Otto Sendtner (27 June 1813 – 21 April 1859) was a German botanist and

phytogeographer 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 o ...

born in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

. He received his education at the

University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: link=no, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of ...

, where he was a student of

Karl Friedrich Schimper Karl Friedrich Schimper (15 February 1803 – 21 December 1867) was a German botanist, naturalist and poet. Life Early life and education Schimper was born in Mannheim, on February 15, 1803, to Friedrich Ludwig Heinrich Schimper and ...

(1803–1867). Afterwards he served as a private secretary to a

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is spli ...

n nobleman, and during his spare time performed studies of cryptogramic flora of the

Sudetenland The Sudetenland ( , ; Czech and sk, Sudety) is the historical German name for the northern, southern, and western areas of former Czechoslovakia which were inhabited primarily by Sudeten Germans. These German speakers had predominated in the ...

. In 1841 he was appointed

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

of the ''Leuchtenbergsche Naturalienkabinett'' in

Eichstätt Eichstätt () is a town in the federal state of Bavaria, Germany, and capital of the district of Eichstätt. It is located on the Altmühl river and has a population of around 13,000. Eichstätt is also the seat of the Roman Catholic Dioce ...

. Two years later he accompanied Mutius von Tommasini (1794–1879) on a botanical excursion through

Istria Istria ( ; Croatian and Slovene: ; ist, Eîstria; Istro-Romanian, Italian and Venetian: ; formerly in Latin and in Ancient Greek) is the largest peninsula within the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic betwee ...

and

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

, and in 1847 conducted botanical research in

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

. During this time period he also performed phytogeographical studies in southern Bavaria. In 1854 he became an associate professor, and in 1857 was appointed to the second chair of botany, as well as first curator of the

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant 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 sheet of paper (calle ...

at the University of Munich. Sendtner was a pioneer in the field of

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 in his research conducted important analyses involving the vertical distribution patterns of different types of vegetation. The genus ''Sendtnera''

Endl. Stephan Ladislaus Endlicher also known as Endlicher István László (24 June 1804, Bratislava (Pozsony) – 28 March 1849, Vienna) was an Austrian botanist, numismatist and Sinologist. He was a director of the Botanical Garden of Vienna. ...

(1840) is probably named after him, although no etymology is given. Also the

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

of ''

Halacsya sendtneri ''Halacsya'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Boraginaceae. It only contains one species, ''Halacsya sendtneri'' (Boiss.) Dörfl. It is native to the Balkan Peninsula and is found in Albania, Greece and the for ...

'' (Boiss.) Dörfl. was also named in his honour. As a taxonomist he described many plants within the family

Solanaceae The Solanaceae , or nightshades, are a family of flowering plants that ranges from annual and perennial herbs to vines, lianas, epiphytes, shrubs, and trees, and includes a number of agricultural crops, medicinal plants, spices, weeds, and o ...

. In 1993, the University of Munich started producing ''Sendtnera'', an annually published botanical magazine of the university botany department. It was named after Otto Sendtner. Until Volume 8 in 2002.

Selected publications

* ''Die Vegetationsverhältnisse Südbayerns nach den Grundsätzen der Pflanzengeographie und mit Bezugnahme auf die Landeskultur'' (Vegetation conditions of southern Bavaria in accordance with principles of

plant geography 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 with reference to the local culture), 1854 * ''Die Vegetationsverhältnisse des Bayerischen Waldes nach den Grundsätzen der Pflanzengeographie'' (Vegetation conditions of the

Bavarian Forest The village of Zell in the Bavarian Forest The Bavarian Forest ( German: ' or ''Bayerwald''; bar, Boarischa Woid) is a wooded, low-mountain region in Bavaria, Germany that is about 100 kilometres long. It runs along the Czech border and is ...

in accordance with the principles of plant geography), 1860

References

* This article is based on a translation of an article from the

German Wikipedia The German Wikipedia (german: Deutschsprachige Wikipedia) is the German-language edition of Wikipedia, a free and publicly editable online encyclopedia. Founded on March 16, 2001, it is the second-oldest Wikipedia (after the English Wikipedia) ...

that includes information from: *
ADB:Sendtner, Otto
@ Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie {{DEFAULTSORT:Sendtner, Otto 19th-century German botanists Scientists from Munich Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich faculty German phytogeographers 1813 births 1859 deaths German taxonomists

Selected publications

See also

References