Franz Xaver Freiherr von Wulfen 1728-1805

Franz Xaver Freiherr von Wulfen (5 November 1728 – 17 March 1805) was an Austrian botanist, zoologist, mineralogist, alpinist, and

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

priest. He is credited with discovering the flowering plants ''

Wulfenia carinthiaca ''Wulfenia carinthiaca'', commonly known as wulfenia, is a plant in the plantain family. It is endemic to the Gartnerkofel mountain of the Carnic Alps at the Austro-Italian border. It was discovered in 1779 by Franz Xaver von Wulfen, for whom ...

'', '' Saxifraga moschata'', and '' Stellaria bulbosa''. In 1845 the lead molybdate mineral

wulfenite Wulfenite is a lead molybdate mineral with the formula Pb Mo O4. It often occurs as thin tabular crystals with a bright orange-red to yellow-orange color, sometimes brown, although the color can be highly variable. In its yellow form it is some ...

was named in his honor by Wilhelm Karl von Haidinger.

Life

Wulfen was born in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

. His father, Christian Friedrich von Wulfen, was a high-ranking lieutenant in the Austrian Army of

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

descent. His mother, née Mariassy, was a Hungarian countess. Franz's education took place at Kaschau Gymnasium in present-day

Košice Košice is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary. With a population of approximately 230,000, Košice is the second-largest cit ...

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

. When he was 17, he joined a Jesuit school in

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. ...

. Following his graduation, he became a school instructor (chiefly of mathematics and physics) in Vienna,

Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

, Neusohl, Gorz, Laibach (

Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

), and from 1764 Klagenfurt. After the

Suppression of the Society of Jesus The suppression of the Society of Jesus was the removal of all members of the Jesuits from most of Western Europe and their respective colonies beginning in 1759 along with the abolition of the order by the Holy See in 1773; the papacy acceded ...

in the 1760s, he remained in Klagenfurt until his death. By 1763, he was officially a priest. Wulfen died at the age of 76 years.

Work

From his twenty-second year he devoted himself to botany. The upland and valley flora of the Eastern Alps was his chief study. To find specimens, Wulfen frequently hiked up the

Großglockner The Großglockner ( ), or just Glockner, is, at 3,798 metres above the Adriatic (12,461 ft), the highest mountain in Austria and highest mountain in the Alps east of the Brenner Pass. It is part of the larger Glockner Group of the Hohe Tauer ...

and was a pioneer in exploring the Austrian Alps. In 1781, he published his studies in the well-illustrated ''Plantae rariorum Carinthicae'' (Rare Plants of

Carinthia Carinthia ( ; ; ) is the southernmost and least densely populated States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The Lake Wolayer is a mountain lake on the Carinthian side of the Carnic Main ...

). With particular success, he conducted research of

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 ...

s that he still regarded as a division of

algae Algae ( , ; : alga ) is an informal term for any organisms of a large and diverse group of photosynthesis, photosynthetic organisms that are not plants, and includes species from multiple distinct clades. Such organisms range from unicellular ...

. He made numerous trips to the south (on many occasions to the Adriatic Sea) and to the north as far as Holland. Wulfen was also a researcher of the fauna of the

Inner Austria Inner Austria (; ; ) was a term used from the late 14th to the early 17th century for the Habsburg hereditary lands south of the Semmering Pass, referring to the Imperial duchies of Styria, Carinthia and Carniola and the lands of the Austrian Li ...

and the

Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Se ...

. He concerned himself primarily with insects, fish, and birds.

Recognitions and commemoration

In 1796, Wulfen was elected a foreign member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences () is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for promoting nat ...

. The

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 ...

'' Wulfenia'' (in the family

Plantaginaceae Plantaginaceae, the plantain family or veronica family, is a large, diverse family (biology), family of flowering plants in the order Lamiales that includes common flowers such as Antirrhinum, snapdragon and Digitalis, foxglove. It is unrelated ...

) was named in 1782 in his honor by

Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin Nikolaus Joseph Freiherr von Jacquin (16 February 172726 October 1817) was a scientist who studied medicine, chemistry and botany. Biography Born in Leiden in the Netherlands, he studied medicine at Leiden University, then moved first to Par ...

. Then in 1980 botanist D.Y.Hong published '' Wulfeniopsis'' which 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 (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

s belonging to the family Plantaginaceae, it also honor's Franz Xaver von Wulfen. Also, he is commemorated in about 22 plants with the specific epithet of ''wulfenii''. such as '' Dianthus wulfenii'' and ''

Rosa wulfenii Rosa or De Rosa may refer to: Plants and animals * ''Rosa'' (plant), the genus of roses * Rosa (sea otter), a sea otter that has become popular on the internet *Rosa (cow), a Spanish-born cow People * Rosa (given name) * Rosa (surname) * Sant ...

'' A monument in Klagenfurt, was erected in 1838, honors him, describing him as "equally great as priest, scholar and man".

Works

* ''Plantae rariores carinthiacae''. V: Miscellanea austriaca ad botanicam, chemiam et historiam naturalem spectantia, vol. I (1778) str. 147–163 in vol. II (1781) str. 25-183 * ''Abhandlung vom Kärntner Bleispate'', 1785 * ''Plantae rariores carinthiacae''. V: Collectanea ad botanicam, chemiam et historiam naturalem, vol. I (1786) str. 186–364, vol. II (1788) str. 112–234, vol. III (1789) str. 3–166, vol. IV (1790) str. 227-348 * ''Descriptiones Quorumdam Capensium Insectorum'', 1786 * ''De Plumbo Spatoso Carinthiaco'', 1791 * ''Plantae rariores descriptae'', 1803 * ''Cryptogama aquatica'', 1803 * ''Flora Norica phanerogama'',1858 (published posthumously like much of his work)

References

Wulfen, Franz Xaver Freiherr von
@ Austria Forum.
IPNI
List of plants described and co-described by Wulfen.

Sources