Erich Werdermann (2 March 1892 – 20 April 1959) was a German

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 ...

. Born in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, Erich Werdermann was the son of the landowner Carl Werdermann. He first studied in

Jena Jena (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 in ...

, but then switched to Friedrich Wilhelm University (now called

Humboldt University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

) in Berlin. In 1914 shortly before his graduation, Werdermann was enlisted in the army and in 1915 promoted to the rank of officer. After recovering from serious wounds suffered in 1918, he was able to continue his studies. The following year Werdermann graduated as a plant physiologist at Gottlieb Haberlandt. From 1919 to 1920 he worked at the Imperial Biological Institute in Berlin, where

Peter Claussen Peter Clausen (approximately 1801–1872), often misspelt as Peter Claussen, and also known as Pedro Claudio Clausen and Pedro Dinamarquez Clausen, was a Danish natural history collector born in Copenhagen, who was known for his work between 1834 ...

(1877–1959) sparked his interest in fungi. From 1920 to 1921, Mann was a research assistant at the Imperial Health Office with Ernst Friedrich Gilg, who introduced him to the Botanical Museum Berlin-Dahlem. In 1921, he succeeded

Rudolf Schlechter Friedrich Richard Rudolf Schlechter (16 October 1872 – 16 November 1925) was a German taxonomist, botanist, and author of several works on orchids. He went on botanical expeditions in Africa, Indonesia, New Guinea, South and Central America an ...

as the curator of mushrooms in the

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant biological specimen, 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 sh ...

of the museum. In 1923 Werdermann began a four-year research trip to

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

and neighboring countries. After his return he succeeded Friedrich Vaupel as curator of the Botanical Garden and took care of cacti and other succulents in the herbarium. He was in charge of the scientific reviews of the stocks in the greenhouses of the Botanical Garden. In 1927 he was elected as President of the German Cactus Society, a position he held until 1934. Werdermann traveled to Madrid to see the collections of

Hipólito Ruiz López Hipólito Ruiz López (August 8, 1754 in Belorado, Burgos, Spain – 1816 in Madrid), or Hipólito Ruiz, was a Spanish botanist known for researching the floras of Peru and Chile during an expedition under Charles III of Spain, Carlos III from 17 ...

and

José Antonio Pavón Jiménez José Antonio Pavón Jiménez or José Antonio Pavón (April 22, 1754 in Casatejada, Cáceres, Spain – 1840 in Madrid) was a Spanish botanist known for researching the flora of Peru and Chile. Biography During the reign of Charles III of ...

. In 1929, he married Hildegard Hauser. In 1930 Werdermann published his work in 42 parts along with his own color photographs on Blooming cacti and other succulent plants. He made a trip of the North East of Brazil in 1932. In 1933 he accepted an invitation from the Huntington Botanical Gardens in Los Angeles. Prior to his stay there he traveled from March to May to Mexico, Texas and Arizona. After completing his studies in Los Angeles, he returned in late October to Mexico. During World War II his scientific library and collection in the botanical garden on 1 March 1943 was destroyed. After the war, Werdermann dedicated the reconstruction of the botanical garden and greenhouses. In 1948 he gave lectures and practical courses of

pharmacognosy Pharmacognosy is the interdisciplinary scientific study of natural drugs and bioactive compounds from plants, animals, and minerals—originally focused on identifying crude drugs but now expanded to molecular, chemical, ecological, and medicin ...

at the newly founded

Free University of Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public university, public research university in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in West Berlin in 1948 with American support during the early Cold War period a ...

. In 1950 he was among the participants of the 7th

International Botanical Congress International Botanical Congress (IBC) is an international meeting of Botany, botanists in all scientific fields, authorized by the International Association of Botanical and Mycological Societies (IABMS) and held every six years, with the locatio ...

in Stockholm. Werdermann worked as acting director of the botanical garden in 1951 and became the director of in 1955. On 1 April 1958 he retired. Werdermann died in 1959 in Hamburg and was buried in the botanical garden next to

Adolf Engler Heinrich Gustav Adolf Engler (25 March 1844 – 10 October 1930) was a German botanist. He is notable for his work on plant taxonomy and phytogeography, such as ''Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien'' (''The Natural Plant Families''), edited with K ...

and

Ludwig Diels Friedrich Ludwig Emil Diels (24 September 1874 – 30 November 1945) was a German botanist. Diels was born in Hamburg, the son of the classical scholar Hermann Alexander Diels. From 1900 to 1902 he traveled together with Ernst Georg Pritzel thro ...

Otto Eugen Schulz Otto Eugen Schulz (31 October 1874 – 17 February 1936) was a German botanist, born in Berlin. He was the brother of botanist Roman Schulz (1873–1926). He published important systematic treatments of the families Brassicaceae (then known as Cr ...

named in his honor in 1928 the genus '' Werdermannia'' of the cabbage family.

Alberto Vojtech Fric Alberto is the Romance version of the Latinized form (''Albertus'') of Germanic ''Albert''. It is used in Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. The diminutive forms are ''Albertito'' in Spain or ''Albertico'' in some parts of Latin America, Albertin ...

honored him in 1930, with the naming of the genus '' Neowerdermannia'' of

cacti A cactus (: cacti, cactuses, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae (), a family of the order Caryophyllales comprising about 127 genera with some 1,750 known species. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, ...

. Eleven species bear Werdermann's name.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Werdermann, Erich 20th-century German botanists Humboldt University of Berlin alumni Scientists from Berlin University of Jena alumni Plant physiologists 1892 births 1959 deaths