Erik Ragnar Svensson

Statue of Erik Ragnar Svensson in the Jardín Botánico Canario Viera y Clavijo

Ericus Ragnar Sventenius , actually the Latinized form of Erik Ragnar Svensson , first name often incorrectly Eric Ragnor , Erich , or Enrico , (born October 10, 1910 in Skirö , Sweden ; † June 23, 1973 in Tafira on Gran Canaria , Spain ) was a Swedish - Spanish botanist . He is the founder of the Jardín Botánico Canario Viera y Clavijo botanical garden on Gran Canaria. Its official botanical author's abbreviation is “ Svent. "

life and work

Erik Ragnar Svensson was born on October 10, 1910 as the son of Sven Alfred Svensson in the small village of Skirö in southern Sweden, which belongs to the municipality of Vetlanda in the Jönköpingslän province .

After his youth and professional training in Sweden, he studied botany at various European universities. In Spain he learns at the Marimurtra Botanical Garden in Blanes near Barcelona, which was founded in 1920 by the German Karl Faust as the first botanical garden in Catalonia. There he made friends with Abbot Mitrado de Montserrat , who was a great plant lover . In 1931 Sventenius came to the Canary Islands, where he stayed for decades.

During his stay, he systematically combed the rich diversity of flora on each individual island in search of as yet unknown plants. For this purpose he also delved into the botanical treatises of earlier naturalists that existed on the islands, but had long been forgotten.

His life goal and life's work was not to create a botanical garden for plants from all over the world, as in Tenerife, but especially for the representation, for further research and for the preservation of the unique endemic flora of the Canary Islands. As many types of islands as possible should be grouped together in one place to facilitate research. In 1943 he visited the botanical garden " Jardín de aclimatación de La Orotava " on Tenerife, which had been in existence since 1788 . He is so fascinated that he subsequently dealt scientifically with its plant population, since 1952 commissioned by the Ministry of Agriculture to manage the garden. Initially even planned an expansion and already purchased a piece of land for it. The project failed, however, allegedly also due to the distrust of the local population.

After representatives of the local government of Gran Canaria got to know his work, approached him and placed more trust in him, he made a second attempt and from 1952 laid out his new large botanical garden on Gran Canaria. Sventenius had carefully searched the island for the most suitable location that would suit the living conditions of as many plants as possible. After a long search, he decided on a spectacular location on a steep slope of the Barranco de Guiniguada near Tafira , with waterfalls and natural rock caves. In 1959 the garden, which is now also known as “Jardín Canario” for short, was opened with Sventenius as its first director. He calls it “ Jardín Botánico Viera y Clavijo ” in honor of José Viera y Clavijo , who had tried this 200 years earlier .

You can see plants from almost all regions of the Canary Islands in terraced beds, with the exception of the plants in the highest mountain regions. The locations and the socialization of the plants are, as closely as possible, modeled on the natural site conditions, planted in communities. The garden contains several hundred of these critically endangered endemic species. Later, a section with more than 2000 succulents from all over the world was added. The "Jardín Botánico Viera y Clavijo" is today the largest and most species-rich botanical garden in Spain with around 5000 different species on 27 hectares.

Sventenius was a corresponding member of the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences, a member of the International Organization for Succulent Plant Study (IOS) in Zurich, and a full member of the International Organization of Vegetal Taxonomy in Utrecht, Netherlands.

On June 23, 1973, Sventenius, who had meanwhile acquired Spanish citizenship, died in a traffic accident near the Botanical Gardens. His successor was Dr. David Bramwell.

Honors

The plant genus Sventenia Fant Quer from the sunflower family (Asteraceae) is named after him .

literature

Secondary literature on Sventenius

G. Kunkel: In memoriam Eric RS Sventenius, 1910-1973 , in: Cuadernos de botánica canaria; 18/19, p. 1–4, 1973. (contains a list of works)
Antonio G. González: La botánica, Sventenius y yo , La Laguna: Centro de la Cultura Popular Canaria, 2001, ISBN 84-7926-326-1 (Spanish)
Alfonso Luezas Hernández u. a .: Jardín Botánico Canario "Viera y Clavijo". Guía del Jardín Botánico Canario Viera y Clavijo , Madrid: Rueda, DL 1997

Publications by Sventenius

(Selection)

Gerhard Benl, Eric R. Sventenius: Contributions to the knowledge of the pteridophyte vegetation and flora in the Canary Islands western province (Tenerife, La Palma, Gomera, Hierro) (from: Nova Hedwigia 20, p. 413-462, 1970), teaching: Cramer Vlg., 1970
ER Sventenius and D. Bramwell: Acta phytotaxonomica Barcinonensia ; Vol. 7; Heywoodiella genus novum, NBarcelona: Dep. de Botánica, Fac. de Ciencias, Autonomous University of Barcelona , 1971
G. Kunkel y Sventenius: Los Tiles de Moya. Enumeración florística y datos sobre el futuro parque natural , (Cuadernos de Botánica Canaria, 14/15: 71-89), Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 1972
Ericus R. Sventenius: Additamentum ad floram Canariensem , Matriti: Agronomiarum investigationem nationale hispanicum Inst. (Instituto nacional de investigaciones agronomicas), 1960
Plantae macaronesiensis novae vel minus cognitae , in: Index Seminum Horti Acclimatationis Plantarum Arautapensi, 1968
Ericus R. Sventenius, Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agrarias, Centro de las Islas Canarias (ed.): Notas sobre la flora de las Cañadas de Tenerife , (Cuaderno / INIA; 78), p. 149–171, Madrid: Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agrarias, Centro de las Islas Canarias, 1946
Ericus R. Sventenius, Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agrarias (España) (ed.): Contribución al conocimiento de la flora canaria , (Cuaderno / INIA; 79), p. 176–194, Madrid: Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agrarias, Centro de las Islas Canarias, 1946
Ericus R. Sventenius, Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agrarias, Centro de las Islas Canarias (ed.): Plantas nuevas o poco conocidas de Tenerife , (Cuaderno / INIA; 111), p. 22–33, Madrid: Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agrarias, Centro de las Islas Canarias, 1949
Ericus R. Sventenius, Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agrarias, Centro de las Islas Canarias (ed.): Specilegium canariense III , (Cuaderno / INIA; 125), Madrid: Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agrarias, Centro de las Islas Canarias, 1950

Individual evidence

↑ 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 : Erik Ragnar Svensson - collection of images, videos and audio files

personal data
SURNAME	Svensson, Erik Ragnar
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Sventenius, Ericus Ragnar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Swedish botanist
DATE OF BIRTH	October 10, 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH	Skirö ( Sweden )
DATE OF DEATH	June 23, 1973
Place of death	Gran Canaria

[Burkhardt_2018-1] 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 .