Maxwell "Max" Koch (17 July 1854 – 1 April 1925) was a German-born Australian botanical collector.

Biography

Born in

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

, Koch was apprenticed to a merchant's office, but, not liking the work, joined the crew of a

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated pop ...

-based sailing ship at

Bremerhaven Bremerhaven (, , Low German: ''Bremerhoben'') is a city at the seaport of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany. It forms a semi-enclave in the state of Lower Saxony and is located at the mouth of the R ...

. Koch disembarked at

Port Augusta, South Australia Port Augusta is a small city in South Australia. Formerly a seaport, it is now a road traffic and railway junction city mainly located on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf immediately south of the gulf's head and about north of the state cap ...

in April 1878, taking work at a wheat farm. Later he moved to Mount Lyndhurst sheep station, where he remained for many years. Around 1896 he began serious botanical collecting. Koch visited Germany around 1902–1903, then returned to Australia, and in 1904 moved to the extreme south-west of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to ...

, where he spent the next 17 years working in the timber industry. By that time he had a large family, and he supplemented his income by plant specimens, and, in his later years, seed. He died at

Pemberton, Western Australia Pemberton is a town in the South West region of Western Australia, named after original settler Pemberton Walcott. History The region was originally occupied by the Bibbulmun people who knew the area as Wandergarup, which in their language me ...

in 1925.

Legacy

During his lifetime, Koch very highly regarded by botanists, who considered him to be an outstanding botanical collector. In total his collections amount to about 820 species in South Australia and 2880 in Western Australia. These went to a range of botanists, herbaria, and botanic gardens, including Joseph Henry Maiden in Sydney (who used Koch's specimens as exchange material), the botanic gardens at Adelaide and Brisbane, and several overseas recipients. More than 40 plant species were published from specimens collected by him, including '' Lechenaultia macrantha'', '' Eucalyptus brachycorys'' and '' Eucalyptus kochii''. The last of these was named in his honour, as were species of several other genera, including ''

Acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus n ...

'', '' Aizoon'', ''

Scirpus ''Scirpus'' is a genus of grass-like species in the sedge family Cyperaceae many with the common names club-rush, wood club-rush or bulrush (see also bulrush for other plant genera so-named). They mostly inhabit wetlands and damp locations. Tax ...

'', ''

Thryptomene ''Thryptomene'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Myrtaceae and is endemic to Australia. Plants in the genus ''Thryptomene'' are shrubs with small leaves arranged in opposite pairs and white or pink flowers. About forty-seven specie ...

'' and ''

Zygophyllum ''Zygophyllum'' is the type genus of the flowering plant family Zygophyllaceae. The generic name is derived from the Greek words ζυγόν (''zygon''), meaning "double", and φυλλον (''phyllon''), meaning "leaf". It refers to the leaves ...

''.

Biography

Legacy

References

Further reading