Carl Curt Hosseus (1878–1950) 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 ...

born in Stromberg im Thale,

Rhineland The Rhineland ( ; ; ; ) is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly Middle Rhine, its middle section. It is the main industrial heartland of Germany because of its many factories, and it has historic ties to the Holy ...

. He gained his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

in 1903 from

Leipzig University 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 ...

, and sailed

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

in 1904 for

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

where he found '' Viola hossei'', which was named for him. He was the first botanist to collect in northern Thailand. A complete set of his Thai collections is housed in the Botanische Staatssammlung,

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. He also visited

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

and the

Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula is located in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area contains Peninsular Malaysia, Southern Tha ...

, returning to Europe in 1906; he made botanical collections in all these countries, which totalled 512 specimens.Hosseus, C. C. (1911). ''Through King Chilalongkorn's Kingdom 1904–1906: The Botanical Expedition in Northern Thailand''. White Lotus Co Ltd., 2001. . Hosseus emigrated to

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

and undertook botanical explorations of

Patagonia Patagonia () is a geographical region that includes parts of Argentina and Chile at the southern end of South America. The region includes the southern section of the Andes mountain chain with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and glaciers ...

from 1913 to 1915, which resulted in numerous publications in botanical journals. He was appointed professor of botany at

Cordoba University __NOTOC__ Cordoba University is a defunct Islamic university formerly located in Ashburn, Virginia, United States. The university was made up of the Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences (GSISS) and Cordoba School of Professional Studi ...

, Argentina, in 1916, and also served as director of the botanical museum there until his retirement in 1946. Hosseus remained in Cordoba until his death in 1950. His herbarium specimens are housed at the Cordoba University.Hosseus, C. C. (1926). ''Revista Centro Farm. Cordoba'' 2 (5): 24, 1926. '' Hosseusiella'', a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a hybrid colony (biology), colony of algae or cyanobacteria living symbiotically among hypha, filaments of multiple fungus species, along with yeasts and bacteria embedded in the cortex or "skin", in a mutualism (biology), m ...

-forming

fungi A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one ...

in the family

Teloschistaceae The Teloschistaceae are a large family (biology), family of mostly lichen-forming fungi belonging to the class (taxonomy), class Lecanoromycetes in the division (botany), division Ascomycota. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, althoug ...

, was named in his honour in 2018 by Ukrainian lichenologist

Sergey Kondratyuk Sergey Yakovlevich Kondratyuk () (born 17 May 1959) is a Ukrainian botanist specialising in lichenology. His research deals with the taxonomy, floristics, ecology and geography of lichens and lichenicolous fungi. He has worked at the for mo ...

and colleagues.

Selective works

*''Die aus Siam bekannten Acanthaceen'' (1907) *''Beitrage Zur Flora Siams'' (1910) *''Die botanischen Ergebniss miner Expedition nach Siam'' (1911) *''Revista Centro Farm. Cordoba'' 2 (5): 24, 1926. *''Notas sobre Cactaceae Argentinas'' I, Cordoba (1939)

References

Hosseus
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JSTOR Global Plants
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hosseus, Carl Curt 1878 births 1950 deaths Botanists with author abbreviations 20th-century German botanists Leipzig University alumni