Siegfried Reissek (11 April 1819 in Teschen – 9 November 1871 in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

) was an Austrian

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

and

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 ...

who specialized in

spermatophyte A seed plant or spermatophyte (; New Latin ''spermat-'' and Greek ' (phytón), plant), also known as a phanerogam (taxon Phanerogamae) or a phaenogam (taxon Phaenogamae), is any plant that produces seeds. It is a category of embryophyte (i.e. la ...

s. He is known for his studies involving

plant anatomy Plant anatomy or phytotomy is the general term for the study of the internal Anatomy, structure of plants. Originally, it included plant morphology, the description of the physical form and external structure of plants, but since the mid-20th centu ...

and

histology Histology, also known as microscopic anatomy or microanatomy, is the branch of biology that studies the microscopic anatomy of biological tissue (biology), tissues. Histology is the microscopic counterpart to gross anatomy, which looks at large ...

. From 1837 to 1841 he was a student at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

. He worked as assistant curator at the Royal Botanical Collection in Vienna between 1845 and 1867, when he was appointed head curator; and from 1848 was a member of the Vienna Academy of Sciences. He circumscribed numerous plant taxa, including the genus ''Stenanthemum'' (family

Rhamnaceae The Rhamnaceae are a large Family (biology), family of flowering plants, mostly trees, shrubs, and some vines, commonly called the buckthorn family. Rhamnaceae is included in the order Rosales. The family contains about 55 genera and 950 specie ...

). The plant genus '' Reissekia'' from Brazil (in the family

) commemorates his name.

Publications

* ''Über die selbständige Entwickelung der Pollenzelle zur keimtragenden Pflanze'', 1844 – On the self-development of the pollen cell in germinating plants. * ''Die Fasergewebe des Leines. des Hanfes, der Nessel und Baumwolle'', 1851 – The fibrous tissue of rope,

hemp Hemp, or industrial hemp, is a plant in the botanical class of ''Cannabis sativa'' cultivars grown specifically for industrial and consumable use. It can be used to make a wide range of products. Along with bamboo, hemp is among the fastest ...

nettle Nettle refers to plants with stinging hairs, particularly those of the genus '' Urtica''. It can also refer to plants which resemble ''Urtica'' species in appearance but do not have stinging hairs. Plants called "nettle" include: * ball nettle ...

and cotton. * ''Untersuchungen über die Fäulniss der Mohrrüben'', 1852 – Studies on the putrefaction of

carrot The carrot ('' Daucus carota'' subsp. ''sativus'') is a root vegetable, typically orange in colour, though heirloom variants including purple, black, red, white, and yellow cultivars exist, all of which are domesticated forms of the wild ...

s. * ''Alphitomyces schroetteri'' (1856). * ''Die Palmen. Eine physiognomisch-culturhistorische Skizze'', 1861 – The palms. * ''Celastrineae, Ilicineae et Rhamneae'', 1861. In: ''

Flora Brasiliensis ''Flora Brasiliensis'' is a book published between 1840 and 1906 by the editors Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius, August Wilhelm Eichler, Ignatz Urban and many others. It contains taxonomic treatments of 22,767 species, mostly Brazilian angiosper ...

''. * ''Die Vegetation von Südasien'', 1864 – Vegetation of southern Asia. * "Correspondence : Reissek (Siegfried) and Engelmann (George)", 1876.

References

Botanists from the Austrian Empire Naturalists from Austria-Hungary 1819 births 1871 deaths People from Cieszyn University of Vienna alumni {{austria-botanist-stub