Carl Albert Purpus

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Carl Albrecht (Albert) Purpus (* 26. February 1851 in Hahnweilerhof at Börrstadt , Pfalz, † 17th January 1941 in El Mirador in Huatusco in the Mexican state of Veracruz ) was a German plant collector , who, especially in Mexico , in addition also in North America operate was. Its official botanical author's abbreviation is " Purpus ".

Live and act

Carl Albert was born as the (eldest?) Son of the royal Bavarian forester Carl Joseph Purpus in a hamlet at the northwest foot of the Donnersberg. His school education took place in Kirchheimbolanden . After school he received training in a pharmacy in Schotten (city) . He worked on the excursion flora of the flowering and higher spore plants ... of the Grand Duchy of Hesse, which appeared in three editions from 1874. In 1876/77 he studied pharmacy and a number of other subjects in Giessen. During his studies Purpus became a member of the Frankonia Gießen fraternity in 1876 . After completing his studies, he was a mountaineer in the Alps of Switzerland and northern Italy, collecting plants. In 1887 he was recruited by Georg Dieck for a two-year trip to North America. Together with his brother Joseph Anton Purpus , they traveled to North America and Canada and collected numerous plants.

In 1888 the tour group separated. Carl Albert Purpus stayed in North America and developed a lively excursion and collecting activity in the following years. He collected z. B. Woods for the Späth tree nursery in Berlin and perennials for the Sündermann specialist alpine plant nursery in Lindau and later for the Darmstadt Botanical Garden , where his brother Joseph Anton Purpus was garden inspector and head of the Botanical Garden from 1889. So he sent a "Queen of the Night" ( Selenicereus ) to Darmstadt, which has survived to this day .

From 1898 at the latest, he became a close friendship and working group with the botanist couple Townshend Stith Brandegee (1843–1926) and his wife Mary Katharine Brandegee (1844–1920). During this time Purpus made various trips to the Mexican state and to the (semi) deserts of Nevada and California.

In 1904 Purpus visited Europe for the last time. At the end of the year he returned to San Diego with the Brandegee couple. In 1906 he was offered the unpaid post of "botanical collector" by the University of California, Berkeley , which he accepted. Purpus was a collector of plants and antiques in North America and Mexico up to the high altar. Carl Albert Purpus is known as the most prolific collector of Mexican plants. He brought over 240 new plant species to Europe, which were often given species names such as purpusii , purpusianus and purpusiorum in his honor (or him and his brother) .

He died in January 1941 at the age of almost 90 on his hacienda "El Mirador".

Honor taxon

The plant genus Purpusia Brandegee from the rose family (Rosaceae) has been named after him.

Fonts

  • Mexican high peaks . Fischer, Jena 1907 (= vegetation pictures 8th row, booklet 8, edited by G. Karsten and H. Schenck, with 6 sheets and 6 plates in collotype).

literature

  • Stefan Schneckenburger: Carl Albrecht Purpus (1851–1941) - a German plant collector in America . Ed .: TU Darmstadt, Friends of the Botanical Garden Darmstadt. Darmstadt 2001, ISBN 3-88607-126-X (80 pages with 71 illustrations).
  • 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 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Willy Nolte (Ed.): Burschenschafter Stammrolle. List of the members of the German Burschenschaft according to the status of the summer semester 1934. Berlin 1934. P. 383.
  2. ↑ 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

personal data
SURNAME Purpus, Carl Albert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Purpus, Carl Albrecht
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German plant collector
DATE OF BIRTH February 26, 1851
PLACE OF BIRTH Hahnweilerhof near Börrstadt , Palatinate
DATE OF DEATH January 17, 1941
Place of death El Mirador at Huatusco , Veracruz , Mexico