Conrad Moench

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Conrad Moench around 1790

Conrad Moench (born August 15, 1744 in Kassel , † January 6, 1805 in Marburg ) was a Hessian , German pharmacist , chemist and professor of botany . Its official botanical author abbreviation is " Moench ".

Live and act

Moench was an instructor in the field of pharmacy. From 1786 until his death he was a professor of botany and the author of several local botanical works. In 1792 he built a laboratory at the Marburger Ketzerbach, which served as a training and research facility for chemistry and pharmacy.

In 1794 he wrote the Methodus plantas horti botanici et agri Marburgensis , a work on the plants of the botanical garden and the area around Marburg an der Lahn. This work contains several new genera, for example that of the torch lilies ( Kniphofia ), which Moench set up in honor of the scientist Johann Hieronymus Kniphof , the genus Bergenia ( Bergenia ) in honor of Karl August von Bergen or that of the everlasting flowers ( Helichrysum ). In a supplement to the native flora Marburg he called 1802, the three-leaf spar Spiraea trifoliata of the family Rosaceae (Rosaceae) in Gillenia trifoliata order as they in their tube-to bell-shaped seed pods, the dust and the peculiar carpels of the genus Spiraea different .

In his first years Moench still followed the then new Linnean system, for example in his work Enumeratio plantarum indigenarum Hassiae , published in 1777 . But later, for example in his last great work Methodus from 1794, he joins Gleditsch , who developed a system according to the classification of the stamens. The title of Moench's book expressly states “a staminum situ describendi” (translated: according to the position of the stamens). So Moench was one of the opponents of Linnaeus' sexual system for the plants. Later, however, Carl von Linné's system prevailed. But because Moench took over another achievement through Linnaeus - the binary naming of the species - his names published here are still valid today.

In Moench's time Marburg was famous for its educational establishments, respected schools and academies; the gardens of the inhabitants were filled with rare plants from various countries. The genus Gillenia was named after Arnold Gillen (* 1586), the personal physician of Landgrave Moritz . Britton gave the genus the botanical name Porteranthus , which is used especially in America. In this supplement, he also honored the botanist Domenico Nocca (1758-1841) with the description of the genus thlaspi ( Täschelkräuter ) as Noccaea today by again Thlaspi is disconnected. In the late 18th century named Moench the family of sun hats as Echinaceae , but it was later in the family of Asteraceae integrated (Asteraceae).

Honors

In his honor, Jakob Friedrich Ehrhart named the genus of chickweed from the carnation family (Caryophyllaceae) as Moenchia .

Works

  • Description and chemical analyzes of the village of Geißmarischen Mineral-Brunnens. Kassel 1778
  • Supplementum Ad Methodum A Staminum Situ Describendi. Marburg 1802.
  • Medicines theory of simple and compound common remedies. Marburg 1800.
  • Introduction to the plant customer. Marburg 1798.
  • Methodus plantas horti botanici et agri Marburgensis. Marburg 1794.
  • Systematic doctrine of the most common simple and composite Arzney remedies. Marburg 1792–95.
  • Directory of foreign trees and shrubs in the Weissenstein Palace near Cassel. Fleischer, Frankfurt, Leipzig 1785.
  • Notes on some simple and compound medicinal products. Fleischer, Frankfurt 1781.
  • Enumeratio plantarum indigenarum Hassiae praesertim inferioris. Kassel 1777.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Friedrich Karl Meyer: Critical revision of the "Thlaspi" species of Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Special part IX - Noccaea Moench. In: Haussknechtia, supplement. Volume 12, 2006, 343 pp.
  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

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personal data
SURNAME Moench, Conrad
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German pharmacist, chemist and botanist
DATE OF BIRTH August 15, 1744
PLACE OF BIRTH kassel
DATE OF DEATH January 6, 1805
Place of death Marburg