August Heinrich Rudolf Grisebach (; 17 April 18149 May 1879) 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 ...

and

phytogeographer Phytogeography (from Greek φυτόν, ''phytón'' = "plant" and γεωγραφία, ''geographía'' = "geography" meaning also distribution) or botanical geography is the branch of biogeography that is concerned with the geographic distribution o ...

Biography

Grisebach studied at the Lyceum in

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

, the cloister-school at

Ilfeld Ilfeld is a village and a former municipality in the district of Nordhausen, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated at the south foot of the Harz, at the entrance to the Bährethal, north from Nordhausen by the railway to Wernigerode. Since 1 ...

, and the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen (, commonly referred to as Georgia Augusta), is a Public university, public research university in the city of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1734 ...

. He graduated in medicine from 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 ...

in 1836. He undertook expeditions to

Provence Provence is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which stretches from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the France–Italy border, Italian border to the east; it is bordered by the Mediterrane ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, the

Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

, and

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. In 1837 he became associate professor and in 1847 full professor at the medical faculty in Göttingen and was named director of the botanical garden there in 1875. While his main fields of interest were phytogeography and systematics, especially the

Gentianaceae Gentianaceae is a family of flowering plants of 105 genera and about 1600 species. Etymology The family takes its name from the genus ''Gentiana'', named after the Illyrian king Gentius. Distribution Distribution is cosmopolitan (species), cosm ...

and

Malpighiaceae Malpighiaceae is a family of flowering plants in the order Malpighiales. It comprises about 73 genera and 1315 species, all of which are native to the tropics and subtropics. About 80% of the genera and 90% of the species occur in the New World ( ...

, he considered his ''Flora of the British West Indian Islands'' his most important work. Much of his collection, especially the

types Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * Ty ...

of species described by him, are housed at the Göttingen University Herbarium.Göttingen University, Department of Systematics, Biodiversity and Evolution of Plants (with Herbarium)
/ref> His taxonomic classification is set out in his ''Grundriss der systematischen Botanik'' (1854). His son

Eduard Eduard Model Accessories is a Czech manufacturer of plastic models and finescale model accessories. History Formed in 1989 in the city of Most, Eduard began in a rented cellar as a manufacturer of photoetched brass model components. Follo ...

was an author, lawyer and diplomat.

Selected works

* (Grundr. Syst. Bot.: Schema p. 68) * ''Die Vegetation der Erde nach Ihrer Klimatischen Anordnung'' (The Earth's vegetation after its climatic arrangement), 1872 (1st Edition), 1884 (2nd Edition). * ''Flora of the British West Indian Islands'', Lovell Reeve & Co., London, 1864

References

Bibliography

Some Biogeographers, Evolutionists and Ecologists: Chrono-Biographical Sketches

* ttp://www.retrobibliothek.de/retrobib/seite.html?id=107237 Biographical entry in Meyers Konversationslexikon
Obituary in Botanische Zeitung 1879

External links

Complete bibliography on WorldCat

''Plantae Wrightianae e Cuba Orientali'' at Botanicus

''Catalogus plantarum cubensium''
(Catalog of Plants of

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 ...

) 1866, at Botanicus
''Plantae Wrightianae e Cuba Orientali'' by A. Grisebach at the Biodiversity Heritage Library.

Grisebach, A. (1857) ''Systematische Untersuchungen über die Vegetation der Karaiben, insbesondere der Insel Guadeloupe'' at the Biodiversity Heritage Library.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grisebach, August German phytogeographers 1814 births 1879 deaths German taxonomists Scientists from Hanover People from the Kingdom of Hanover University of Göttingen alumni 19th-century German botanists