Victor Wilhelm Lindauer (1888–1964) was a New Zealand
phycologist, collector and teacher.
The son of New Zealand painter
Gottfried Lindauer
Gottfried Lindauer (5 January 1839 – 13 June 1926) was a Czech and New Zealand painter. He was famous for his portraits, including many of Māori people.
Czech life and Austrian school
He was born Bohumír Lindauer in Plzeň (Pilsen), Bohe ...
, he was born in 1888 in Auckland, and grew up in
Woodville, spending a considerable part of his boyhood in the native bush. He trained as a teacher and after two years service in
WWI
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting took place mainly in Europe and th ...
with the US Army, he returned to New Zealand.
In 1927 Lindauer married Elsie (née Lovell), and in 1931, after the births of four children, the family moved to
Russell where he had been appointed headmaster of the primary school.
In 1935,
Josephine Tilden
Josephine Elizabeth Tilden (March 24, 1869 – May 15, 1957) was an American expert on pacific algae. She was the first woman scientist employed by the University of Minnesota. Tilden established a research station in British Columbia which lasted ...
and a team of phycologists from the
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...
came to Russell to collect seaweeds and enlisted his help to provide a place (the local school) to handle their material.
They also invited him to participate, and thus began his lifelong quest to collect New Zealand seaweeds.
The school children whom he taught collected for him and with him. Other schoolmasters were also enlisted, not only on the North Island, but also R. Gilpin, a headmaster on the Chatham Islands. On Stewart Island, he contacted
Eileen Willa, and she, too, became an avid collector.
Between 1939 and 1953 Lindauer created and distributed about 60 sets of the
exsiccata work ''Algae Nova-Zelandicae Exsiccatae'' in 14 fascicles of 25 sheets, meaning 350 numbered specimen units.
The sets have since been used as reference material for many taxonomic studies of New Zealand algae.
Selected publications
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Gelidium allanii var atropurpurea AK 280543VLindauer1.jpg, '' Gelidium allanii'' AK 280543
Champia laingii Lindauer (AM AK143927).jpg, ''Champia laingii
''Champia laingii'' is a marine red algal species endemic to New Zealand.
It is a striking small seaweed, it is dark red but often shows an iridescent blue or green colour. It grows up to 40 cm and is often appears as a tangled mat.
It is ...
'' (AK143927)
Gigartina cranwellae.jpg, '' Gigartina cranwellae'' (US 10979)
Sargasso sinclairii.jpg, '' Sargasso sinclairii'' (MNHN PC0539561)
Dictyota papenfussii Lindauer (AM AK348031).jpg, '' Dictyota papenfussii'' (AM AK348031)
References
1888 births
1964 deaths
20th-century New Zealand botanists
Phycologists
Scientists from Auckland
People from Woodville, New Zealand
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