Eduard Friedrich Poeppig (16 July 1798 – 4 September 1868) was a German botanist, zoologist and explorer.
Biography
Poeppig was born in Plauen, Saxony. He studied medicine and natural history at the University of Leipzig, graduating with a medical degree. On graduation, the rector of the university gave him a botanical mission to North and South America. He was helped out financially by a small group of friends and scientists in Leipzig, that included botanist Christian Friedrich Schwägrichen, who in exchange, received sets of specimens.[1] He subsequently worked as a naturalist in Cuba (1823–24) and Pennsylvania (1824–26). In 1826 he departed for Valparaiso, Chile, and spent several years performing scientific exploration throughout Chile, Peru and Brazil.[2] As a result of his journey in South America, he published "Reise in Chile, Peru und auf dem Amazonenstrome, während der Jahre 1827-1832 " (2 volumes).[1]
In the autumn of 1832, he returned to Germany with significant zoological and botanical collections — several hundred stuffed animals, a collection of ethnographic objects, and more than 17,000 dried plants.[1][3] During the following year, he became an associate professor at the University of Leipzig, where in 1834 he was named director of its zoological museum. In 1846 he attained a full professorship at Leipzig, a position he maintained until his death in 1868.[2][4] He contributed to the establishment of a scientific museum in Leipzig, and bequeathed to it some of his collections, with the remainder being sent to museums in Berlin and Vienna.[1]
In South America he described numerous new species of plants. His botanical magnum opus, Nova genera ac Species Plantarum quas in regno, Chiliensi, Peruviano, ac Terra Amazonica, anni 1827-1832 lectarum, was published in three volumes. In it he described 31 new genera, and 477 new species. For the first two volumes he collaborated with Stephan Endlicher.[1]
Eponymy
The plant genus Poeppigia is named after him, as are taxa with the specific epithets of poeppigi,[5] poeppigii, and poeppigiana,[1][6] a few examples being: the silvery woolly monkey (Lagothrix poeppigii ), the snake Atractus poeppigi,[5] the toad Rhinella poeppigii,[7] the orchid Campylocentrum poeppigii (Rchb. f.) Rolfe, and the angiosperm species Guatteria poeppigiana Mart..[8]
Written works
- Fragmentum synopseos plantarum phanerogamarum, (1833). (in Latin).
- Selbstanzeige der Reisebeschreibung in Blätter für literarische Unterhaltung, (1835). (in German).
- Reise in Chile, Peru und auf dem Amazonenstrome während der Jahre 1827–1832 (Travel in Chile, Peru, and on the Amazon river during the years 1827–1832), 2 volumes (1834-36). (in German).
- Nova genera ac species plantarum, quas in regno Chilensi Peruviano et in terra Amazonica: annis MDCCCXXVII ad MDCCCXXXII (with Stephan Ladislaus Endlicher), (1835–45). (in Latin).
- Reise nach den Vereinigten Staaten (Travel to the United States), (1837). (in German).
- Über alte und neue Handelswege nach der Westküste Amerikas (On old and new trade routes to the west coast of the Americas), (1838). (in German).
- Landschaftliche Ansichten und erlauternde Darstellungen (Views of countryside with explanation), (1839). (in German).
Poeppig was a primary contributor of ethnological, geographical, and biological articles about the Americas for the Allgemeine Encyclopaedie, edited by Ersch and Gruber.[1]
See also
Notes
References
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