Formation | 1790 |
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Legal status | Not-for-profit organisation |
Purpose | The promotion of the study, conservation and appreciation of plants, especially of the local flora |
Location |
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Website | rbg1790 |
The Regensburg Botanical Society (Regensburgische Botanische Gesellschaft), founded 1790 in the city of Regensburg, Bavaria, Germany, is the oldest extant scientific society focused on botany. [1] [2] It was initially supported by the Prince-Archbishop Karl Theodor von Dalberg of Regensburg. Over the centuries the society has held scientific meetings, published scientific journals and had a botanic garden (until 1855), herbarium and library. In the twentieth century the society extended its role into nature conservation. It currently collaborates closely with the University of Regensburg.
The Regensburg Botanical Society was founded 14 May 1790 by the botanist David Heinrich Hoppe. It was previously known as the Royal Bavarian Botanical Society of Regensburg (Königlich Bayerische Botanische Gesellschaft zu Regensburg).
The first 'meeting' took place in the open air near Regensburg in what is now the Max-Schultze-Steig nature reserve. The location was adjacent to prominent cliffs with a cave above the river Danube that provides some shelter and was subsequently called the 'Hoppefelsen' in memory of Hoppe. He walked there accompanied by his friends Ernst Wilhelm Martius, Johann August Stallknecht and Heinrich Christian Funck, all pharmacists, and then read a statement of the aims and rules of the new Regensburg Botanical Society. Several prominent local people soon joined, including two Frenchmen, Charles François Marie Duval and François Gabriel de Bray, the French ambassador to Regensburg. [3] [4]
A commemorative plaque in French was installed in 1792 [4] and has been restored, translated and extended in 1890 and 1975. It states:
David Heinrich Hoppe, during one of his botanical excursions, surprised by a violent thunderstorm, took shelter under these rocks, which he called protective rocks (Schutzfelsen).
The Botanical Society of Regensburg, which he founded in May 1790, gave him credit and consecrated this area favored by flora.
F. G. De Bray and C. Duval
The ruler of the Principality of Regensburg, Prince-Archbishop Karl Theodor von Dalberg supported the society in its early years. He gave it the garden of Saint Emmeram's Abbey, which had had a long tradition of scientific enquiry. From 1803 until 1855 the society maintained a botanical garden there. [5] The society also started a herbarium focusing on plants found in Germany. By the 1820s it contained 3,265 specimens with along with some from other parts of the world. [6] The most substantial donation of additional material to the herbarium, 20,000 specimens, was from the estate of Baron Franz Ludwig von Welden, an Austrian army officer who travelled widely. [1] In addition the society began to form a specialist library, which by 1805 contained 216 titles. [4]
In the early 1900s, as nature conservation began to be appreciated the society's chair, Heinrich Karl August Fürnrohr, led the society to purchase several areas of land for conservation value. These included in 1905 Drabafelsen near Etterzhausen, in 1906 the Schutzfelsen where the society was founded and in 1911 the Sippenauer Moor. [7] [8] The society disposed of some of the herbarium and library during the early-twentieth century. [4] From the 1950s the society developed a new journal (Hoppea), increased activity related to conservation and new connections with other regional scientific societies. In 1974 the society became part of the University of Regensburg and the books (in 1974), herbarium (in 1977) and society's archives (in 1984) were added to the university's collections as permanent loans. [3] Conservation work has been undertaken on the documents and herbarium specimens, and the herbarium is now housed in modern facilities. The change in the society's fortunes has been reflected in an increase in the number of members which has been around 600 since 1999. [4]
The society has published several scientific journals over the years:
The society has made several awards over the years:
The presidents of the society were: [4]
No-one took the role of president after 1868.
Chairs of the society have included: [4]
Significant members of the society have included: [4]
Honorary membership of the society has been awarded to significant scientists including:
The society had 516 members in 1841. Membership then declined gradually so that there were 89 in 1898 and only 40 by 1954. However, by the twenty-first century the society's membership had increased substantially to around 600. [4]
Picris (oxtongues) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae described as a genus by Linnaeus in 1753.
Count Kaspar Maria von Sternberg, 1761, Prague – 1838, Březina Castle), was a Bohemian theologian, mineralogist, geognost, entomologist and botanist. He is known as the "Father of Paleobotany".. His parents were Count Johann Nepomuk von Sternberg and Countess Anna Josefa Kolowrat-Krakowsky.
Johann Heinrich Friedrich Link was a German naturalist and botanist. The standard author abbreviation Link is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.
Jacob Sturm was a leading engraver of entomological and botanical scientific publications in Germany at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century. He was born and lived in Nuremberg and was the only son of engraver Johann Georg Sturm (1742-1793), who trained him in drawing and copperplate engraving.
Christian Friedrich Hornschuch was a German botanist born in Rodach, Bavaria.
David Heinrich Hoppe was a German pharmacist, botanist, entomologist and physician. He is remembered for contributions made to the study of alpine flora.
Stephan Schulzer von Müggenburg was a Hungarian-Croatian army officer and mycologist. His first name is variably spelled Stefan, Stjepan or István.
Ferdinand Christian Gustav Arnold was a German lichenologist and taxonomist born in Ansbach, Bavaria. Even as a high school student he showed an active interest in botany: "Ich und August Gattinger ... durchstreiften von November 1846 bis zum Spätherbst 1847, Pflanzen sammelnd, die Landschaft von München nach allen Richtungen.".
Heinrich Christian Funck was a German pharmacist and bryologist born in Wunsiedel, Bavaria. He was a co-founder of the Regensburg Botanical Society.
Johann Friedrich Thilo Irmisch was a 19th-century German botanist.
Rudolf Karl Friedrich von Uechtritz was a German botanist. He was the son of Max von Uechtritz (1785–1851), a German rittmeister who conducted entomological and botanical studies.
Anton Karl Schindler was a German dentist and botanist.
Adolf Straehler was a Silesian forester and botanist.
Gerbera ambigua is a species of flowering plant in the section Lasiopus of genus Gerbera belonging to the basal Mutisieae tribe within the large Asteraceae family.
Exsiccata is a work with "published, uniform, numbered set[s] of preserved specimens distributed with printed labels". Typically, exsiccatae refer to numbered collections of dried herbarium specimens respectively preserved biological samples published in several duplicate sets with a common theme/ title like Lichenes Helvetici. Exsiccatae are regarded as scientific contributions of the editor(s) with characteristics from the library world and features from the herbarium world. Exsiccatae works represent a special method of scholarly communication. The text in the printed matters/published booklets is basically a list of labels (schedae) with informations on each single numbered exsiccatal unit. Extensions of the concept occur.
Josef Poelt was a botanist, bryologist and lichenologist. He held the chair in Systematic Botany and Plant Geography at the Free University of Berlin and then was head of the Botanical Institute and Botanical Garden of Graz University, Austria.
Tetramyxa is a cercozoan protist, member of the plasmodiophores, parasite of several flowering plants. It was first described by Karl von Goebel in 1884, in his work Flora. The genus is characterized by the appearance of resting spores in groups of four.
Tetramyxa parasitica is a species of parasitic cercozoan, member of the plasmodiophorids, that causes gall formation on multiple genera of aquatic plants. It was first discovered on roots of Ruppia and described by Karl von Goebel in 1884 in his work Flora, where it became the type species of the genus Tetramyxa.
Karl Eggerth junior (1861-1888) was an Austrian botanist and medical student who specialised in collecting lichen specimens.