Franz Boos
Encyclopedia
Boos came from a gardening family that lived in the Grand Duchy of Baden
Grand Duchy of Baden
The Grand Duchy of Baden was a historical state in the southwest of Germany, on the east bank of the Rhine. It existed between 1806 and 1918.-History:...
, his father being head gardener in Rastatt
Rastatt
Rastatt is a city and baroque residence in the District of Rastatt, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on the Murg river, above its junction with the Rhine and has a population of around 50'000...
, his son Joseph Boos (1794–1879) being an assistant gardener at the Schönbrunn Palace. Franz began his career in 1771 as a gardener to Prince Leopold of Dietrichstein
Dietrichstein
Dietrichstein was the name of a German/Austrian noble family.Maximilian von Dietrichstein was created Graf von Dietrichstein on 18 September 1612 and Fürst von Dietrichstein zu Nikolsburg on 24 March 1639...
in Seelowitz (Moravia
Moravia
Moravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, and one of the former Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Silesia. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region...
). From 1774 to 1775 he worked at the famous gardens of Prince Johann I of Liechtenstein
Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein is a doubly landlocked alpine country in Central Europe, bordered by Switzerland to the west and south and by Austria to the east. Its area is just over , and it has an estimated population of 35,000. Its capital is Vaduz. The biggest town is Schaan...
in Lednice
Lednice
Lednice is a village in South Moravia in the Czech Republic. In 1996 it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as "an exceptional example of the designed landscape that evolved in the Enlightenment and afterwards under the care of a single family." It contains a palace and the largest...
(also in Moravia) then, in 1776, he became assistant gardener at the Imperial and Royal Court Gardens of Schönbrunn Palace
Schönbrunn Palace
Schönbrunn Palace is a former imperial 1,441-room Rococo summer residence in Vienna, Austria. One of the most important cultural monuments in the country, since the 1960s it has been one of the major tourist attractions in Vienna...
in Vienna.
Franz Boos is best known for successful voyages to America, the Caribbean and South Africa during which he collected a wide range of natural history specimens for the parks and gardens, menagerie
Menagerie
A menagerie is/was a form of keeping common and exotic animals in captivity that preceded the modern zoological garden. The term was first used in seventeenth century France in reference to the management of household or domestic stock. Later, it came to be used primarily in reference to...
, and Cabinet
Cabinet (room)
A cabinet was one of a number of terms for a private room in the domestic architecture and that of palaces of early modern Europe, a room serving as a study or retreat, usually for a man. The cabinet would be furnished with books and works of art, and sited adjacent to his bedchamber, the...
of the Emperor's palace at Schönbrunn. The Emperor had appointed Franz Joseph Märter (1753-1827) as organiser and leader of this voyage of scientific exploration. Franz Boos, an under-gardener at the time, was selected as the primary collector specialising in tropical plants for the greenhouses. When Boos sailed to the Isle de France (Mauritius) and Bourbon (Reunion), he was a passenger of the then unknown merchant sailor Nicolas Baudin
Nicolas Baudin
Nicolas-Thomas Baudin was a French explorer, cartographer, naturalist and hydrographer.Baudin was born a commoner in Saint-Martin-de-Ré on the Île de Ré. At the age of fifteen he joined the merchant navy, and at twenty joined the French East India Company...
. The knowledge gained from Austrian Boos was later combined with French horticultural and botanical expertise which lead Baudin to the forefront of scientific exploration and research as the century moved into the upheaval of Revolutionary Wars. He worked at the Jardin du Roi, Pamplemousses
Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanical Garden
The Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanical Garden , commonly known as the Pamplemousses Botanical Garden, is a popular tourist attraction near Port Louis, Mauritius, and the oldest botanical garden in the Southern Hemisphere...
, with Nicolas Céré
Jean-Nicolas Céré
Jean-Nicolas Céré was a French botanist and agronomist born on the Indian Ocean Ile de France but educated in Brittany and Paris. On the Ile de France he was befriended by Pierre Poivre , administrator of the Ile de France and Ile Bourbon , who he assisted in the cultivation of spices...
and at Palma
Palma, Mozambique
Palma is a town on the Indian Ocean coast of Mozambique, lying south of the border with Tanzania. It is known for basketry, for rugmaking and for its offshore islands....
with Joseph-François Charpentier de Cossigny
Joseph-François Charpentier de Cossigny
Joseph-François Charpentier de Cossigny was born in Port Louis the son of Jean-François Charpentier de Cossigny an engineer of the French East India Company. He was also the cousin of David Charpentier de Cossigny, who was Governor of India, Governor of Bourbon and Governor Mascarene...
.
In recognition of his work, Boos was eventually promoted to the position of Director of the Royal Parks and Gardens at the Schönbrunn palace.
Botanical and horticultural exploration
Boos traveled on two major scientific expeditions on behalf of Emperor Joseph II, the first was to America (1783–1785), the second to the Caribbean, Cape of South Africa and Mascarenes (1786–1788).America 1783–1785
Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin
Nikolaus Joseph Freiherr von Jacquin or Baron Nikolaus von Jacquin. was a scientist who studied medicine, chemistry and botany....
(Director of the Botanical Garden of the University of Vienna
Botanical Garden of the University of Vienna
The Botanical Garden of the University of Vienna is a botanical garden in Vienna, Austria. It covers 8 hectares and is immediately adjacent to the Belvedere gardens....
and the Imperial Gardens of Schönbrunn Palace
Schönbrunn Palace
Schönbrunn Palace is a former imperial 1,441-room Rococo summer residence in Vienna, Austria. One of the most important cultural monuments in the country, since the 1960s it has been one of the major tourist attractions in Vienna...
) and Ignaz von Born, a voyage was commissioned in the spring of 1783 to collect specimens (including live animals) from the southeastern United States, staying in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
and eastern Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. The expedition was led by naturalist Franz Joseph Märter who was accompanied by the botanist Matthias Leopold Stupicz, a gardener's assistant Franz Bredemeyer and the painter Adam Moll. Märten sailed from Nantes for Philadelphia in 1793 sailing southwards down the east coast. In March 1784 Boos traveled with Märten to the island of Providence
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
in the Bahamas, and from there on collecting trips to Guanahani
Guanahani
Guanahani was the name the natives gave to the island that Christopher Columbus called San Salvador when he arrived at the Americas. Columbus reached the island on 12 October 1492, the first island he sighted and visited in the Americas...
and other islands. In September he left the island group, returning to Charleston
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
in South Carolina, sending his collections (mostly live plants) back to Vienna in May 1785 and returning himself to Vienna via Holland in September 1785. At Charleston in South Carolina Boos collected many rare plants.
Greenhouses at Schönbrunn already displayed an impressive collection of plants from the Jacquin's explorations in the Antilles
Antilles
The Antilles islands form the greater part of the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea. The Antilles are divided into two major groups: the "Greater Antilles" to the north and west, including the larger islands of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola , and Puerto Rico; and the smaller "Lesser Antilles" on the...
and South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
made from 1754 to 1759. However, in 1780 there had been a heating failure that had frozen this famous collection of exotic plants which now needed expanding.
Bahamas Caribbean & South Africa 1786–1788
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
in October 1785, this time as leader. His assistant gardener was Georg Scholl
Georg Scholl
Georg Scholl was a gardener at Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, Germany. He was sent by Emperor Joseph II as assistant to gardener-botanist Franz Boos to collect specimens for the royal garden and cabinet on a collecting trip to the Cape of South Africa...
from Weilbach
Weilbach
Weilbach is a market municipality in the Miltenberg district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia in Bavaria, Germany.- Location :Weilbach lies in the Bavarian part of the Odenwald .- Constituent communities :...
. The visit lasted from May 1786 to February 1787 during which he was often accompanied by the Scotsman Francis Masson
Francis Masson
Francis Masson was a Scottish botanist and gardener, and Kew Gardens’ first plant hunter.Masson was born in Aberdeen. In the 1760s he went to work at Kew Gardens as an under-gardener. Masson was the first plant collector to be sent from Kew by the newly-appointed director Sir Joseph Banks...
in the Cape Swartland
Swartland
The Swartland begins some 50 kilometres north of Cape Town and consists of the regions between the towns of Malmesbury in the south, Darling in the west, Piketberg in the north and the Riebeek West and Riebeek Kasteel in the east...
and semi-desert Karoo
Karoo
The Karoo is a semi-desert region of South Africa. It has two main sub-regions - the Great Karoo in the north and the Little Karoo in the south. The 'High' Karoo is one of the distinct physiographic provinces of the larger South African Platform division.-Great Karoo:The Great Karoo has an area of...
, collecting live plants, bulbs, seeds, birds, insects and more. From the beginning of 1787 he traveled to the foothills of the Cape of Good Hope
Cape of Good Hope
The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...
and from April 1787 to several islands, including Ile-de-France (Mauritius
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
) and Bourbon (Réunion
Réunion
Réunion is a French island with a population of about 800,000 located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about south west of Mauritius, the nearest island.Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas departments of France...
). George Scholl remained there until 1798 and did not return to Vienna until 1799 while Boos left Cape Town in August 1788 with more than three hundred cases of plants for the herbarium
Herbarium
In botany, a herbarium – sometimes known by the Anglicized term herbar – is a collection of preserved plant specimens. These specimens may be whole plants or plant parts: these will usually be in a dried form, mounted on a sheet, but depending upon the material may also be kept in...
of the Imperial Court Natural History Cabinet (now the Vienna Natural History Museum). Among the plants were several replicates of the Cape Lily (Veltheimia capensis), whose bulbs were propagated, their descendants now on display in the "Desert House (Sundial House)" in the Schönbrunn Zoo. A Fockea capensis (family Euphorbiaceae
Euphorbiaceae
Euphorbiaceae, the Spurge family are a large family of flowering plants with 300 genera and around 7,500 species. Most are herbs, but some, especially in the tropics, are also shrubs or trees. Some are succulent and resemble cacti....
) was also collected from this expedition: it is the oldest cultivated in a pot of succulents in the world. Boos also brought twelve living mammals and around 250 birds. Many of the species were subsequently described by Jacquin with illustrations.After finishing his work with Märten and his men in North America Boos was sent to South Africa, the Mascarenes and Madagascar. He travelled from the Cape to Ile de France, and from there to Trieste carrying the natural history collections on the Pepita. In the course of future work for Schonbrunn he left in Trinidad pepper, vegetables and other plants from Malabar and SE Asia.
Boos was evidently the leader as he was well educated, spoke several languages and was a botanist as well as a gardener, whereas Scholl was a working gardener with little scientific knowledge. Joseph II’s intention was for them to make collections of tropical plants from Ile de France, but bad weather forced their ship to shelter at the Cape of Good Hope delaying their departure. Many South African plants were collected, on one occasion together with the Scottish gardener-botanist Francis Masson
Francis Masson
Francis Masson was a Scottish botanist and gardener, and Kew Gardens’ first plant hunter.Masson was born in Aberdeen. In the 1760s he went to work at Kew Gardens as an under-gardener. Masson was the first plant collector to be sent from Kew by the newly-appointed director Sir Joseph Banks...
from Kew Gardens in London. Boos eventually travelled on to Mauritius leaving Scholl behind to continue collecting, returning to the Cape in 1788 for a few months before leaving for Vienna in July 1788 with a large collection of specimens and living plants. Scholl remained at the Cape for twelve years unable to get passage on a ship that was prepared to transport his plant collections. At the Cape Scholl was assisted by Colonel Robert Jacob Gordon
Robert Jacob Gordon
Robert Jacob Gordon , was a Dutch explorer, soldier, artist, naturalist and linguist of Scottish descent.-Life:...
who gave him protection, assisted him with his field excursions and allowed him to grow his plants in his garden, often referred to in the literature as ‘the Gordon’s Garden’. Many plants were established in this garden and Scholl collected their seed. Scholl sent several shipments of dried bulbs and seeds to Vienna, four of these being recorded in the Cape Archives in the period 1790 to 1792.
Plants were shipped to the Austrian Consul in Holland who then forwarded them upriver and overland to Vienna. Scholl eventually returned to Vienna in 1799 with his large collection of living plants and seed from Erica
Erica
Erica ,the heaths or heathers, is a genus of approximately 860 species of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae. The English common names "heath" and "heather" are shared by some closely related genera of similar appearance....
species. Present-day botanist Dr Kiehn and staff at the Schönbrunn Botanical Gardens believe that the ericas now growing at the Belvedere Palace Garden date back over 200 years to the Boos and Scholl collections as there is no evidence of any other collections being grown. Both the Belvedere Palace and Schönbrunn Palace Gardens were damaged by bombing at the end of the Second World War but though most of the glasshouse plants were destroyed at the end of the war many survived because they were purposely propagated for other gardens and glasshouses.
After Boos left the Ile de France and Pamplemousses, the garden's Director Jean-Nicolas Céré
Jean-Nicolas Céré
Jean-Nicolas Céré was a French botanist and agronomist born on the Indian Ocean Ile de France but educated in Brittany and Paris. On the Ile de France he was befriended by Pierre Poivre , administrator of the Ile de France and Ile Bourbon , who he assisted in the cultivation of spices...
hosted, from July 1788 to March 1789, Joseph Martin an 'élève-gardener' under he charge of André Thouin
André Thouin
André Thouin was a French botanist who was born in Paris. He studied botany under Bernard de Jussieu . In 1793 Thouin attained the chair of horticulture at Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris. Thouin was a good friend of U.S...
Head Gardener of the Jardin du Roi. He was to send spice and other plants to acclimatize in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Cayenne
Cayenne
Cayenne is the capital of French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France located in South America. The city stands on a former island at the mouth of the Cayenne River on the Atlantic coast. The city's motto is "Ferit Aurum Industria" which means "Work brings wealth"...
and Antilles
Antilles
The Antilles islands form the greater part of the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea. The Antilles are divided into two major groups: the "Greater Antilles" to the north and west, including the larger islands of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola , and Puerto Rico; and the smaller "Lesser Antilles" on the...
gardens. But he also managed to botanize on Madagascar and the Cape. With the successful conclusion of his journey Martin was appointed Director of the acclimatisation garden at Cayenne.
Association with Nicolas Baudin
When Boos travelled from the Cape to Ile de France, and from there to Trieste carrying the natural history collections it was on the ship Pepita commanded by Nicolas BaudinNicolas Baudin
Nicolas-Thomas Baudin was a French explorer, cartographer, naturalist and hydrographer.Baudin was born a commoner in Saint-Martin-de-Ré on the Île de Ré. At the age of fifteen he joined the merchant navy, and at twenty joined the French East India Company...
, at that time a merchant mariner. Baudin was interested in the collections which included many specimens from the Pamplemousses Botanical Garden
Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanical Garden
The Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanical Garden , commonly known as the Pamplemousses Botanical Garden, is a popular tourist attraction near Port Louis, Mauritius, and the oldest botanical garden in the Southern Hemisphere...
on the Ile de France (Mauritius). From Boos Baudin learned much about the transport of live plants and animals and the storage of natural history specimens, knowledge that he would later use in the scientific exploration of New Holland
New Holland (Australia)
New Holland is a historic name for the island continent of Australia. The name was first applied to Australia in 1644 by the Dutch seafarer Abel Tasman as Nova Hollandia, naming it after the Dutch province of Holland, and remained in use for 180 years....
(Australia), and elsewhere, for Napoleon.
Plant collections
Boos collected in Europe, Austria, South Africa, Madagascar, Pnnsylvania, South Carolina and the West Indies his collections probably in the British Museum of Natural Historia and Vienna.Haemanthus amarylloides
Haemanthus amarylloides
Haemanthus amarylloides Jacq. is an endemic South African bulbous plant first described in 1804 by Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin from specimens sent to the Schönbrunn Palace gardens by the collectors Boos and Scholl. Franz Boos was an Austrian botanist who, with Franz Bredemeyer, made up Emperor...
Jacq.
Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin
Nikolaus Joseph Freiherr von Jacquin or Baron Nikolaus von Jacquin. was a scientist who studied medicine, chemistry and botany....
is an endemic South African bulbous plant first described in 1804 by Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin
Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin
Nikolaus Joseph Freiherr von Jacquin or Baron Nikolaus von Jacquin. was a scientist who studied medicine, chemistry and botany....
from specimens sent to the Schönbrunn Palace
Schönbrunn Palace
Schönbrunn Palace is a former imperial 1,441-room Rococo summer residence in Vienna, Austria. One of the most important cultural monuments in the country, since the 1960s it has been one of the major tourist attractions in Vienna...
gardens by Boos and Scholl.In 1799 a cycad was collected by Georg Scholl on the Cape, this being returned to Vienna where, in 1801, it was described and illustrated as Zamia cycadifolia by botanist Jaquin.
Other achievements and honours
On his return from Africa Boos replaced Jacquin as Director of the Schönbrunn parks and gardens. After the death of Richard van der Schot, and because of his achievements, in 1790 Emperor Leopold II appointed Boos Director of the Schönbrunn Menagerie and the so-called "Dutch Palace Garden", then in 1807 Director of all the Courtyards. In 1810 he was admitted to the Imperial Council to eventually retire in 1827. Boos’s successor as Director of the Courtyard Gardens and Menagerie at Schönbrunn was Bredemeyer who, in 1793 was appointed Head Gardener, a post he held from 1827 until his death in 1839. Apart from his many plant and animal introductions Boos also prepared a plan of the courtyard gardens of Schönbrunn in 1780 shortly after they had been completed. Together with his son Joseph Boos, also a keen gardener and botanist at Schönbrunn he published, in 1816, a catalogue of the cultivated and wild plants grown during his time at Schönbrunn (Schönbrunn's flora, the cultivated plants of the Royal Dutch botanical courtyard garden at Schönbrunn (published by Geistinger, Vienna and Trieste). The later Düsseldorf garden artist Maximilian Friedrich Weyhe while training as a gardener studied with Franz Boos in Vienna. Boos was a childhood friend of Peter Joseph Elder a senior gardener since 1788 in Brühl (Rhineland) and Head of the Botanical Garden of the University of Bonn and gave his son Peter Joseph (who later became famous landscape gardener) a job at Schönbrunn. In 1905 Franz Boos Lane in HietzingHietzing
Hietzing is the 13th municipal District of Vienna . It is located west of the central districts, west of Meidling...
, Vienna, was named after him.
See also
- List of gardener-botanist explorers of the Enlightenment
- European and American voyages of scientific explorationEuropean and American voyages of scientific explorationThe era of European and American voyages of scientific exploration followed the Age of Discovery and were inspired by a new confidence in science and reason that arose in the Age of Enlightenment...
- Plantarum Rariorum Horti Caesarei Schoenbrunnensis (4 volumes, 1797–1804) Nicolas Jaquin's catalogue of plants held in the collections at the Schönbrunn PalaceSchönbrunn PalaceSchönbrunn Palace is a former imperial 1,441-room Rococo summer residence in Vienna, Austria. One of the most important cultural monuments in the country, since the 1960s it has been one of the major tourist attractions in Vienna...
of Emperor Joseph II in Vienna between 1797 and 1804.
Further reading
This article incorporates text from the German languageGerman language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
Wikipedia article :de:Franz Boos.
External links
- Plan of the Schönbrunn Garden. Franz Boos, 1780. AlbertinaAlbertinaThe Albertina is a museum in Vienna, Austria, containing the world's best collection of old master prints and drawings.Albertina, a feminine adjectival form of Albert , may also refer to:...
, (Vienna)
