxonomic. He created the family

Amburana ''Amburana'' is a genus of legume in the family Fabaceae. It contains three species: * '' Amburana acreana'' (Ducke) A. C. Sm. * ''Amburana cearensis ''Amburana cearensis'' (Portuguese common names; ambaúrana, amburana, amburana de cheiro, a ...

, among others. Schwacke died in Barbacena,

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literall ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Biography

* ''Ber. Deutsch. Bot. Ges.'', 23:12-15, 1906. * ''Fl. Brasil.'' 1 (1): 104 - 105. 1906.

References

19th-century Brazilian botanists 19th-century German botanists Botanists active in South America German explorers German emigrants to Brazil University of Bonn alumni People associated with Federal University of Rio de Janeiro 1848 births 1904 deaths {{Brazil-botanist-stub