Alwin Berger

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Alwin Berger 1906

Alwin Berger (born August 28, 1871 in Möschlitz ; † April 21, 1931 in Cannstatt ) was a German botanist , gardener and succulent researcher. Its official botanical author's abbreviation is " A.Berger "; earlier the abbreviation " Berger " was also in use.

Live and act

Alwin Berger was born on August 28, 1871 in Möschlitz near Schleiz in Thuringia. He attended school in Schleiz and then trained as a gardener in Ebersdorf . After completing his training, he worked in the botanical gardens of Dresden , Greifswald, Freiburg and Frankfurt am Main .

In 1897 he became curator of the botanical garden founded by Thomas Hanbury at Capo Mortola near the municipality of Ventimiglia in Liguria, Italy . He held this position until 1914. During his time in Italy, he mainly devoted himself to the botanical systematics of succulents and earned a reputation as an international expert in this field.

With the outbreak of the First World War, his stay in Italy became too unsafe for him, which is why he returned to Germany in 1915 and took care of the gardens of the King of Württemberg in Stuttgart as Oberhof garden inspector.

From 1923 to 1926 he worked at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, a research facility in Geneva, New York . He then returned to Stuttgart, where he became head of the botanical department of the Natural History Museum.

He contributed Liliaceae - Asphodeloideae - Aloineae (1908) to the work The Plant Kingdom by Adolf Engler ; to his work The Natural Plant Families, he contributed the chapter on the family "Crassulaceae" for the 2nd edition, Volume 18a (1930). His main work is the book Die Agaven: Contributions to a monograph , published in 1915 . , in which he describes 271 agave species from 3 genera. He was the first to describe the new cactus genus Roseocactus .

Alwin Berger died on April 20, 1931 in Cannstatt at the age of 59. Through the mediation of the botanist Liberty Hyde Bailey , the New York Botanical Garden acquired Bergers Herbarium, which contained samples of more than 1000 different succulent species, from his widow Elise Berger.

Taxa named after Berger

The plant genera Bergeranthus Schwantes from the family of aizoaceae (Aizoaceae) and Bergerocactus Britton & Rose and Bergerocereus Fric & Cross. from the cactus family (Cactaceae) have been named after him.

Fonts (selection)

Title "Stapelieen and Kleinien"

Magazine articles

  • A Systematic Revision of the Genus Cereus . In: Missouri Botanical Garden Annual Report . 1905, pp. 57-86 ( online , JSTOR 2400072 ).
  • About the systematic classification of the genus Aloe . In: Botanical yearbooks for systematics, plant history and plant geography . Volume 36, Number 1, 1905, pp. 42-68 ( online ).
  • Roseocactus, a new genus of Cactaceae . In: Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences . Volume 15, 1925, pp. 43-48.
  • A new Aristolochia from Bolivia. In: Württembergische Naturaliensammlung, Stuttgart 1927

Books

  • Systematic overview of the cultivated small items . Neumann, Neudamm 1904/5.
  • Succulent euphorbias. Description and instructions for determining the cultivated species, with brief information about the culture . Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 1907.
  • Liliaceae-Asphodeloideae-Aloineae: With 817 individual images in 141 figures and 1 plate . In: Adolf Engler (ed.): The plant kingdom. Regni vegetablilis conspectus . Issue 33, Wilhelm Engelmann, Leipzig 1908 (online) .
  • Mesembrane themes and portulacaceae. Description and instructions for identifying the most important species, with brief information about the culture . Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 1908 (online) .
  • Some new African succulents . Wilhelm Engelmann, Leipzig 1910.
  • Staples and small ones, including some other related succulents. Description and instructions for identifying the important species with brief information about the culture . Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 1910.
  • Hortus Mortolensis: enumeratio plantarum in horto Mortolensi cultarum: Alphabetical catalog of plants growing in the garden of the late Sir T. Hanbury at La Mortola, Ventimiglia, Italy . West, Newman, London 1912. (online) .
  • The agaves: contributions to a monograph. With 70 illustrations and 2 maps. Gustav Fischer, Jena 1915 (online) .
  • A Taxonomic Review of Currants and Gooseberries . Genova, New York 1924.
  • The lines of development of the cacti . 1926.
  • Cacti - guide to culture and knowledge of the main introduced species . Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 1929.
  • Crassulaceae . Leipzig 1930.

literature

  • NL Britton: The Alwin Berger Succulent Herbarium . In: Journal of the New York Botanical Garden . Volume 33, Number 393, September 1932, p. 196 ( online ).
  • John Hendley Barnhart: Alwin Berger . In: Journal of the New York Botanical Garden . Volume 33, Number 393, September 1932, p. 197 ( online ).
  • Chris Schröder: Alwin Berger . In: Avonia News . Number 8, 2011, pp. 15-19 ( PDF) .
  • Robert Zander : Zander concise dictionary of plant names . Ed .: Fritz Encke , Günther Buchheim, Siegmund Seybold . 13th, revised and expanded edition. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 1984, ISBN 3-8001-5042-5 .

Web links

Commons : Alwin Berger  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Alwin Berger  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Nathaniel Lord Britton: Alwin Berger. In: Journal of the New York Botanical Garden. New York 1932/33, p. 197
  2. ↑ a b The Alwin Berger Succulent Herbarium. In: Journal of the New York Botanical Garden. New York 1932/33, p. 196
  3. ↑ Alwin Berger: Roseocactus, a new genus of Cactaceae. In: Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences. Volume 15, 1925, pp. 43-48
  4. ↑ Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names . Extended Edition. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin, Free University Berlin Berlin 2018. [1]
personal data
SURNAME Berger, Alwin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German botanist, gardener and succulent researcher
DATE OF BIRTH August 28, 1871
PLACE OF BIRTH Möschlitz near Schleiz , Thuringia
DATE OF DEATH April 21, 1931
Place of death Cannstatt