Werner Rauh (16 May 1913 in Niemegk – 7 April 2000 in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

) was a German biologist, botanist and author.

Biography

Born in the town of Niemegk near

Bitterfeld Bitterfeld () is a town in the district of Anhalt-Bitterfeld, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 July 2007 it has been part of the town of Bitterfeld-Wolfen. It is situated approximately 25 km south of Dessau, and 30 km northeast of Hall ...

, Rauh studied at Biology faculty at the

University of Halle Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (), also referred to as MLU, is a public research university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg. It is the largest and oldest university in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. MLU offers German and i ...

under the morphologist Wilhelm Troll, and received his doctorate in Botany in 1937 before being appointed to the

University of Heidelberg Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is List ...

two years later. He discovered or described some 1200 genera, species and varieties of plants from Africa, the Americas and Asia. His fields of specialization were the Bromeliads and

succulent In botany, succulent plants, also known as succulents, are plants with parts that are thickened, fleshy, and engorged, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil conditions. The word ''succulent'' comes from the Latin word ''sucus'', meani ...

plants. He was a professor at the

and Director of the Institute of Plant Systematics and Plant Geography as well as Director of the Heidelberger Botanical Gardens, and authored over 300 scholarly books and articles. His work on the succulent and xerophytic flora of

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

is presented in his two-volume work ''Succulent and Xerophytic Plants of Madagascar'' in 1995 and 1998. He was honoured in the names of several flowering plants; in 1956,

Curt Backeberg Curt Backeberg (2 August 1894 in Lüneburg, Germany – 14 January 1966) was a German horticulturist especially known for the collection and classification of cacti. Biography He travelled extensively through Central and South America, and pu ...

published '' Rauhocereus'' (in the

Cactaceae 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, ...

family), then '' Rauhia'' (in the

Amaryllidaceae The Amaryllidaceae are a family of herbaceous, mainly perennial and bulbous (rarely rhizomatous) flowering plants in the monocot order Asparagales. The family takes its name from the genus '' Amaryllis'' and is commonly known as the amaryl ...

family) was published in 1957 by Hamilton Paul Traub. '' Rauhiella'' was published in 1978 (Orchidaceae) by Guido Frederico João Pabst and Pedro Ivo Soares Braga, then lastly '' Werauhia'' (

Bromeliaceae The Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) are a family of monocot flowering plants of about 80 genera and 3700 known species, native mainly to the tropical Americas, with several species found in the American subtropics and one in tropical west Africa, ...

family) was published in 1995 by Jason Randall Grant.

Selected publications

* ''Kakteen an ihren Standorten'', 1979, * ''Die 100 schönsten Kakteen'', Humboldt-Taschenbuchverlag, 1980, * ''Die großartige Welt der Sukkulenten'', 1979 * ''Schöne Kakteen und andere Sukkulenten'', 1967 * ''Bromelien - Tillandsien und andere kulturwürdige Bromelien'', Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 1990, * ''Succulent and Xerophytic Plants of Madagascar'', Vol. 1 + 2, Strawberry Press, 1995 + 1998,

Expeditions

*1950: Morocco *1954: Peru, Ecuador *1956: Peru *1959/1960: Madagascar, Tasmania, Kenya *1961: Madagascar, South Africa *1963: Madagascar, Comoros *1964: South Africa *1966: Mexico *1967: Peru *1968: South Africa *1969: Madagascar, Comoros *1970: Peru, Mexico *1971: USA *1973: Ecuador, Galapagos Islands Peru, Brazil *1974: Mexico *1975: Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Panama *1976: Peru, Bolivia, Chile *1977: USA Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama *1978: Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines *1979: Namibia, South Africa *1980: Mexico, Peru, Ecuador *1981: Brazil *1982: USA, Panama, Dominican Republic *1983: Ecuador, Peru, Argentina *1984: Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Panama *1985: USA, Mexico, Peru *1986: Brazil *1994: Madagascar

References

External links

* The Werner Rauh Heritage Project (WRHP), http://scriptorium.cos.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php?l=en * http://fcbs.org/articles/WernerRauh.htm 20th-century German botanists 1913 births 2000 deaths Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Veitch Memorial Medal recipients University of Halle alumni Academic staff of Heidelberg University Scientists from Saxony-Anhalt {{Germany-botanist-stub