Karlheinz Senghas

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Karlheinz Senghas (born April 7, 1928 in Stuttgart ; † February 4, 2004 Gaiberg near Heidelberg) was a German botanist and scientific director of the Heidelberg Botanical Garden . One of his research was the family of orchids . Its botanical author abbreviation is " Senghas ".

Life

Karlheinz Senghas was born in Stuttgart in 1928. In 1939 the family - Karlheinz Senghas had a younger sister - moved to Mannheim , where his father, a soldier, was stationed. In 1945 the 17-year-old was drafted into the Wehrmacht as an anti-aircraft helper, at the same time a bomb destroyed the family home. Senghas' sister was killed and his mother was seriously injured. Karlheinz Senghas was a prisoner of war for a short time; he was released in autumn 1945.

After the war, Karlheinz Senghas graduated from high school and began studying biology in Heidelberg in 1949 . Senghas completed his studies in 1954, followed by his doctorate in 1959 , under the supervision of Werner Rauh . Rauh hired him to work at the Botanical Institute in Heidelberg, and in 1960 he was given the position of curator and scientific director of the Heidelberg Botanical Garden. Also in 1960 he began working on " Schmeil-Fitschen ", an excursion flora.

In 1956 Senghas married his wife Irmgard. The couple had three sons. From 1972 he lived with his family in Gaiberg for over 30 years until his death .

Senghas built an extensive collection of orchids at the Heidelberg Botanical Garden. In the years of his activity, between 1960 and 1993, the number of cultivated species rose from 400 to about 6000. His writings on orchids are also very extensive, with more than 300 publications on this topic. In addition to scientific papers, this also includes numerous publications aimed at laypeople. He was involved in the German Orchid Society and in the Association of German Orchid Friends .

From 1970 to 2002, “ Die Orchideen ” was published as a single delivery - according to the title the third edition of the work of the same name by Rudolf Schlechter , actually a completely new edition. The nearly 4,000 pages in several volumes, jointly edited by Senghas, Brieger and Maatsch , became the standard work on the orchid family.

Together with Werner Rauh, he was the editor of Schmeil-Fitschen : Flora von Deutschland for the editions 81–88, 1967–1988. Also for the 89th – 92nd Edition (1993–2003) he was co-editor with Siegmund Seybold .

Even after his retirement in 1993 he continued to research and publish. Karlheinz Senghas died on February 4, 2004 in Gaiberg.

Honors

The orchid genus Senghasiella Szlach was named after him in 2001 .

Fonts

  • Schlechter, Rudolf: The orchids. Handbook for orchid lovers, breeders and botanists; Description, culture and breeding . 3rd edition, Paul Parey publishing house.
  • Orchids. Plants of extremes, opposites and superlatives . 1993, Paul Parey publishing house.

literature

  • Ingrid Senger, German Senger: In memory of Dr. Karlheinz Senghas . In: Journal für den Orchideenfreund , Vol. 11, Issue 2, 2004, pp. 111–116.
  • Carlos O. Morales : Memoria de uno de los grandes de la Orquideología mundial: Karlheinz Senghas (1928-2004) . In: Lankesteriana, Vol. 5, No. 1, 2005, pp. 1-2.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Walter Erhardt among others: The great pikeperch. Encyclopedia of Plant Names . Volume 2, page 2047. Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2008. ISBN 978-3-8001-5406-7
  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

personal data
SURNAME Senghas, Karlheinz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German botanist
DATE OF BIRTH April 7, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH Stuttgart
DATE OF DEATH February 4, 2004