Charles de l'Écluse

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Charles de l'Écluse

Charles de l'Écluse (Latin Carolus Clusius ; born February 19, 1526 in Arras , then Flanders , † April 4, 1609 in Leiden , Netherlands ) was a Flemish-Dutch scholar, doctor and botanist . In short, he is often just called Clusius . Its official botanical author abbreviation is “ Clus. "

Life

Clusius studied law and philosophy first at the University of Ghent , from 1546 at the University of Leuven , where he obtained a licentiate in law in 1548. In the same year he attended legal lectures at the University of Marburg . In 1549 he studied philosophy at the University of Wittenberg with Philipp Melanchthon . From 1551 to 1554 he studied at the University of Montpellier . An influential teacher was Guillaume Rondelet , who inspired him to botany. From 1560 to 1561 he studied medicine in Paris . In addition, he visited various well-known cities such as Lyon , Frankfurt am Main , Strasbourg , Antwerp and London , where he conducted studies.

In 1564 he had the opportunity to meet the banker's son Jakob III. Accompanying Fugger to the Iberian Peninsula , where he collected a wide variety of plants, including a number of previously unknown species. From 1573 to 1576 de l'Écluse was Maximilian II's court botanist in Vienna , where he laid out a medicinal herb garden and the first alpine garden. Through botanical excursions to Ötscher and Schneeberg , Clusius made a significant contribution to the knowledge of the alpine flora .

Carolus Clusius in Güssing , Hungary (today Burgenland)

When Rudolf II , the son of Maximilian II, dismissed all employees with Protestant beliefs in 1576 , Clusius found a friend and sponsor in Balthasar Batthyány , lord of the castle of Güssing . In Güssing and at Schlaining Castle , Clusius wrote his important work Stirpium Nomenclator Pannonicus , the first Austrian botany . His work on plants in Austria and Hungary remained authoritative for more than 100 years. These works, like those on the plants of the Iberian Peninsula, were not " flora " in the modern sense, but a kind of forerunner, a compilation and description of all plants, including cultivated and exotic ornamental plants, that grow in these areas (maid woman).

In 1587, Clusius negotiated an appointment to the Protestant University of Jena , which however did not materialize. He moved to Frankfurt am Main in 1587 and finally became professor of botany in 1593 at the University of Leiden , founded in 1575 , where he also established the Hortus Academicus . However, he was no longer able to give lectures due to physical ailments. He published a large part of his writings in his Leiden years, some were only published after his death.

Nuphar lutea , illustration from Rariorum Plantarum Historia (1601)

His work Rariorum plantarum historia / Fungorum in Pannoniis brevis hiestoria , published in 1601, is of great importance for mycology . The work is the first comprehensive monograph on mushrooms and at the same time the first regional mushroom flora in which 105 mushrooms occurring in Hungary are described. He also set new standards for the systematization of mushrooms, although he did not overcome the basic division of fungi into edible and poisonous mushrooms, which has been common since ancient times . He is considered one of the fathers of mycology.

Like no other botanist of his time, Clusius knew a lot of plants from different parts of Europe, none of them discovered, described and illustrated so many new species. He also promoted the spread of exotic food and ornamental plants. Vienna and Austria owe him, among other things, the introduction of the horse chestnut (1576), the tulip and potato (1588) and the imperial crown . Through his work, Vienna became a center of floriculture.

In 1876 the Clusiusgasse in Vienna- Alsergrund (9th district) was named after him, as was the asteroid (9364) Clusius on April 2, 1999 .

Taxa named after l'Écluse

Charles Plumier named the genus Clusia of the plant family Clusiaceae in his honor . Carl von Linné later took over this name.

In addition, some plant species were named after Clusius:

Fonts

  • 1561: Antidotarium sive De exacta componendorum miscendorumque medicamentorum ratione libri tres [...] nunc ex Ital. sermone Latini facti. Antwerp (Ex officina Plantiniana: Christoffel Plantijn ); Reprint, ed. by Leo Jules Vandewiele and Dirk Arnold Wittop Koning, Gent 1973 (= Opera pharmaceutica rariora , 3).
  • 1570: Galliae Narbonensis ora marittima Antwerp: Abraham Ortelius.
  • 1571: Hispania nova descriptio Antwerp: Abraham Orteliu.
  • 1576: Rariorum aliquot stirpium per Hispanias observatarum historia Antwerp: Christophorus Plantinus ( digitized version ).
  • 1582: Aliquot notae in Garciae Aromatum historiam Antwerp: Ex officina Plantiniana.
  • 1583: Rariorum aliquot stirpium, per Pannoniam, Austriam, & vicinas quasdam provincias observatarum historia, IV libris expressa Antwerp: Ex officina Plantiniana ( digitized ).
  • 1584: Stirpium nomenclator Pannonicus. Nemetvyawarini: Joannes Manlius ( digitized version ).
  • 1601: Rariorum plantarum historia / Fungorum in Pannoniis observatorum brevis historia ... Antwerp: Ex officina Plantiniana apud Ioannem Moretum ( digitized , digitized ).
  • 1605: Exoticorum libri decem: quibus animalium, plantarum, aromatum, aliorumque peregrin. fructuum historiae describuntur / item Pt. Bellonii Observationes, eodem CC interprete Leiden: Ex officina Plantiniana ( digitized ).
  • 1611: Curae posteriores, seu plurimarum non antè cognitarum, aut descriptarum stirpium, peregrinorumque aliquot animalium novae descriptiones: quibus & omnia ipsius opera, aliáque ab eo versa augentur, aut illustrantur: accessit seorsim Everardi Vorstii. .. de eiusdem Caroli Clusii Vita & obitu oratio, aliorumque Epicedia Leiden / Antwerp: Ex officina Plantiniana ( digitized version ).
  • 1619: Summi Galliae Belgicae corographica descriptio posthuma , ed.Joachim Morsius . Leiden: Jac. Marcus ( digitized version ).
  • 1630: Appendix cultori plantarum exoticarum necessaria . Marburg: In Herbarium Horstianum.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Charles Plumier: Nova Plantarum Americanarum Genera . Leiden 1703, p. 20f.
  2. ^ Carl von Linné: Critica Botanica . Leiden 1737, p. 92
  3. Carl von Linné: Genera Plantarum . Leiden 1742, p. 229

Web links

Commons : Carolus Clusius  - collection of images, videos and audio files