Karl Sprenger

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Karl Ludwig Sprenger (born November 30, 1846 in Güstrow , † December 13, 1917 in Corfu ) was a German botanist and imperial gardener. Its official botanical author's abbreviation is " Sprenger ".

Life

Sprenger, orphaned at an early age, grew up in Güstrow in Mecklenburg, attended elementary school and, after his confirmation, began an apprenticeship with the commercial gardener Behnke in the Schwerin suburb. After his apprenticeship, he came to the Hanoverian court garden of Herrenhausen Palace in 1865 . Queen Marie spoke to him several times. In 1870/71 he took part in the Franco-German War as a Mecklenburg hunter . After the Battle of Orléans , on December 16, 1870, while spending the night in the grim cold in the snow-covered forest, he suffered an ear ailment, as a result of which he lost his hearing completely over time.

In 1875, Sprenger and his cousin leased a nursery in Agram in what was then Carinthia, and in the following year a seed shop and shipping nursery in Graz . An operation on his hearing and pneumonia later forced him to seek out a southern climate. On the Borromean Islands he found a job with a German count's family, in which he could pursue his hobbies in grafting and crossing plants. On his later trips through Italy he finally got stuck in the small town of San Giovanni a Teduccio at the foot of Vesuvius , where he grew vegetables and everlasting flowers for export.

In Vomero he created his own botanical garden, the Hortus botanicus Vomeriensis, and devoted himself to theoretical and practical botanical studies. In correspondence with experts from all over the world, he received seeds and used them for experimental crops. Surprising successes emerged and a number of plants were later referred to by his name in botany and in trade. For example, the ornamental asparagus Asparagus sprengeri , which has become widespread and was released in the Vomero area, or the Magnolia sprengeri .

Sprenger was just touring Spain when he received a telegram in which he was ordered to reorganize the imperial garden on the Achilleion on the island of Corfu . He solved the task to the satisfaction of the imperial family and created wonderful views through and into the distance by cutting down trees. On the next visit of the imperial family to Corfu, Kaiser Wilhelm II did not hold back with his recognition and had the Order of the Red Eagle attached to the garden master's chest by the Colonel General von Plessen in front of the assembled entourage .

During the First World War , Sprenger was refused permission to return to Naples. When the French occupied Corfu, he was jailed in the city of Corfu for 11 days and then interned there. He died on December 13, 1917 in his home in Corfu.

Honors

The plant genus Sprengeria Greene from the cruciferous family (Brassicaceae) is named after Sprenger .

literature

  • Hofrat Sprenger: Obituary Karl Sprenger † . In: Mitteilungen der Deutschen Dendrologische Gesellschaft , No. 27, 1918, pp. 354–356 (with picture).

Individual evidence

  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 .

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