Eduard Friedrich Poeppig (16 July 1798 – 4 September 1868) 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 ...

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

and

explorer Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectation of Discovery (observation), discovery. Organised exploration is largely a human activity, but exploratory activity is common to most organis ...

Biography

Poeppig was born in

Plauen Plauen (; ; ) is a town in Saxony, Germany with a population of around 65,000. It is Saxony's 5th most populated city after Leipzig, Dresden, Chemnitz and Zwickau, the second-largest city of the Vogtland after Gera, as well as the largest cit ...

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

. He studied

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

and

natural history Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

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 ...

, graduating with a medical degree. On graduation, the rector of the university gave him a botanical mission to North and South America. He was helped out financially by a small group of friends and scientists in Leipzig, that included botanist

Christian Friedrich Schwägrichen Christian Friedrich Schwägrichen (16 September 1775, Leipzig – 2 May 1853, Leipzig) was a German botanist specializing in the field of bryology. In 1799, he obtained his medical doctorate from the University of Leipzig, where he was later an as ...

, who in exchange, received sets of specimens.JSTOR Global Plants
Poeppig, Eduard Friedrich (1798-1868) He subsequently worked as a naturalist in

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

(1823–24) and

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

(1824–26). In 1826 he departed for Valparaiso,

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

, and spent several years performing scientific exploration throughout

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

and

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

.ADB: Poeppig, Eduard
@

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 ...

As a result of his journey in South America, he published "''Reise in Chile, Peru und auf dem Amazonenstrome, während der Jahre 1827-1832'' " (2 volumes).

Gustav Kunze Gustav Kunze (4 October 1793 in Leipzig – 30 April 1851 in Leipzig) was a German professor of zoology, an entomologist and botanist with an interest mainly in ferns and orchids. He was editor of some exsiccata series, one issued together with ...

supported these botanical voyages (1823-1828) and distributed plant material collected by Poeppig in several

exsiccata Exsiccata (Latin, ''gen.'' -ae, ''plur.'' -ae) is a work with "published, uniform, numbered set of preserved specimens distributed with printed labels". Typically, exsiccatae are numbered collections of dried herbarium Biological specimen, spe ...

-like series, among others '' öppigPlantae Pensylvaniae'' and ''Pöppig Coll. Pl. Chil. I''. In the autumn of 1832, he returned to Germany with significant zoological and botanical collections — several hundred stuffed animals, a collection of ethnographic objects, and more than 17,000 dried plants. During the following year, he became an associate professor at the

, where in 1834 he was named director of its zoological museum. In 1846 he attained a full professorship at Leipzig, a position he maintained until his death in 1868. He contributed to the establishment of a scientific museum in Leipzig, and bequeathed to it some of his collections, with the remainder being sent to museums in

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 South America he described numerous new

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of plants. His botanical magnum opus, ''Nova genera ac Species Plantarum quas in regno, Chiliensi, Peruviano, ac Terra Amazonica, anni 1827-1832 lectarum'', was published in three volumes. In it he described 31 new

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

, and 477 new species. For the first two volumes he collaborated with

Stephan Endlicher Stephan Friedrich Ladislaus Endlicher, also known as Endlicher István László (24 June 1804 – 28 March 1849), was an Austrian Empire, Austrian botanist, numismatist and Sinologist. He was a director of the Botanical Garden of Vienna. Biog ...

Eponymy

The plant genus ''

Poeppigia ''Poeppigia'' is a genus of flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 's ...

'' is named after him, as are taxa with the specific epithets of ''poeppigi'', ''poeppigii'', and ''poeppigiana'', a few examples being: the

silvery woolly monkey The silvery woolly monkey (''Lagothrix lagothricha poeppigii''), also known as Poeppig's woolly monkey or the red woolly monkey, is a subspecies of the common woolly monkey from South America. Named after the German zoologist Eduard Friedrich Poe ...

(''Lagothrix poeppigii'' ), the snake '' Atractus poeppigi'',Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Poeppig", p. 209). the toad ''

Rhinella poeppigii ''Rhinella poeppigii'' (common name: gray toad) is a species of toad in the family Bufonidae that is known from the eastern Andean slopes of Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, as well as from Serranía de Sira in Amazonian Peru. Its distinctiveness from ...

'', the

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 ...

''Campylocentrum poeppigii'' ( Rchb. f.) Rolfe, and the

angiosperm Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed within a fruit ...

species ''Guatteria poeppigiana''

Mart. 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 ...

.The Plant List
Guatteria poeppigiana *

Written works

*''Fragmentum synopseos plantarum phanerogamarum'', (1833). (in Latin). *''Selbstanzeige der Reisebeschreibung in Blätter für literarische Unterhaltung'', (1835). (in German). *''Reise in Chile, Peru und auf dem Amazonenstrome während der Jahre 1827–1832'' (''Travel in Chile, Peru, and on the Amazon river during the years 1827–1832''), 2 volumes (1834-36). (in German). *''Nova genera ac species plantarum, quas in regno Chilensi Peruviano et in terra Amazonica: annis MDCCCXXVII ad MDCCCXXXII'' (with

Stephan Ladislaus Endlicher Stephan Friedrich Ladislaus Endlicher, also known as Endlicher István László (24 June 1804 – 28 March 1849), was an Austrian botanist, numismatist and Sinologist. He was a director of the Botanical Garden of Vienna. Biography Endlicher ...

), (1835–45). (in Latin). *''Reise nach den Vereinigten Staaten'' (''Travel to the United States''), (1837). (in German). *''Über alte und neue Handelswege nach der Westküste Amerikas'' (''On old and new trade routes to the west coast of the Americas''), (1838). (in German). *''Landschaftliche Ansichten und erlauternde Darstellungen'' (''Views of countryside with explanation''), (1839). (in German). Poeppig was a primary contributor of ethnological, geographical, and biological articles about the Americas for the '' Allgemeine Encyclopaedie'', edited by

Ersch Johann Samuel Ersch (23 June 1766 – 16 January 1828) was a German bibliographer, generally regarded as the founder of German bibliography. Biography He was born in Großglogau (now Głogów), in Silesia. In 1785 he entered the University of H ...

and Gruber.

Notes

References

* Urban, Ignaz. ''Notae biographicae,'' Symb. Antill. 3:103,1900. * Parts of this article are based on a translation of an equivalent article at the

German Wikipedia The German Wikipedia () is the German-language edition of Wikipedia, a free and publicly editable online encyclopedia. Founded on 16 March 2001, it is the second-oldest Wikipedia edition (after the English Wikipedia). It has articles, ma ...

.
CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names: M-Q
by Umberto Quattrocchi. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Poeppig, Eduard Friedrich 1798 births 1868 deaths 19th-century German explorers German mycologists German ornithologists German taxonomists German pteridologists Botanists active in the Caribbean Botanists active in South America Botanists with author abbreviations People from Plauen 19th-century German botanists 19th-century German zoologists People from the Kingdom of Saxony

Biography

Eponymy

Written works

See also

Notes

References