Lewis David de Schweinitz (13 February 1780 – 8 February 1834) was a

German-American German Americans (, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. According to the United States Census Bureau's figures from 2022, German Americans make up roughly 41 million people in the US, which is approximately 12% of the pop ...

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

mycologist Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their taxonomy, genetics, biochemical properties, and use by humans. Fungi can be a source of tinder, food, traditional medicine, as well as entheogens, poison, and ...

from

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Bethlehem is a city in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, Northampton and Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Bethle ...

. Considered the "Father of North American Mycology," he also made significant contributions to botany.

Education

Born in

, a great-grandson of Count Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf und Pottendorf, founder and patron of the

Moravian Church The Moravian Church, or the Moravian Brethren ( or ), formally the (Latin: "Unity of the Brethren"), is one of the oldest Protestant denominations in Christianity, dating back to the Bohemian Reformation of the 15th century and the original ...

, in 1787 Schweinitz was placed in the institution of the Moravian community at Nazareth, Pennsylvania, where he remained for eleven years and was a successful and industrious student. Schweinitz later entered the

Theological Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of an ...

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...

Niesky Niesky (; Polish and Sorbian: ''Niska'' ; ) is a small town in Upper Lusatia in eastern Saxony, Germany. It has a population of about 9,200 (2020) and is part of the district of Görlitz. Historically considered part of Upper Lusatia, it was a ...

(

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

) in 1798. In 1805, he published the ''Conspectus Fungorum in Lusatiae'' in collaboration with his teacher, Professor Johannes Baptista von Albertini.

Early career

In 1807 he went to Gnadenberg (in

Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...

), then subsequently to Gnadau to work as a preacher in the

. A work appointment in the United States led him on a route through

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, to avoid

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

's operations. This path allowed him to meet with some of the academics at Kiel University in

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, where he received an honorary Ph.D. "in absentia, for his work as an administrator, his cultivation of natural science, and the ''Conspectus''".

Return to the United States

After returning to the United States in 1812, he settled in Salem, North Carolina (now called Old Salem),

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

, working as an administrator of church estates. (He lived in what had been built as the Dr. Samuel Benjamin Vierling House which is now an exhibit building open for public tours.) The results of his mycological research in this location would later be published as ''Synopsis Fungorum Carolinæ Superioris'' in 1822. This work was edited by Christian Friedrich Schwaegrichen who, by a printer's error, was misnamed on the title page. The identity of the editor has been a source of confusion ever since. Schweinitz was elected to membership in the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

in 1817. The ''Synopsis ''was published without Schweinitz's knowledge: in 1818, he had simply given a list of North Carolina fungi to a friend in Leipzig. When he unexpectedly received prints of the published work four years later, he was "surprised but pleased". The ''Synopsis'' listed 1,373 species of fungi, and named and described 320 novel species. These new discoveries included such now widely known species as '' Lactarius indigo'', '' Cantharellus cinnabarinus'', and ''

Hypomyces lactifluorum ''Hypomyces lactifluorum'', or the lobster mushroom, is a parasitic Ascomycota, ascomycete fungus that grows on certain species of mushrooms, turning them a reddish orange color that resembles the outer shell of a cooked lobster. Contrary to its ...

''.

Honors and later career

Several taxa of plants were named in his honour; including in 1888, '' Schweinitziella'', a

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 ...

of fungi in the family Trichosphaeriaceae. A new genus in the family

Ericaceae The Ericaceae () are a Family (biology), family of flowering plants, commonly known as the heath or heather family, found most commonly in acidic and infertile growing conditions. The family is large, with about 4,250 known species spread acros ...

was named ''Schweinitzia'' in 1817, (but now classed a synonym of '' Monotropsis'') and also a species of polypore, '' Phaeolus schweinitzii'' was named in his honour. He was a member of various learned societies in the United States, Germany, and France. While a resident of Salem he was elected president of the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the Public university, public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referre ...

, which honor he declined because it involved relinquishing work in the Moravian church. In 1821 he returned to his native village in Pennsylvania and continued his studies until his death. He described '' Dibotryon morbosum'' (''Schwein.'') Theiss. & Syd., 1915, as well as '' Cantharellus'' (now ''Gomphus'') ''floccosus'' in 1832. His

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 ...

, which comprised at the time of his death the largest private collection of plants in the United States, he bequeathed to the Academy of Natural Sciences at

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. The fungi among this collection were subsequently organised for preservation and display by Ezra Michener. His birthplace, the Gemeinhaus-Lewis David de Schweinitz Residence, is a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

Selected publications

*Albertini, J. B. de, Schweinitz, L.D. de. (1805). ''Conspectus Fungorum in Lusatiæ superioris agro Nieskiensi crescentium e methodo Persooniana. Cum tabulis XII, æneis pictis, species nova XCIII sistendibus''. Leipsic. *Schweinitz, L. D. de. (1822). ''Synopsis Fungorum Carolinae Superioris. edita a D.(sic) F. Schwaegrichen''. ''Soc. nat. cur. Lips.'' 4:20-132. *_________________ (1825). Description of a number of new American species of Sphaeriae. ''Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila.'' 5:3-17. *_________________ (1832). Synopsis Fungorum in America Boreali Media Digentium. ''Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. of Phil. N. S.'' 4:141-318. Schweinitz' three works on American fungi contain a total of 4,491 species; of these, 1,533 were described as new and 10 new genera were established.Shear, C.L., Stevens, N.E. (1917). Studies of the Schweinitz Collections of Fungi: I: Sketch of his Mycological Work. '' Mycologia'' 9(4):191-204.

References

External links

Lewis David von Schweinitz Papers
held by the New York Botanical Garden's Mertz Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Schweinitz, Lewis David de 1780 births 1834 deaths 19th-century American botanists American mycologists American people of German descent American people of the Moravian Church American taxonomists Members of the American Philosophical Society People from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Plant collectors