Georg Hermann Zschacke (27 May 1867–19 September 1937) was a German teacher and lichenologist. His specialty was the lichen family

Verrucariaceae Verrucariaceae is a family of lichens and a few non-lichenised fungi in the order Verrucariales. The lichens have a wide variety of thallus forms, from crustose (crust-like) to foliose (bushy) and squamulose (scaly). Most of them grow on lan ...

, about which he wrote many publications.

Biography

Zschake was born in

Köthen Köthen () is a town in Germany. It is the capital of the district of Anhalt-Bitterfeld in Saxony-Anhalt, about north of Halle. Köthen is the location of the main campus and the administrative centre of the regional university, Anhalt Univers ...

on 27 May 1867. As a student he showed interest in the

natural science Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...

s, and started collecting specimens for his

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 ...

. From 1885 on he focussed his attention to

cryptogam A cryptogam (scientific name ''Cryptogamae'') is a plant, in the broad sense of the word, or a plant-like organism that share similar characteristics, such as being multicellular, photosynthetic, and primarily immobile, that reproduces via sp ...

s, i.e.,

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a hybrid colony (biology), colony of algae or cyanobacteria living symbiotically among hypha, filaments of multiple fungus species, along with yeasts and bacteria embedded in the cortex or "skin", in a mutualism (biology), m ...

s and

moss Mosses are small, non-vascular plant, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic phylum, division Bryophyta (, ) ''sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Wilhelm Philippe Schimper, Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryo ...

es. In 1892 Zschake became a secondary school teacher (for mathematics and natural sciences) in

Hecklingen Hecklingen is a town in the Salzlandkreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the river Bode, approx. west of Staßfurt, and northeast of Aschersleben. International relations Hecklingen is twinned with: * Nisko in Polan ...

and from 1898 in

Bernburg Bernburg (Saale) () is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, capital of the Salzlandkreis district. The former residence of the Anhalt-Bernburg princes is known for its Renaissance castle. Geography The town centre is situated in the fertile Magdeb ...

. Zschake was surprised by the start of the war while on a collecting trip to

Corsica Corsica ( , , ; ; ) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the Regions of France, 18 regions of France. It is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of the Metro ...

in 1914. He was

interned Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without Criminal charge, charges or Indictment, intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects ...

in the prison of

Bastia Bastia ( , , , ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, department of Haute-Corse, Corsica, France. It is located in the northeast of the island of Corsica at the base of Cap Corse. It also has the second-highest popu ...

, and later in the civil prison camp of the

Corbara Corbara is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-western Italy. Geography The municipality borders with Angri, Lettere (Province of Naples, NA), Sant'Egidio del Monte Albino and Tramonti, Campania, Tra ...

monastery near

L'Île-Rousse L'Île-Rousse (; , , or , ; , ; ) is a commune in the Haute-Corse department of France on the island of Corsica. It was founded in 1758 by Pasquale Paoli to create a port that would not be in the hands of the Genoese (such as Calvi). As ...

. After becoming seriously ill, he was transferred to Switzerland in 1916 for therapy; this change of locales later led to Zschake writing a thesis on the lichen flora of the

Davos Davos (, ; or ; ; Old ) is an Alpine resort town and municipality in the Prättigau/Davos Region in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It has a permanent population of (). Davos is located on the river Landwasser, in the Rhaetian ...

valley. Parts of the collections that he had made in Corsica before his arrest were confiscated and published in 1926 by the French lichenologists Jacques Marie Albert Maheu and Abel Gillet – without contacting him (as Zschack bitterly noted in 1927). From 1917 until 1924 he was again a teacher in Berburg, then, due to illness, took early retirement. Zschake was particularly interested in pyrenocarpous lichens (i.e., those with

perithecium An ascocarp, or ascoma (: ascomata), is the fruiting body ( sporocarp) of an ascomycete phylum fungus. It consists of very tightly interwoven hyphae and millions of embedded asci, each of which typically contains four to eight ascospores. Ascoc ...

-like

ascocarp An ascocarp, or ascoma (: ascomata), is the fruiting body ( sporocarp) of an ascomycete phylum fungus. It consists of very tightly interwoven hyphae and millions of embedded asci, each of which typically contains four to eight ascospores. Ascoc ...

s), particularly the large genus ''

Verrucaria ''Verrucaria'' is a genus of lichenized (lichen-forming) fungi in the family Verrucariaceae. Taxonomy The genus was circumscribed by German botanist Heinrich Adolph Schrader in 1794, with '' Verrucaria rupestris'' assigned as the type species. ...

'' and similar genera, and he had a reputation as a connoisseur of the lichen family

as a result of his numerous publications on the subject. Zschake died in Bernburg on 19 September 1937, from health problems resulting from his war-time experiences. His botanical collections that were stored in Berlin-Dahlem survived the 1943

bombing A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechan ...

and destruction of the Botanical Museum, as his specimens had not been yet been incorporated into the main collection.

Recognition

In 1917 Zschake was awarded the

Order of Merit for Science and Art The Order of Merit for Science and Art was established on 30 July 1873 by Duke Friedrich I of Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt ( ; ) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of ...

by the

Duke of Anhalt The Duchy of Anhalt () was a historical German duchy. The duchy was located between the Harz Mountains in the west and the River Elbe and beyond to the Fläming Heath in the east. The territory was once ruled by the House of Ascania, and is now ...

. ''Zschackia'', a series of lichenological web-publications hosted by the

Berlin Botanical Garden and Botanical Museum The Berlin Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum () is a botanical garden in the locality of the borough of , Berlin, Germany. Constructed between 1897 and 1910 under the guidance of architect Adolf Engler, it has an area of and over 20,000 di ...

, is dedicated to Zschacke.

Eponyms

The genus '' Zschackea'' (now synonymised with ''

'') was named in honour of Zschacke. Species that have been named after him include: '' Verrucaria zschackeana'' ; '' Catillaria zschackei'' ; '' Endocarpon zschackei'' ; and '' Verrucaria zschackei'' .

Selected publications

* * * * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zschacke, Georg Hermann 1867 births 1937 deaths German lichenologists 19th-century German biologists 20th-century German biologists People from Köthen (Anhalt)

Biography

Recognition

Eponyms

Selected publications

See also

References