Gustav Albert Peter (21 August 1853, in

Gumbinnen Gusev (russian: Гу́сев; german: Gumbinnen; lt, Gumbinė; pl, Gąbin) is a town and the administrative center of Gusevsky District of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Pissa and Krasnaya Rivers, near the borde ...

– 4 October 1937, in

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...

) was a German botanist. In 1874 he received his doctorate from the

University of Königsberg The University of Königsberg (german: Albertus-Universität Königsberg) was the university of Königsberg in East Prussia. It was founded in 1544 as the world's second Protestant academy (after the University of Marburg) by Duke Albert of Pruss ...

, and later on, worked as a curator at the botanical garden in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

. From 1888 to 1923 he was a professor at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded i ...

, where he also served as director of the

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

.BHL
Taxonomic literature : a selective guide to botanical publications From 1913 till 1919 he collected plants in

German South-West Africa German South West Africa (german: Deutsch-Südwestafrika) was a colony of the German Empire from 1884 until 1915, though Germany did not officially recognise its loss of this territory until the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. With a total area of ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

and especially

German East Africa German East Africa (GEA; german: Deutsch-Ostafrika) was a German colony in the African Great Lakes region, which included present-day Burundi, Rwanda, the Tanzania mainland, and the Kionga Triangle, a small region later incorporated into Mo ...

, then later in 1925/26 he was engaged in another botanical expedition in Africa. In 1936 his

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sheet of paper (calle ...

of roughly 50,000 plants was acquired by the Berlin-Dahlem Botanical Garden and Botanical Museum.Peter, Prof Gustav Albert (botany)
S2A3 Biographical Database of Southern African Science The plant genus ''

Peterodendron ''Peterodendron'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Achariaceae. The only species is ''Peterodendron ovatum''. It is native to Tanzania. The genus name of ''Peterodendron'' is in honour of Gustav Albert Peter (185 ...

'' (family

Achariaceae Achariaceae is a family of flowering plants consisting of 32-33 genera with about 155 species of tropical herbs, shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs ...

) was named in his honor by

Hermann Otto Sleumer Hermann Otto Sleumer (February 21, 1906 in Saarbrücken – October 1, 1993 in Oegstgeest) was a Dutch botanist of Germany, German birth. The plant genus, genera ''Sleumerodendron'' Virot (Proteaceae) and ''Sleumeria'' Utteridge, Nagam. & Teo (Icac ...

, in 1936. Peter's daughter Hedwig was married to

Leo Rosenberg Leo Rosenberg (7 January 1879 – 18 December 1963) was a German jurist, a professor in Göttingen, Giessen, and Leipzig. In 1934 he was barred as Jew but managed to survive Hitler's regime. After World War II he lectured at the University of M ...

Published works

In the 1890s, he made contributions regarding the plant families

Compositae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae we ...

Convolvulaceae Convolvulaceae (), commonly called the bindweeds or morning glories, is a family of about 60 genera and more than 1,650 species. These species are primarily herbaceous vines, but also include trees, shrubs and herbs. The tubers of several spec ...

, Hydrophyllaceae and

Polemoniaceae The Polemoniaceae (Jacob's-ladder or phlox family) are a family of flowering plants consisting of about 25 genera with 270–400 species of annuals and perennials native to the Northern Hemisphere and South America, with the center of diversity ...

to Engler and Prantl's ''

Die Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien ''Die Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien'' (1887–1915) by Adolf Engler (1844–1930) and Karl Anton Prantl is a complete revision of plant families down to generic level and often even further. As such it forms part of the Engler system of plant ta ...

''. With

Carl Nägeli Carl Wilhelm von Nägeli (26 or 27 March 1817 – 10 May 1891) was a Swiss botanist. He studied cell division and pollination but became known as the man who discouraged Gregor Mendel from further work on genetics. He rejected natural selectio ...

he published a two-volume work on the genus ''

Hieracium ''Hieracium'' (), known by the common name hawkweed and classically as (from ancient Greek ιεράξ, 'hawk'), is a genus of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, and closely related to dandelion (''Taraxacum''), chicory ('' Cichorium'') ...

'', titled ''Die Hieracien Mittel-Europas'' (''Hieracium'' of Central Europe; 1885–89).Die Hieracien Mittel-Europas
OCLC WorldCat Other noted works by Peter include: * ''Flora von Suedhannover nebst den angrenzenden Gebieten'' (Göttingen, 1901, 2 volumes) – Flora of southern

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

and adjacent areas. * ''Wasserpflanzen und sumpf gewachse in Deutsch-Ostafrika'' (Berlin, 1928) – Aquatic and

marsh plant Aquatic plants are plants that have adapted to living in aquatic environments ( saltwater or freshwater). They are also referred to as hydrophytes or macrophytes to distinguish them from algae and other microphytes. A macrophyte is a plant that ...

s of German East Africa. * ''Flora von Deutsch-Ostafrika'' (Berlin, 1929–38) – Flora of German East Africa.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peter, Gustav Albert 1853 births 1937 deaths People from Gusev People from East Prussia University of Königsberg alumni Academic staff of the University of Göttingen Botanists active in Africa 19th-century German botanists 20th-century German botanists