Carl Johann Maximovich, also Karl Ivanovich Maximovich (

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

: Карл Иванович Максимович; 23 November 1827 – 16 February 1891) was a Russian

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 ...

. Maximovich spent most of his life studying the flora of the countries he had visited in the Far East, and naming many new species. He worked at the Saint Petersburg Botanical Gardens from 1852 as curator of the

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant biological specimen, 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 sh ...

collection, becoming Director in 1869.

History

Born a

Baltic-German Baltic Germans ( or , later ) are ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their resettlement in 1945 after the end of World War II, Baltic Germans have drastically decli ...

, his name at birth was Karl Ivanovich Maksimovich, but he changed it to the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

version of his name for his scientific work.Japan’s botanical sunrise plant exploration around the Meiji Restoration Peter Barnes
(originally published in Curtis's Botanical Magazine 18(1): 117-131 (2001)) He graduated in biology from the institution which is now

University of Tartu The University of Tartu (UT; ; ) is a public research university located in the city of Tartu, Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is also the largest and oldest university in the country.

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

in (1850), he was a pupil of Alexander G. von Bunge. From 1853 to 1857 he traveled around the world. He travelled with another Baltic-German

Leopold von Schrenck Peter Leopold von Schrenck (; 1826 – 8 January 1894) was a Russian zoologist, geographer and ethnographer. Biography Schrenck came from a Baltic German family, and was born and raised in the , Sumsky Uyezd, Kharkov Governorate. He recei ...

to the

Amur The Amur River () or Heilong River ( zh, s=黑龙江) is a perennial river in Northeast Asia, forming the natural border between the Russian Far East and Northeast China (historically the Outer Manchuria, Outer and Inner Manchuria). The Amur ...

region in eastern Asia. From 1859 to 1864 he also he visited China, Korea and Japan. He arrived in Japan in late 1860, initially basing his operations in

Hakodate is a Cities of Japan, city and seaports of Japan, port located in Oshima Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital city of Oshima Subprefecture. As of January 31, 2024, the city had an estimated population of 239,813 with 138,807 househol ...

. He traveled extensively in southern Japan and for much of 1862 including the region of

Yokohama is the List of cities in Japan, second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous Municipalities of Japan, municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a popu ...

and

Mount Fuji is an active stratovolcano located on the Japanese island of Honshu, with a summit elevation of . It is the highest mountain in Japan, the second-highest volcano on any Asian island (after Mount Kerinci on the Indonesian island of Sumatra), a ...

, he ended that year in

Nagasaki , officially , is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Founded by the Portuguese, the port of Portuguese_Nagasaki, Nagasaki became the sole Nanban trade, port used for tr ...

. He also explored much of

Kyūshū is the third-largest island of Japan's four main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands (i.e. excluding Okinawa and the other Ryukyu (''Nansei'') Islands). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regio ...

. He was particularly involved with the flora of Japan, following the footsteps of notably

Carl Peter Thunberg Carl Peter Thunberg, also known as Karl Peter von Thunberg, Carl Pehr Thunberg, or Carl Per Thunberg (11 November 1743 – 8 August 1828), was a Sweden, Swedish Natural history, naturalist and an Apostles of Linnaeus, "apostle" of Carl Linnaeus ...

, and

Philipp Franz von Siebold Philipp Franz Balthasar von Siebold (17 February 1796 – 18 October 1866) was a German physician, botanist and traveller. He achieved prominence by his studies of Japanese flora (plants), flora and fauna (animals), fauna and the introduction of ...

. His assistant in Japan was Sukawa Chonosuke, whose name was given by Maximovich to the flower

Trillium ''Trillium'' (trillium, wakerobin, toadshade, tri flower, birthroot, birthwort, and sometimes "wood lily") is a genus of about fifty flowering plant species in the family Melanthiaceae. ''Trillium'' species are native to temperate regions of No ...

tschonoskii. He also studied the

flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

of Tibet, concluding that it was chiefly composed of immigrants from Mongolia and the Himalaya. Commissioned by the

Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation; and additional scientific and social units such ...

, he purchased from von Siebold's widow the set of eight volumes of the famous collection of Japanese botanical illustrations drawn by several Japanese artists. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

in 1888.

Named in his honor

* ''

Acer maximowiczianum ''Acer maximowiczianum'' (Nikko maple; syn. ''A. nikoense'' Maxim.), is a species of maple widely distributed in China (Anhui, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Zhejiang) and Japan (Honshū, Kyūshū, Shikoku).Xu, T.-z., Chen, Y., de Jong, P. C., & ...

'': Nikko maple, China & Japan * ''Atriplex maximowicziana'': Maximovich's saltbush * '' Betula maximowicziana'': Monarch birch, Japan * ''

Crataegus maximowiczii ''Crataegus maximowiczii'' is a species of hawthorn with fruit that are red to purple-black. See also * List of hawthorn species with black fruit References maximowiczii {{Crataegus-stub ...

'' Schneid. * ''Kalopanax pictus'' var. ''maximowiczii'': China, Manchuria, Korea, Japan 1865 * '' Lilium leichtlinii'' Hooker f. var. ''maximowiczii'' (Regel) Baker: (also named after the German botanist Max Leichtlin) * '' Picea maximowiczii'': Maximovich spruce, Japan * ''

Populus maximowiczii ''Populus suaveolens'', called the Mongolian poplar, Korean poplar and Japanese poplar, is a species of flowering plant in the genus ''Populus ''Populus'' is a genus of 25–30 species of deciduous flowering plants in the family Salicaceae, ...

'': Maximovich' poplar * Maximowicz's vole (''

Alexandromys maximowiczii Maximowicz's vole (''Alexandromys maximowiczii'') is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is found in northeastern China, Mongolia, and eastern Russia. Description Maximowicz's vole is one of the largest voles in the genus ''Alexandr ...

'') for more species

Plants named by him

Maximovich described and named over 2300 plants which were previously unknown to science.IPNI Results for Maxim.
International Plant Names Index 2005. * Genus ''

Circaeaster ''Circaeaster agrestis'' is a flowering plant species and one of only one to two species in its family, the Circaeasteraceae. The plant is a small, glabrous herb found in temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in t ...

'' Maxim. – family Circaeasteraceae * ''Acer argutum'' Maxim. * ''Acer barbinerve'' Maxim. * ''Acer capillipes'' Maxim. * ''Acer miyabei'' Maxim. * ''Acer mono'' Maxim. * ''Acer nikoense'' Maxim. * ''Acer tschonoskii'' Maxim. * ''

Berberis thunbergii ''Berberis thunbergii'', the Japanese barberry, Thunberg's barberry, or red barberry, is a species of flowering plant in the barberry family Berberidaceae, native plant, native to Japan and eastern Asia, though widely naturalized in China and No ...

'' Maxim. * ''

Buddleja alternifolia ''Buddleja alternifolia'', known as alternate-leaved butterfly-bush, is a species of flowering plant in the figwort family, which is endemic to Gansu, China. A substantial deciduous shrub growing to tall and wide, it bears grey-green leaves and ...

'' Maxim. * ''Calanthe reflexa'' Maxim. * ''Elaeagnus oldhamii'' Maxim. * ''Goodyera macrantha'' Maxim. * ''

Juglans mandshurica ''Juglans mandshurica'', also known as Manchurian walnut or tigernut, is a species of deciduous tree in the walnut family, Juglandaceae. It is native to East Asia. Description The tree grows to about . The leaves are alternate, long, odd-pinn ...

'' Maxim. * ''Liparis japonica'' Maxim. * ''Pedicularis artselaeri'' Maxim. – family Scrophulariaceae * ''Platanthera hologlottis'' Maxim. * ''Rhododendron schlippenbachii'' Maxim. * ''Trichosanthes kirilowii'' Maxim. * ''Trillium tschonoskii'' Maxim. - Japan, Korea, northeastern China, and far-eastern Russia * ''Tulotis ussuriensis'' (Maxim.) Hara * ''Yoania japonica'' Maxim.

Selected works

* Rhamneae orientali-asiaticae (1866) * Rhododendrae Asia Orientalis (1870) * Monograph on genus Lespedeza (1873) * Enumeratio plantarum hucusque in Mongolia : nec non adjacente parte Turkestaniae Sinensis lectarum (1889) * Flora Tangutica : sive enumeratio plantarum regionis Tangut (AMDO) provinciae Kansu, nec non Tibetiae praesertim orientaliborealis atque tsaidam : ex collectionibus N.M. Przewalski atque G.N. Potanin (1889) * Diagnoses plantarum novarum asiaticarum. VI
Primitae Florae Amurensis
(Flora of the Amur Region) in Bulletin de L'Académie Impériale des Sciences de St. Petersbourg (1859).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Maximovich, Karl 1827 births 1891 deaths Baltic-German people from the Russian Empire Botanists active in China Botanists active in Japan Botanists with author abbreviations Bryologists Demidov Prize laureates Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Full members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences 19th-century botanists from the Russian Empire 19th-century explorers from the Russian Empire People from Tula, Russia Pteridologists University of Tartu alumni