Federico Johow, born as Friedrich Richard Adalbert Johow; (February 5, 1859–April 30, 1933) was a

German-Chilean German Chileans (; ) are Chileans descended from German immigrants, about 30,000 of whom arrived in Chile between 1846 and 1914. Most of these were from traditionally Catholic Bavaria, Baden and the Rhineland, and also from Bohemia in the prese ...

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

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

born in Chodziesen (known as Colmar after 1878),

Province of Posen The Province of Posen (; ) was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1848 to 1920, occupying most of the historical Greater Poland. The province was established following the Greater Poland Uprising (1848), Poznań Uprisi ...

Life

Friedrich began his higher education at the

University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

, and afterwards studied

zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

and

botany 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 ...

at the

University of Bonn The University of Bonn, officially the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (), is a public research university in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the () on 18 October 1818 by Frederick Willi ...

, where he obtained his doctorate in 1880. In 1882 he took part on a study trip to

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

and the

Lesser Antilles The Lesser Antilles is a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea, forming part of the West Indies in Caribbean, Caribbean region of the Americas. They are distinguished from the larger islands of the Greater Antilles to the west. They form an arc w ...

, financed by the Royal Academy of Sciences 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 ...

. In 1888 he was an appointed associate professor of

natural sciences Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...

at the

Chile

In 1889, he was invited by

José Manuel Balmaceda José Manuel Emiliano Balmaceda Fernández (; July 19, 1840 – September 19, 1891) served as the 10th President of Chile from September 18, 1886, to August 29, 1891. Balmaceda was part of the Castilian-Basque aristocracy in Chile. While h ...

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

, where he became a professor at the Instituto Pedagógico de Chile (together with the Germans Alfred Beutell, Friedrich Hanssen,

Hans Steffen 250px, Picture of Dr. Hans Steffen in 1916 Hans Steffen Hoffman (20 July 1865, in Fürstenwerder, Prussia – 7 April 1936, in Davos, Switzerland) was a German geographer and explorer of the Aysén Region in western Patagonia. Steffen also wor ...

, Rudolf Lenz, Reinhold von Lilienthal, and Jürgen Heinrich Schneider). Here he remained for the next 36 years, retiring in 1925. Johow led a series of scientific journeys to the

Juan Fernandez Archipelago ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. The name is of Hebrew origin and has the meaning "God has been gracious." It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking countries around the world and in the Philippi ...

, and in 1896 was author of a book on the flora of the islands titled ''Estudios sobre la flora de las Islas de Juan Fernández''. He died on April 30, 1933, in

Valparaíso Valparaíso () is a major city, Communes of Chile, commune, Port, seaport, and naval base facility in the Valparaíso Region of Chile. Valparaíso was originally named after Valparaíso de Arriba, in Castilla–La Mancha, Castile-La Mancha, Spain ...

. He is the

taxonomic authority In biology, taxonomy () is the scientific study of naming, defining ( circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxa (singular: taxon), and these groups are given ...

of the plant genus '' Centaurodendron''. In 1937 the genus ''Johowia'' (family

Lamiaceae The Lamiaceae ( ) or Labiatae are a family (biology), family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint, deadnettle, or sage family. Many of the plants are aromatic in all parts and include widely used culinary herbs like basil (herb), ba ...

) was named in his honor by

Carl Epling Carl Clawson Epling (15 April 1894 – 17 November 1968) was an American botanist and taxonomist. Epling is best known for being the major authority on the Lamiaceae (mint family) of the Americas from the 1920s to the 1960s. In his later years he a ...

and

Gualterio Looser Gualterio Looser Schallemberg (September 4, 1898, Santiago – July 22, 1982) was a Chilean botanist and engineer of Swiss parentage. He owned a factory that made agricultural implements. In 1928 Looser joined the American Fern Society, and ...

. A synonym for this taxa is ''

Cuminia ''Cuminia'' is a genus of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae, first described in 1835. It contains only one known species, ''Cuminia eriantha''. It is endemic to Robinson Crusoe Island, one of the Juan Fernández Islands in the southeast Pac ...

''. GRIN Taxonomy for Plants
Johowia

Familie

Friedrich was the son of Carl Hermann Adalbert Johow and his wife Marie Luise, née Biehler. He had five siblings, his brother Georg Reinhold Franz Julius Johow (1862–1945) was Generalmajor of the

German Army (German Empire) The Imperial German Army (1871–1919), officially referred to as the German Army (), was the unified ground and air force of the German Empire. It was established in 1871 with the political unification of Germany under the leadership of Prussia, ...

and

Generalleutnant () is the German-language variant of lieutenant general, used in some German speaking countries. Austria Generalleutnant is the second highest general officer rank in the Austrian Armed Forces (''Bundesheer''), roughly equivalent to the NATO ...

of the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

(''Tannenberg-General''). Dr. phil. Johow was married to Magdalena, née Schäfer. They had three children: Margarita, Dolly, and Ernst Arnulf (1893–1965)

References

Universidad de Concepcion: Federico Johow
(biography) 1859 births 1933 deaths People from Chodzież County 20th-century Chilean botanists Immigrants to Chile 19th-century German botanists People from the Province of Posen Academic staff of the University of Bonn 19th-century Chilean botanists Emigrants from the German Empire {{chile-botanist-stub