Berthold Carl Seemann | |
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| Born | (1825-02-25)25 February 1825 |
| Died | 10 October 1871(1871-10-10) (aged 46) |
Berthold Carl Seemann (25 February 1825, inKingdom of Hanover – 10 October 1871, inNicaragua) was a Germanbotanist. He travelled widely and collected and described plants from thePacific andSouth America. Along with his brother, he founded the German botanical periodicalBonplandia in 1853 and edited it for a decade before it became theJournal of Botany. The genusSeemannaralia is named after him.
Seemann was born in Hanover and was educated at the Lycaeum in Hanover whereGeorg Friedrich Grotefend was once a headmaster. Grotefend's son was a teacher who introduced botany to Seemann. In 1844 Seemann travelled to the United Kingdom to study gardening andbotany at theRoyal Botanic Gardens, Kew, under John Smith. On the recommendation ofSir WJ Hooker, he was appointed naturalist on the voyage of exploration of the American west coast and Pacific byHenry Kellett onHMSHerald, 1847–1851, along with the naturalistsThomas Edmondston, andJohn Goodridge. The expedition returned viaHawaii,Hong Kong and theEast Indies, calling at the Cape in March 1851. Here he met up with his old acquaintanceZeyher, and with Baur and Juritz they climbedTable Mountain on 13 March 1851,Ecklon being unwell and unable to accompany them. On 16 March Zeyher introduced him toBowie atWynberg. He left the Cape on 27 March and was back in England on 6 June 1851. The botanical results of the voyage were published asBotany of the Voyage of HMS Herald and he was awarded a Ph.D. by theUniversity of Göttingen in 1853.[1][2]
In 1859 he travelled toFiji. Based on his travels he wroteViti: An Account of a Government Mission to the Vitian or Fijian Islands in the Years 1860-1,[3] and a botanical catalogue of the flora of the islands, entitledFlora Vitiensis: a description of the plants of the Viti or Fiji Islands with an account of their history and properties.[3] This was published in 10 parts between 1865 and 1873. In this work, Seeman named and described 204 of the 297 currently identified plant species.[4] It was the foundation forFlora Vitiensis Nova, published byAlbert C. Smith from 1979 to 1991. In the 1860s he visitedSouth America, travelling inVenezuela in 1864 on behalf of a Dutch firm andNicaragua from 1866 to 1867. He managed a sugar estate inPanama and then the Javali gold mine in Nicaragua, where he finally succumbed tomalaria.
He started and edited the journalBonplandia from 1853–1862 and theJournal of Botany, British and Foreign from 1863–1871.[5] His botanist brother Wilhelm Seemann co-editedBonplandia.
Seemann became a specialist on the family now calledAraliaceae with his series on the "Revision of the natural order Hederaceae". They appeared in theJournal of Botany, British and Foreign from 1864 to 1868.[6] In 1868, Seemann published a book by the same title.[7] It contained some original material, as well as reprints of the articles. It was the definitive work on Araliaceae untilHermann Harms published hismonograph on the family inDie Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien in 1898.
Specimens collected by Seemann are cared for at multiple institutions worldwide, including theNatural History Museum, London and theNational Herbarium of Victoria,Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria.[8]
The plant genusSeemannia Regel. (Gesneriaceae),Seemannantha Alef. andSeemannaralia R. Viguier (Araliaceae) were named in his honour. In addition to botany he composed music and wrote three German plays. He was a Fellow of the Linnean Society and of the Royal Geographical Society.
