August Neilreich

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August Neilreich, lithograph by Eduard Kaiser , 1858

August Neilreich (born December 12, 1803 in Vienna ; † June 1, 1871 ibid) was an Austrian botanist and lawyer. Its official botanical author abbreviation is " Neilr. “He was mainly concerned with the flora in the Vienna and Lower Austria area .

Life

Neilreich has been interested in science since his youth and was strongly encouraged by his parents. After visiting the Schottengymnasiums 1815-1820 he studied Jus and his doctorate in 1827. A year later he got a job as a candidate judges in Vienna. Since 1831, alongside his job, he pursued an intensive autodidactic study of the plant world, encouraged by Karl von Enderes and Ludwig von Köchel, and he made contact with the Viennese botanists Stephan Ladislaus Endlicher , Franz Unger , Reisseck and Eduard Fenzl . His Flora von Wien, published in 1846, which is based on over 800 excursions and, in contrast to previous works by other authors, contains detailed descriptions of the species and their locations, earned him great recognition. Promoted to the "Civil Court Council" in 1847, he benefited from the development of railway technology on his excursions. However, his lungs had been attacked for a long time without this having been diagnosed and treated in time. In 1856 his tuberculosis fully broke out and Neilreich was given the choice by the attending physicians to either give up his profession or botany: he opted for the latter, applied for early retirement and was given retirement. However, strenuous excursions and mountain climbs were no longer possible. Nevertheless, from 1858 to 1859 his Flora of Lower Austria, which is also high quality from today's scientific point of view, was very well received and brought Neilreich a number of honors. In 1860 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina . After his health had deteriorated massively in 1862, he could hardly leave the house. He could no longer implement his plans to write a flora of Carniola and the coastal region . Neilreich died in 1871 and was buried at the Liesinger Friedhof , since 1986 it has been an honorary grave of the municipality of Vienna. His around 14,000 herbarium specimens came to the Natural History Museum in Vienna by means of Neilreich's will .

Act

In his research he found numerous plants that were unknown until his time. Three of them have also been named after him: the Ostalpen-Meier ( Asperula neilreichii ), the Mödlinger feather carnation ( Dianthus plumarius subsp. Neilreichii ) and the Neilreich houseleek ( Jovibarba hirta var. Neilreichii ), which is now considered extinct . His works are still considered the basis for further research today. It was only in the last few years that new registers of the plants found in the two federal states were created.

Honors

In 1875 Neilreichgasse in Vienna- Favoriten and Vienna- Liesing was named after him. The plant genus Neilreichia Fenzl from the sunflower family (Asteraceae) and the mushroom genus Neilreichina Kuntze were named in his honor. In addition, the organ of the Association for Research into the Flora of Austria , the scientific journal Neilreichia, was named after him.

Fonts

  • Flora of Vienna. An enumeration of the vascular plants growing in the wild or built on a large scale in the surroundings of Vienna together with a plant-geographical overview , 1846
  • Flora in Lower Austria (2 volumes) 1859, 1866
  • The vegetation conditions of Croatia , 1868

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names - Extended Edition. Part I and II. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin , Freie Universität Berlin , Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-946292-26-5 doi: 10.3372 / epolist2018 .

Web links

Commons : August Neilreich  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Neilreich, August
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian botanist
DATE OF BIRTH December 12, 1803
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH June 1, 1871
Place of death Vienna