Friedrich Welwitsch
Encyclopedia
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...
explorer
Exploration
Exploration is the act of searching or traveling around a terrain for the purpose of discovery of resources or information. Exploration occurs in all non-sessile animal species, including humans...
and botanist
Botany
Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...
who in Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
discovered the plant Welwitschia mirabilis
Welwitschia
Welwitschia is a monotypic genus of gymnosperm plant, composed solely of the very distinct Welwitschia mirabilis. The plant is commonly simply known as Welwitschia in English. It is known locally as !kharos or khurub , tweeblaarkanniedood , nyanka , or onyanga , among others...
. His report received wide attention among the botanists and general public, comparable only to the discovery of two other plants in the 19th century, namely Victoria amazonica
Victoria amazonica
Victoria amazonica is a species of flowering plant, the largest of the Nymphaeaceae family of water lilies.-Description:The species has very large leaves, up to 3 m in diameter, that float on the water's surface on a submerged stalk, 7–8 m in length. The species was once called Victoria...
and Rafflesia arnoldii
Rafflesia arnoldii
Rafflesia arnoldii is a member of the genus Rafflesia. It is noted for producing the largest individual flower on earth, and a strong odor of decaying flesh - the latter point earning it the nickname of "corpse flower". It is an endemic plant that occurs only in the rainforest of Bengkulu and...
.
In Angola, Welwitsch also discovered Rhipsalis baccifera
Rhipsalis baccifera
Rhipsalis baccifera, commonly known as the Mistletoe Cactus, is an epiphytic cactus which originates from Central and South America, the Caribbean and Florida. It is also spread throughout the tropics of Africa and Asia. This is the only cactus species naturally occurring outside the New World,...
, the only cactus
Cactus
A cactus is a member of the plant family Cactaceae. Their distinctive appearance is a result of adaptations to conserve water in dry and/or hot environments. In most species, the stem has evolved to become photosynthetic and succulent, while the leaves have evolved into spines...
species naturally occurring outside the New World
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
. It was found a few years later in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
too, which reignited the now already one and a half century old debate on the origin of cacti in Africa and Asia. At the time, the debate concluded with the conviction of numerous authors that they were introduced and spread by migratory birds
Bird migration
Bird migration is the regular seasonal journey undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather. Sometimes, journeys are not termed "true migration" because they are irregular or in only one direction...
.
Among the botanists, Welwitsch is also known after his descriptions of numerous other plants, for example Cyphostemma macropus, Tavaresia angolense, Dorstenia psilurus, Sarcocaulon mossamedense, Acanthosicyos horridus
Acanthosicyos horridus
Acanthosicyos horridus is an unusual melon that occurs only in Namibia; it is locally called !nara.The edible seeds are known locally as butterpips....
, Pachypodium namaquanum
Pachypodium namaquanum
Pachypodium namaquanum Welw. is a succulent single-stemmed plant growing to 4 metres tall in the arid, rocky mountains of the Richtersveld in the Northern Cape and southern Namibia. The warty trunk, thickset at the base and tapering to the top, is densely covered in sharp spines. Where damaged,...
and Pachypodium lealii
Pachypodium lealii
The Bottle tree is a species of plant included in the genus Pachypodium. The scientific name derives from the 19th century Portuguese geologist Fernando da Costa Leal, who described the Bottle tree during an exploration in southern Angola.This species can be either a shrub or a tree up to 6 meters...
. The earthstar
Geastrales
Geastrales is an order of gasterocarpic basidiomycetes that relates to Cantharellales. It includes the genera Geastrum and Myriostoma.The common name is "earthstars."...
fungus Geastrum welwitschii
Geastrum welwitschii
Geastrum welwitschii is a species of fungus in the earthstar family. When young and unopened, the fruit bodies resemble small spheres lying in the soil...
, a species he collected in Spain, is named in his honor.
Biography
Friedrich Welwitsch was born at Maria SaalMaria Saal
Maria Saal is a market town in the district of Klagenfurt-Land in the Austrian state of Carinthia. It is located in the east of the historic Zollfeld plain , the wide valley of the Glan river. The municipality includes the cadastral communes of Kading, Karnburg, Möderndorf, Possau and St...
(Slovene: Gospa Sveta), Duchy of Carinthia
Duchy of Carinthia
The Duchy of Carinthia was a duchy located in southern Austria and parts of northern Slovenia. It was separated from the Duchy of Bavaria in 976, then the first newly created Imperial State beside the original German stem duchies....
, Austrian Empire
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...
, to the wealthy family of Joseph Anton Welwich, a local judicial officer and town councillor of Salzburg
Salzburg
-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...
, and Genovefa Mayr. The family name, which in to-day's Slovene spelling would be Velbič, points at Slovene ethnicity. It is known that Welwitsch's mother was a German, while his father's family was probably of Slovene origin. However, this has not been definitely proven. It is disputed whether Welwitsch spoke Slovene.
Contrary to the wishes of his father, who wanted him to study law, Friedrich Welwitsch studied medicine and botany in Vienna
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...
and worked as a physician in the Austrian provinces of Carniola
Carniola
Carniola was a historical region that comprised parts of what is now Slovenia. As part of Austria-Hungary, the region was a crown land officially known as the Duchy of Carniola until 1918. In 1849, the region was subdivided into Upper Carniola, Lower Carniola, and Inner Carniola...
and 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...
, but his interest in the plant kingdom, where he discovered a number of plants hitherto unknown, was so great that in 1839 he abandoned the medical profession altogether.
With the financial aid of a Württemberg
Unio Itineraria
Unio Itineraria was a German Scientific Society.Supported by William I of Württemberg, Unio Itineraria was established to promote scientific investigation through the collection and distribution of determined plant specimens....
botanical association Welwitsch travelled to Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
where he became the director of the botanical gardens. His claim to fame came when with the further support of the Portuguese agent of the Württemberg botanical society he did research on the Canary Islands
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...
, on Madeira
Madeira
Madeira is a Portuguese archipelago that lies between and , just under 400 km north of Tenerife, Canary Islands, in the north Atlantic Ocean and an outermost region of the European Union...
, and, in the interest of the Portuguese government, from 1853 in Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
, then a Portuguese colony. There, in 1859, in the Namib Desert
Namib Desert
The Namib Desert is a desert in Namibia and southwest Angola that forms part of the Namib-Naukluft National Park, the largest game reserve in Africa. The name "Namib" is of Nama origin and means "vast place"...
in the southern part of Angola he discovered Welwitschia mirabilis, a unique member of the Gnetaceaefamily, also known as Tumboa, with a subterranean stem of 50 cm diameter that can grow up to 30 meters deep, and with only two leaves of up to 2 m long, the longest-lived leaves (1,500 to 2,000 years) in the plant kingdom. This plant, whose common name is Tree tumbo, a single species of dioecious
Plant sexuality
Plant sexuality covers the wide variety of sexual reproduction systems found across the plant kingdom. This article describes morphological aspects of sexual reproduction of plants....
perennial
Perennial plant
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter lived annuals and biennials. The term is sometimes misused by commercial gardeners or horticulturalists to describe only herbaceous perennials...
, is considered a gymnosperm
Gymnosperm
The gymnosperms are a group of seed-bearing plants that includes conifers, cycads, Ginkgo, and Gnetales. The term "gymnosperm" comes from the Greek word gymnospermos , meaning "naked seeds", after the unenclosed condition of their seeds...
, however, the relationship with other species in this group is still not clear.
After eight strenuous years of exploring and collecting Welwitsch returned to Portugal in 1861, but because of better working conditions went to London in 1863 where he worked in the Natural History Museum and at Kew Gardens categorizing and catalogueing his enormous collection. Alone in his publication Sertum Angolense he described 12 new categories and 48 new species. Upon his death in 1872 he left his precious collection to the Natural History Museum
Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum is one of three large museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, England . Its main frontage is on Cromwell Road...
in London. However, having financed his Angolan years the Portuguese government claimed the estate. Only after a three-year suit the case was settled: One series of his collection went to Lisbon, the second series remained in London. Welwitsch was buried in the Kensal Green Cemetery
Kensal Green Cemetery
Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in Kensal Green, in the west of London, England. It was immortalised in the lines of G. K. Chesterton's poem The Rolling English Road from his book The Flying Inn: "For there is good news yet to hear and fine things to be seen; Before we go to Paradise by way of...
where the slab over his grave reads: "Frederikus Welwitsch, M.D. - Florae angolensis investigatorum princeps - Nat. in Carinthia 5 Feb 1806 - Ob. Londini 20 Oct 1872".
Publications
- Beiträge zur kryptogamischen Flora Unterösterreichs. In: Beiträge zur Landeskunde Österreichs, vol.4, 1834.
- Synopsis Nostochinearum Austriae inferioris. PhD Thesis, Vienna, 1836.
- Genera Phycearum Lusitanae. (=Actas da Academia das Ciências de Lisboa), Lisbon 1850.
- Apontamentos Fito-geograficos sobre a Flora da Província de Angola na Africa Equinocial. In: Anais do Conselho do Ultramarino de oct. 1858, Lisbon 1858.
- Sinopse explicativa das amostras de Madeiras e drogas medicinais (...) coligidos na provincia de Angola, e enviados a Exposição Internacional de Londres 1862. Lisbon, 1862.
- Sertum Angolense. In: Transactions of the Linnean Societyvol. XXII, London 1869.
- Notizen über die Bryologie von Portugal. In: Flora, 1872.