Karl von Poellnitz

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Karl von Poellnitz, 1940

Karl Joseph Leopold Arndt von Poellnitz (born May 4, 1896 in Oberlödla in Thuringia , † February 15, 1945 in Oberlödla) was a German botanist , researcher and agronomist . Its official botanical author's abbreviation is “ Poelln. "

Live and act

Karl von Poellnitz was born in Oberlödla as the son of the manor owner and ducal chamberlain, Arndt von Poellnitz. The pastor of the village gave him his first school lessons. From 1906 to 1915 he attended the Herzogliche Ernst-Real-Gymnasium in Altenburg, where he obtained his school-leaving certificate. He then completed his university studies at the University of Leipzig . He studied science and agriculture there. He completed his doctorate in the winter of 1920/21. After completing his university studies, he went to practical work on a central German agricultural estate. With his marriage on September 8, 1921, however, he devoted himself more and more to his father's estate in Oberlödla, which he finally took over after his father's death. In addition to managing the estate, he devotedly discovered his passion for leaf succulents . Diligent literature and herbarium studies and the establishment of far-reaching foreign relations gradually stamped him as the leading systematist and editor of very specific, previously very neglected plant genera. He grew more and more into an author. He benefited from his good relationships with the home countries of the succulents he preferred. His special field of work and research was the Liliaceae in the broader sense, Crassulacaceae and Portulacaceae . With his countless new descriptions, which were often provided with very good pictures of plants, he stimulated collecting activities in the home countries of these plant families. His work on the species of the genus Haworthia was particularly noticeable. The great Haworthia key has removed many ambiguities in science. But also the genera Adromischus , Anacampseros , Echeveria and Pachyphytum experienced some very valuable clarification. A lifelong friendship connected him with Hermann Jacobsen and Kurt Dinter .

Karl von Pöllnitz died together with his wife and only daughter in an American bomb attack on his estate on February 14, 1945.

In 1940 the Dutch naturalist Antonius Josephus Adrianus Uitewaal named the monotypical genus Poellnitzia from the family of the grass tree plants (Xanthorrhoeaceae) after Karl von Poellnitz . Other species such as: Gasteria poellnitziana (synonym of: Gasteria pulchra ), Haworthia poellnitziana (variety of: Haworthia minima ), Conophytum poellnitzianum (synonym of: Conophytum pageae ) and Anacampseros poellnitziana (synonym of: Anacampseros filamentosa ) were also named after him.

Fonts (selection)

  • Leipzig's milk supply during the war and after the war . Yearbook of the Philosophical Faculty Leipzig 1921, pp. 1–70.
  • The Portulacaceae of East Africa . In: Boletim da Sociedade Broteriana, Coimbra 1940, 22 pages.
  • The Anthericum - species of German East Africa . In: Boletim da Sociedade Broteriana, Coimbra 1942, 16 pages.
  • The Anthericum species of Angola . In: Boletim da Sociedade Broteriana, Coimbra 1943, 37 pages.

literature

  • Urs Eggli, Leonard E. Newton: Etymological Dictionary of Succulent Plant Names . Birkenhäuser, Norderstedt 2004, ISBN 3-540-00489-0 , p. 188 .
  • Hermann Jacobsen : Das Sukkulentenlexikon: short description, indications of origin and synonymy of the succulent plants with the exception of the Cactaceae . 2nd Edition. Fischer, Stuttgart-New York 1981, ISBN 3-437-30340-6 .
  • Alfred Zantner: Dr. Karl von Poellnitz . In: Succulents - Yearbooks of the Swiss Cactus Society, 1948, p. 63.

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 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Poellnitz, Karl von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Poellnitz, Karl Joseph Leopold Arndt von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German botanist
DATE OF BIRTH May 4, 1896
PLACE OF BIRTH Oberlödla
DATE OF DEATH February 15, 1945
Place of death Oberlödla