Johanna Emilie Katharina Elizabeth "Käthe" Hoffmann (1 August 1883 – 30 December 1960) was a German botanist who described many plant species in

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

and

South East Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

including '' Annesijoa novoguineensis''. She was a high school teacher at Breslau, German Empire, (now

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

, Poland) and made a significant contribution to botany. In one study, she was found to have co-authored or authored 354 land plant species, the sixth-highest number authored by any female scientist. , ''

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online taxonomic database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. History Following the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew launched Plants of the World Online i ...

'' lists 439 accepted genera and species which include Käthe Hoffmann in the authority, in some capacity.

Life

She was born in 1 August 1883 in Breslau (now

, Poland). While some sources give her year of death as 1931, this is impossible as she was the author of two papers published in ''Revista Sudamericana de Botánica'' in 1942, one of them being an obituary of Ferdinand Albin Pax. According to the 'Berlin, Germany, Deaths, 1874-1986' database at Ancestry.com, as well as a death notice in Berichte der Deutschen Botanischen Gesellshaft, issue of 27 March 1961, she died in Berlin on 30 December 1960.

Relationship to Käthe Rosenthal

Another female botanist's name, Käthe Rosenthal, is associated with the University of Breslau in the early 20th century. Her name appears alongside those of Ferdinand Pax and Käthe Hoffmann in issue 68 of

Adolf Engler Heinrich Gustav Adolf Engler (25 March 1844 – 10 October 1930) was a German botanist. He is notable for his work on plant taxonomy and phytogeography, such as ''Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien'' (''The Natural Plant Families''), edited with K ...

's multivolume work ''Das Pflanzenreich''. Pax and Hoffmann are listed as the authors of three sections on parts of the family Euphorbiaceae. Rosenthal is listed as the author of a section on the family Daphniphyllaceae. Earlier, in 1916, a PhD thesis with the author Käthe Rosenthal had been published under the title "Monographie der Gattung ''Daphniphyllum''" ("Monograph of the genus ''Daphniphyllum''"). The ''

International Plant Names Index The International Plant Names Index (IPNI) describes itself as "a database of the names and associated basic bibliographical details of seed plants, ferns and lycophytes." Coverage of plant names is best at the rank of species and genus. It inclu ...

'' (IPNI) gives Rosenthal's author abbreviation as "K.Rosenth." with the year of birth 1893, i.e. 10 years after Hoffmann. Rosenthal's dissertation on ''Daphniphyllum'' contains a or resumé in which she identifies herself as the daughter of Rabbi Ferdinand Rosenthal, PhD, and his wife, Amalie, née Kaufmann. She also thanks, among others, Frl. Käthe Hoffmann "for valuable advice in my work" (""). Some sources treat the two as the same person. Thus the Bibliothèque nationale de France gives Käthe Hoffmann's year of birth as 1893, and states that "Käthe Rosenthal" is "" ("another form of name"). Käthe Hoffmann may also be given as the author of the ''Daphniphyllum'' monograph instead of Käthe Rosenthal.

Selected publications

''Das Pflanzenreich''

Between 1911 and 1924, Ferdinand Pax and Käthe Hoffmann contributed almost all the sections on the family

Euphorbiaceae Euphorbiaceae (), the spurge family, is a large family of flowering plants. In English, they are also commonly called euphorbias, which is also the name of Euphorbia, the type genus of the family. Most spurges, such as ''Euphorbia paralias'', ar ...

to Engler's monumental work, ''Das Pflanzenreich'' (''The Plant Kingdom''). (The first two sections on the family, published in 1910, were by Pax alone; one section published in 1915 has a different author.) Up to 1914, Hoffmann's name appeared on the title page as "" ('with the participation of'). From 1919 onwards, she was credited as the second author.All the parts of the first edition of ''Das Pflanzenreich'' are listed at Information on each part can be found via the links. *F. Pax with the participation of Käthe Hoffmann (1911). "IV. 147. III Euphorbiaceae–Cluytieae". Heft (issue) 47. *F. Pax with the participation of Käthe Hoffmann (1912). "IV. 147. IV Euphorbiaceae-Gelonieae". Heft 52. *F. Pax with the participation of Käthe Hoffmann (1912). "IV. 147. V Euphorbiaceae-Hippomaneae". Heft 52. *F. Pax with the participation of Käthe Hoffmann (1912). "IV. 147. VI Euphorbiaceae-Acalypheae-Chrozophorinae". Heft 57. *F. Pax with the participation of Käthe Hoffmann (1914). "IV. 147. VII Euphorbiaceaee-Acalypheae-Mercurialinae". Heft 63. *F. Pax & Käthe Hoffman (1919). "IV. 147. IX Euphorbiaceae-Acalypheae-Plukenetiinae". Heft 68. *F. Pax & Käthe Hoffman (1919). "IV. 147. X Euphorbiaceae-Acalypheae-Epiprininae". Heft 68. *F. Pax & Käthe Hoffman (1919). "IV. 147. XI Euphorbiaceae-Acalypheae-Ricininae". Heft 68. *F. Pax & Käthe Hoffman (1919). "IV. 147. XII Euphorbiaceae-Dalechampieae". Heft 68. *F. Pax & Käthe Hoffman (1919). "IV. 147. XIII Euphorbiaceae-Pereae". Heft 68. *F. Pax & Käthe Hoffman (1919). "IV. 147. XIV Euphorbiaceae-Aditamentum IV". Heft 68. *F. Pax & Käthe Hoffman (1922). "IV. 147. XV Euphorbiaceae-Phyllanthoideae-Phyllantheae". Heft 81. *F. Pax & Käthe Hoffman (1924). "IV. 147. XVI Euphorbiaceae-Crotonoideae-Acalypheae-Acalyphinae". Heft 85.

Author abbreviation

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoffmann, Kathe 1883 births 1960 deaths Scientists from Wrocław Botanists with author abbreviations 20th-century German botanists German taxonomists Women taxonomists German women botanists 20th-century German women scientists