Gustav Maass

Gustav Maass

Gustav Friedrich Hermann Maass (born December 2, 1830 in Brandenburg an der Havel , † April 28, 1901 in Altenhausen ) was a German botanist and local researcher . Its official botanical author's abbreviation is " G.Maass ".

Life

Maass was born the son of a teacher. He first attended a grammar school in Brandenburg and then took up an apprenticeship as an art and commercial gardener . Around 1848 he worked in Hundisburg as a gardener's assistant to Hermann von Nathusius .

However, he initially embarked on a military career and became an artilleryman with the 3rd Brandenburg Artillery Brigade . In 1855 he became a fireworker , in 1860 a chief fireworker . He served in the military for a total of twelve and a half years. He was employed as a teacher at the brigade school in Magdeburg , but also as an assistant to the brigade staff in Berlin .

After the end of his military service, he took a position as office manager of the Magdeburgische Land-Feuer-Societät in Altenhausen in 1862 . He retained this position until his death.

At the end of 1866, along with Albert Bölte and Maximilian Wahnschaffe, he was one of the founders of the Aller Verein founded in Walbeck , which he chaired from 1874 to 1896. Within this association Maass undertook extensive research on regional flora in the area of Ohre and Aller . He carried out extensive excursions with his friend botanists Paul Ascherson and Ludwig Schneider. The results of the work were published, were the subject of lectures and were incorporated into Schneider's Flora von Magdeburg (1877). From the 1880s onwards, the area's prehistory and early history became a further focus .

In botanical research, the main interest was in the species of the blackberry genus ( Rubus ). In this area he achieved national, even international attention. In a forest area in the ridge near Alvensleben , Maass discovered several previously unknown blackberry species. The blue-green blackberry ( Rubus glaucovirens ) is named Rubus Maassii in his honor .

Maass worked with Wilhelm Fockes and provided him with information and materials for his work Synopsis Ruborum Germaniae - The German Blackberry , published in 1877 . Maass was also in contact with other researchers, such as the Dane Otto Gelert .

As part of his historical research, Maass opened up and mapped prehistoric monuments, such as barrows , and old submerged village and castle complexes.

The botanical or historical finds that he recovered from excursions ended up in the collection of the Aller Verein. After his departure as the club's chairman, the club made him honorary chairman.

Works

• Rubus glaucovirens. A new Magdeburg blackberry , in treatises of the Botanical Association of the Province of Brandenburg, 162ff., 1870
• The desertions of the Neuhaldensleben district , 1899

literature

• Guido Heinrich, Karl Schlimme: Maass, Gustav. In: Guido Heinrich, Gunter Schandera (ed.): Magdeburg Biographical Lexicon 19th and 20th centuries. Biographical lexicon for the state capital Magdeburg and the districts of Bördekreis, Jerichower Land, Ohrekreis and Schönebeck. Scriptum, Magdeburg 2002, ISBN 3-933046-49-1 .
• Martin Wiehle : Borders Personalities. Biographical lexicon of the Magdeburger Börde (= contributions to the cultural history of the Magdeburger Börde and its peripheral areas. Vol. 6). Dr. ziethen verlag, Oschersleben 2001, ISBN 3-935358-20-2 .
• Nekrolog auf GM, in: Wochenblatt for the district of Neuhaldensleben, Gardelegen and Wolmirstedt and the district of Calvörde from June 12, 1901; Karl Schlimme, three research personalities - at home, in the world - born with us, buried with us ..., in: Jb. Des Kreismuseums Haldensleben 33, 1993, 26–39 (B).

Web links

• Author entry and list of the plant names described for Gustav Maass at the IPNI