Carl Emil Hansen Ostenfeld (born Carl Emil Ostenfeld-Hansen) (3 August 1873 – 16 January 1931) was a Danish

systematic Systematic may refer to: Science * Short for systematic error * Systematic fault * Systematic bias, errors that are introduced by an inaccuracy inherent to the system Economy * Systematic trading, a way of defining trade goals, risk control ...

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 ...

. He graduated from the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University. ...

under professor

Eugenius Warming Johannes Eugenius Bülow Warming (3 November 1841 – 2 April 1924), known as Eugen Warming, was a Danish botanist and a main founding figure of the scientific discipline of ecology. Warming wrote the first textbook (1895) on plant ecology, ta ...

. He was a keeper at the Botanical Museum 1900–1918, when he became professor of

botany 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 ...

at the

Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University (, abbr. KVL, , abbr. RVA) was a veterinary and agricultural science university in Denmark. It was founded in 1856 and operated until 2007, when it became a part of the University of Copenhagen. It ...

. In 1923, by the early retirement of Raunkiær's, Ostenfeld became professor of botany at the University of Copenhagen and director of the

Copenhagen Botanical Garden The University of Copenhagen Botanical Garden (), usually referred to simply as Copenhagen Botanical Garden, is a botanical garden located in the centre of Copenhagen, Denmark. It covers an area of 10 hectares and is particularly noted for its ext ...

, both positions held until his death in 1931. He was a member of the

Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters ({{Langx, da, Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab or ''Videnskabernes Selskab'') is a Danish academy of science. The Royal Danish Academy was established on 13 November 1742, and was create ...

and served on the board of directors of the

Carlsberg Foundation Carlsberg Foundation () is a not-for-profit organization that was founded by J. C. Jacobsen in 1876, by allocating some of his shares in the Carlsberg Brewery to fund and operate the Carlsberg Laboratory and the Museum of National History at ...

. Ostenfeld is known as an explorer of the Danish

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 ...

, including marine

plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms that drift in Hydrosphere, water (or atmosphere, air) but are unable to actively propel themselves against ocean current, currents (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are ca ...

, as well as the flora of

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. Ostenfeld participated in the Ingolf expedition (1885-86) to the waters around

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

and

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

, and in 1911 in the International Phytogeographic Excursion to the

British Isles The British Isles are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Outer Hebr ...

. The party studied the flora of parts of

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, including

Killarney Killarney ( ; , meaning 'church of sloes') is a town in County Kerry, southwestern Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is on the northeastern shore of Lough Leane, part of Killarney National Park, and is home to St Mary's Cathedral, Killar ...

Connemara Connemara ( ; ) is a region on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of western County Galway, in the west of Ireland. The area has a strong association with traditional Irish culture and contains much of the Connacht Irish-speaking Gaeltacht, ...

and

The Burren The Burren ( ; ) is a karst/glaciokarst landscape centred in County Clare, on the west coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland.

. In collaboration with O. Rosenberg, he was one of the first to confirm that some plants could form asexual seeds, now called (

apomixis In botany, apomixis is asexual development of seed or embryo without fertilization. However, other definitions include replacement of the seed by a plantlet or replacement of the flower by bulbils. Apomictically produced offspring are geneti ...

). Their experiments repeated those of

Gregor Mendel Gregor Johann Mendel Order of Saint Augustine, OSA (; ; ; 20 July 1822 – 6 January 1884) was an Austrian Empire, Austrian biologist, meteorologist, mathematician, Augustinians, Augustinian friar and abbot of St Thomas's Abbey, Brno, St. Thom ...

with

Hieracium ''Hieracium'' (), known by the common name hawkweed and classically as (from ancient Greek ἱέραξ, 'hawk'), is a genus of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, and closely related to dandelion (''Taraxacum''), chicory (''Cichorium''), ...

hybrids, showing that Mendel had observed a mixture of sexual recombination and apomixis.

Taxon named in his honor

About a dozen plant species are named after him. *The fish '' Diaphus ostenfeldi'' Tåning, 1932, the Ostenfeld's lanternfish, is a species of

lanternfish Lanternfish (or myctophids, from the Greek language, Greek μυκτήρ ''myktḗr'', "nose" and ''ophis'', "serpent") are small mesopelagic fish of the large family (biology), family Myctophidae. One of two families in the order Myctophiformes, ...

found Worldwide.

Honours

Also some geographical features in

bear names that commemorate him: * C.H. Ostenfeld Land in Northeast Greenland * C.H. Ostenfeld Nunatak in Wordie's Glacier, Northeast Greenland * C.H. Ostenfeld Glacier in

Victoria Fjord Victoria Fjord, also known as Victoria Inlet, is a large fjord in northern Greenland. Its eastern shore forms the western limit of Peary Land. Geography To the northwest the fjord opens into the Lincoln Sea of the Arctic Ocean. Wulff Land form ...

, Northwest Greenland The

French Academy of Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (, ) is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific method, scientific research. It was at the forefron ...

awarded him the Prix Desmazières for 1917.

Selected scientific works

*Ostenfeld, C.H. & Johannes Schmidt (1901) Plankton fra det Røde Hav og Adenbugten. Videnskabelige meddelelser fra Dansk Naturhistorisk Forening 1901: 141–182. * Gelert, O. & Ostenfeld, C.H. (1902) Flora Arctica - containing description of the flowering plants and ferns, found in the Arctic regions, with their distribution in these countries, illustrated by numerous figures in the text. **Part 1. Pteridophyta, Gymnospermae and Monocotyledones.

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

, 1902
Full text
*Ostenfeld, C.H. (1904) Weitere Beitrage zur Kenntnis der Fruchtentwicklung bei der Gattung ''Hieracium''. Berichte der Deutschen Botanischen Gesellschaft 22:537–541 *Ostenfeld CH, Rosenberg O (1906) Experimental and cytological studies in the Hieracia. I. Castration and hybridization experiments with some species of Hieracia. Botanisk Tidsskrift 27:225–248 *Ostenfeld, C.H. (1908) On the immigration of ''Biddulphia sinensis'' Grev. and its occurrence in the North Sea during 1903-1907 and on its use for the study of the direction and rate of flow of the currents. Meddelelser fra Kommissionen for Danmarks Fiskeri- og Havundersøgelser: Serie Plankton 1 (6): 1-44. *Ostenfeld, C.H. & C.G. Johannes Petersen (1908) On the Ecology and Distribution of the Grass-Wrack (

Zostera marina ''Zostera marina'' is a flowering vascular plant species as one of many kinds of seagrass, with this species known primarily by the English name of eelgrass with seawrack much less used, and refers to the plant after breaking loose from the subme ...

) in Danish Waters. Copenhagen, Centraltrykkeriet, 62 p. Series: The Danish Biological Station vol. 16. *Ostenfeld CH (1910) Further studies on the apogamy and hybridization of the Hieracia. Zeitschrif ind Abst und Vererb 3:241–285 *Ostenfeld, C.H. & Ove Paulsen (1910–1911) Marine plankton from the East-Greenland Sea (W. of 6° W. Long, and N. of 73° 30’ N. Lat.): collected by the

Danmark Expedition The Denmark expedition (), also known as the Denmark Expedition to Greenland's Northeast Coast and the Danmark Expedition after the ship's name, was an expedition to northeastern Greenland in 1906–1908. Despite being overshadowed by the dea ...

1906–1908.

Meddelelser om Grønland ''Meddelelser om Grønland'' ("''Communications on Greenland''") is a Danish scientific journal, scientific periodical which publishes scientific results from all fields of research on Greenland. It was established by Frederik Johnstrup and publi ...

bd. 43 (11). **I : List of diatoms and flagellates / by C.H. Ostenfeld. 1910 **II : Protozoa / by C.H. Ostenfeld. 1910 **III : Peridiniales / by Ove Paulsen. 1910 **IV : General remarks on the microplankton / by C.H. Ostenfeld and Ove Paulsen. 1911
Ostenfeld, C. E. H. 1912. Some remarks on the International Phytogeographic Excursion in the British Isles

New Phytologist ''New Phytologist'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published on behalf of the New Phytologist Foundation by Wiley-Blackwell. It covers all aspects of botany and was established in 1902 by Arthur Tansley, who served as editor until 1931. M ...

, 11: 114–127.
Ostenfeld, C. H. (1912) Experiments on the Origin of Species in the Genus Hieracium (Apogamy and Hybridism). New Phytologist 11 (9): 347-354.
* Ostenfeld, C. H. (1915) Plants collected during the First Thule Expedition to the northernmost Greenland. Meddelelser om Grønland, 51 (10)
Ostenfeld, C. H. (1915) Ruppia anomala sp. nov., an Aberrant Type of the Potamogetonaceae. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 42 (12): 659-662
* Ostenfeld, C. E. H. (1916) Contributions to West Australian Botany, part I: Introduction, The sea-grasses of West Australia.

Dansk Botanisk Arkiv ''Dansk Botanisk Arkiv'' was a Danish scientific journal or monograph series concerning botany, issued by the Danish Botanical Society. It was published from 1913 to 1980. Articles were written in Danish, German, English and French. The synonym ...

, 2(6): 1-44 * Ostenfeld, C. E. H. (1918a) Contributions to West Australian Botany, part II: Stray notes from the tropical West Australia. Dansk Botanisk Arkiv, 2(8) : 1-29 * Ostenfeld, C. E. H. (1918b) Contributions to West Australian Botany, part II: A revision of the West Australian species of Triglochin, Crassula (Tillaea) and Frankenia. Dansk Botanisk Arkiv, 2(8) : 30-55 * Ostenfeld, C. E. H. (1921) Contributions to West Australian Botany, part III : Additions and notes to the flora of extra-tropical W. Australia. Biologiske Meddelelser,

Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters ({{Langx, da, Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab or ''Videnskabernes Selskab'') is a Danish academy of science. The Royal Danish Academy was established on 13 November 1742, and was create ...

, 3(2): 1-144 * Ostenfeld, C. H. (1923) Critical Notes on the Taxonomy and Nomenclature of Some Flowering Plants from Northern Greenland (II Thule Expedition 1916–1918). Meddelelser om Grønland, 64 * Ostenfeld, C. H. (1923) Flowering Plants and Ferns from Wolstenholme Sound (ca. 76°30' N. Lat.) and Two Plant Lists from

Inglefield Gulf Inglefield Gulf or Inglefield Fjord (; ) is a fjord in northwestern Greenland. To the west, the fjord opens into the Baffin Bay. Administratively it belongs to the Avannaata municipality. Inglefield Gulf was named after English explorer Edward A ...

and

Inglefield Land Inglefield Land is an unglaciated area along the northwestern coast of Greenland. It was named after English explorer Edward Augustus Inglefield. History Inglefield Land is noted for its archaeological sites, which show evidence of occupation by ...

(77°28' and 79°10' N. Lat.) (II Thule Expedition 1916–1918). Meddelelser om Grønland, 64: 189-206 * Ostenfeld, C. H. (1924) The Vegetation of the North-Coast of Greenland. Based upon the late Dr. Th. Wulff's collections and observations (II Thule Expedition 1916–1918). Meddelelser om Grønland, 64: 221-268
Ostenfeld, C.H. (1925) Vegetation of North Greenland. Botanical Gazette 80 (2): 213-218.

Ostenfeld, C. H. (1925) Some Remarks on Species and Chromosomes. American Naturalist 59 (662): 217-218.
* Ostenfeld, C.H. (1926) The flora of Greenland and its origin. Biologiske Meddelelser, Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab, 6, 1-71 * Ostenfeld, C.H. (1931) The distribution within Denmark of the higher plants Results of the topographic-botanical investigation. 1: A brief historical survey of the investigation. Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskabs Skrifter, Naturvidenskabelig og Mathematisk Afd., 9. Række, 3(1) * Ostenfeld, C.H. &

Johannes Grøntved Johannes Grøntved (25 January 1882 – 11 July 1956) was a Denmark, Danish botanist. He made investigations of flora and vegetation in Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland and Estonia. He was editor of The Botany of Iceland from vol. 3 p ...

(1934) The Flora of

and the Færoes. Copenhagen, 1934

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ostenfeld, Carl H. Botanists active in the Arctic Botanists active in Australia Ostenfeldt, C.H. Academic staff of the University of Copenhagen University of Copenhagen alumni 1873 births 1931 deaths People from Randers