Friedrich Markgraf (1 February 1897 in

Berlin-Friedenau Friedenau () is a locality (''Ortsteil'') within the borough (''Bezirk'') of Tempelhof-Schöneberg in Berlin, Germany. Relatively small by area, its population density was the highest in the city. Geography Friedenau is part of the southwestern ...

– 8 March 1987 in

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

) 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 ...

Life and work

After secondary school, Markgraf studied biology at the Friedrich Wilhelm University Berlin. In 1922 he was awarded a Ph.D. for a thesis on the subject of a botanic-ecological study of the Bredower forest near Berlin. After his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

he became first a professor of botany at the Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin and then at the

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

and director of the

Botanical Garden Munich-Nymphenburg The Botanischer Garten München-Nymphenburg is a botanical garden and arboretum in Munich, Germany. History Munich's first botanical garden, now called the "Alter Botanischer Garten (Munich), Old Botanical Garden", was established in ...

(1956-1958). Markgraf was also visiting professor of botany at the University of Zurich. During his teaching and research activities, he was primarily concerned with questions of botanical systematics,

plant morphology Phytomorphology is the study of the physical form and external structure of plants.Raven, P. H., R. F. Evert, & S. E. Eichhorn. ''Biology of Plants'', 7th ed., page 9. (New York: W. H. Freeman, 2005). . This is usually considered distinct from pl ...

and

phytogeography 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 ...

and he also undertook research while travelling in the Mediterranean. In particular he made an important start on the study of the local flora of Albania. He acted as the Regional Adviser on Albania for

Flora Europaea The ''Flora Europaea'' is a 5-volume encyclopedia of plants, published between 1964 and 1993 by Cambridge University Press. The aim was to describe all the national Floras of Europe in a single, authoritative publication to help readers identify ...

. He was married to the botanist Ingeborg Markgraf-Dannenberg.

Publications

* ''Die Bredower Forst bei Berlin'', Dissertation, Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Berlin, 1922 * ''Kleines Praktikum der Vegetationskunde'', 1926 * ''An den Grenzen des Mittelmeergebiete'', 1927 * ''In Albaniens Bergen'', 1930 * ''Pflanzen aus Albanien 1928'', 1931 * ''Prodromus florae peninsulae Balcanicae / Fasc. 2. Dicotyledoncae Sympetalae 1928–1931'', 1931 * ''Pflanzengeographie von Albanien'', 1932 * ''Prodromus florae peninsulae Balcanicae / Fasc. 3. Monocotyle doucae 1932–1933'', 1933 * ''Vegetationsstudien im Naturschutzgebiet Bellinchen'', 1937 * ''Blumen der Alpen'', co-author Josef Weisz, 1954 * ''Blumen der Berge'', co-author Josef Weisz, 1954 * ''Formen des Lebens'', 1957 * ''Illustrierte Flora von Mitteleuropa / Bd. 4. / T. 1'', 2. Auflage, 1958–1963 * ''Mitteilungen aus dem Botanischen Museum der Universität Zürich / 219. Der morphologische Bau einer Merendera-Art der türkischen Steppe'', 1962 * ''Führer durch die Freilandanlagen des Botanischen Gartens in München-Nymphenburg'', 1966 * ''Repertorium specierum novarum regni vegetabilis / Beiheft Bd. 30. Prodromus florae peninsulae Balcanicae / Bd. 2. Dicotyledoneae sympetalae'', Nachdruck 1970 * ''Repertorium specierum novarum regni vegetabilis / Beiheft Bd. 30. Prodromus florae peninsulae Balcanicae / Bd. 3. Monocotyledoneae'', Nachdruck 1971 * ''Illustrierte Flora von Mitteleuropa / Bd. 1. Gymnospermae, Angiospermae / Teil 2'', 1981

Sources

* ''Meyers Großes Personenlexikon''. Mannheim 1968, page 857. * Hermann Merxmüller, Walter Guttermann: "Eine neue Moehringien-Sippe aus den Südalpen. Professor Friedrich Markgraf zum 60. Geburtstag". In: ''Phyton: Annales rei botanicae''. 30 April 1957.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Markgraf, Friedrich 20th-century German botanists Scientists from Berlin Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin Academic staff of the University of Zurich 1897 births 1987 deaths People from Tempelhof-Schöneberg German expatriates in Switzerland Humboldt University of Berlin alumni