Kurt Dinter
Encyclopedia
Moritz Kurt Dinter was a German
botanist and explorer in South West Africa
.
in Bautzen, completed his military service and joined the Botanic Gardens at Dresden
and Strasbourg
to further his botanical and horticultural interests. He was appointed assistant to Prof. Carl Georg Oscar Drude
, the plant geographer, in Dresden. As a result of his keen interest in exotic succulents, he was selected by Sir Thomas Hanbury to manage the acclimatisation garden, La Mortola
, near Ventimiglia
on the Italian Riviera. This garden boasted a large collection of South African bulbs and succulents. He also spent about six months at Kew
, returned to La Mortola and decided on a trip to South West Africa. He landed at Swakopmund
in June 1897, having sailed on the "Melitta Bohlem".
Dinter started his collection in the countryside around Swakopmund, moved on to Walvis Bay
and Luderitz
where he was intrigued by the succulents growing between shoreline rocks. Since he was a collector, financially dependent on sales of his plant specimens, he travelled frequently and widely in the company of his two Herero helpers. These collections he sent to Haage & Schmidt in Erfurt
, as well as to Schinz
in Zurich and Engler
in Berlin. The German government at the time appointed him as botanist in the territory, a position he held until 1914 with the outbreak of World War I.
Dinter experimented with growing various species of exotics and indigenous trees - first at Brakwater near Windhoek and later at Okahandja - Cypresses, Eucalypts and Acacia erioloba
. In one of the Herero uprisings he lost most of his personal effects and about half of his plant collection. He visited Germany in 1905 and donated the remainder of his collection to Berlin-Dahlem
. According to his Index, in 1900 he started a new set of numbers for his specimens.
While in Bautzen he met Helena Jutta Schilde, who followed him to South West Africa and married him in Swakopmund on 16 May 1906, after which they settled in Okahandja; she turned out to be a tireless companion and colleague on his many expeditions. In 1907 he was visited by Galpin
and Henry Pearson at Okahandja. He accompanied and guided Prof. Adolf Engler
, the noted authority on African flora, on a rather fleeting trip through the region in 1913. Their trip started at Swakopmund and proceeded smoothly in a specially-commissioned railway carriage as far as Tsumeb
and then south to Warmbad, covering about 2000km in the space of a month.
Dinter returned to Germany in 1914 and was obliged to remain there until after the end of the war. South Africa had been given a mandate to administer the former Deutsch-Südwest-Afrika and Dinter applied to the authorities to be reinstated as the regional botanist. To this end he returned to Okahandja in 1922 and helped with the planning of Ernst Julius Rusch's succulent garden on the farm Lichtenstein. Dr. IB Pole Evans
had discussions with the South West African government and as a result Dinter was given an ox-wagon, transport and labour expenses, and free rail travel. In return he would prepare four sets of specimens at a fixed price per sheet, one for himself and the other three to various herbaria.
In 1924 he was awarded an honorary professorship by the German government together with a modest pension. This enabled him to return to Germany in 1925. He made two further visits to South West Africa, from 1928 to 1929 when he collected in the coastal desert area, and again from 1933 to 1935 when he travelled north from Grootfontein
to the Okavango River
and from Aus to Sendelingsdrif on the Orange River
.
Dinter covered an estimated 40,000 km on foot, by wagon and motor vehicle during the course of his collecting trips, which spanned 38 years, in South West Africa. His collection of pressed specimens numbered in excess of 8400. Large quantities of living plants and seeds, and his wife's collections, were never numbered.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
botanist and explorer in South West Africa
South West Africa
South-West Africa was the name that was used for the modern day Republic of Namibia during the earlier eras when the territory was controlled by the German Empire and later by South Africa....
.
Education and career
He attended the RealschuleRealschule
The Realschule is a type of secondary school in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia , Denmark , Sweden , Hungary and in the Russian Empire .-History:The Realschule was an outgrowth of the rationalism and empiricism of the seventeenth and...
in Bautzen, completed his military service and joined the Botanic Gardens at Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
and Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
to further his botanical and horticultural interests. He was appointed assistant to Prof. Carl Georg Oscar Drude
Carl Georg Oscar Drude
Carl Georg Oscar Drude was a German botanist.- References :...
, the plant geographer, in Dresden. As a result of his keen interest in exotic succulents, he was selected by Sir Thomas Hanbury to manage the acclimatisation garden, La Mortola
Giardini Botanici Hanbury
The Giardini Botanici Hanbury , also known as Villa Hanbury, are major botanical gardens operated by the University of Genoa. They are located at Corso Montecarlo 43, Mortola Inferiore, several km west of Ventimiglia, Italy, and are open daily...
, near Ventimiglia
Ventimiglia
Ventimiglia is a city and comune in Liguria, northern Italy, in the province of Imperia. It is located southwest of Genoa by rail, and 7 km from the French-Italian border, on the Gulf of Genoa, having a small harbour at the mouth of the Roia River, which divides the town into two parts...
on the Italian Riviera. This garden boasted a large collection of South African bulbs and succulents. He also spent about six months at Kew
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, usually referred to as Kew Gardens, is 121 hectares of gardens and botanical glasshouses between Richmond and Kew in southwest London, England. "The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew" and the brand name "Kew" are also used as umbrella terms for the institution that runs...
, returned to La Mortola and decided on a trip to South West Africa. He landed at Swakopmund
Swakopmund
Swakopmund is a city on the coast of northwestern Namibia, west of Windhoek, Namibia's capital. It is the capital of the Erongo administrative district. As a seaside resort, the weather is cooler here in December to January so the territorial administration moves to Swakopmund for these months...
in June 1897, having sailed on the "Melitta Bohlem".
Dinter started his collection in the countryside around Swakopmund, moved on to Walvis Bay
Walvis Bay
Walvis Bay , is a city in Namibia and the name of the bay on which it lies...
and Luderitz
Lüderitz
Lüderitz is a harbour town in south-west Namibia, lying on one of the least hospitable coasts in Africa. It is a port developed around Robert Harbour and Shark Island.- Overview :...
where he was intrigued by the succulents growing between shoreline rocks. Since he was a collector, financially dependent on sales of his plant specimens, he travelled frequently and widely in the company of his two Herero helpers. These collections he sent to Haage & Schmidt in Erfurt
Erfurt
Erfurt is the capital city of Thuringia and the main city nearest to the geographical centre of Germany, located 100 km SW of Leipzig, 150 km N of Nuremberg and 180 km SE of Hannover. Erfurt Airport can be reached by plane via Munich. It lies in the southern part of the Thuringian...
, as well as to Schinz
Heinrich Rudolf Schinz
Heinrich Rudolf Schinz was a Swiss physician and naturalist.Schinz was born at Zurich and studied medicine at Würzburg and Jena, returning to Zurich in 1798 to practice...
in Zurich and Engler
Adolf Engler
Heinrich Gustav Adolf Engler was a German botanist. He is notable for his work on plant taxonomy and phytogeography, like Die Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien , edited with Karl A. E...
in Berlin. The German government at the time appointed him as botanist in the territory, a position he held until 1914 with the outbreak of World War I.
Dinter experimented with growing various species of exotics and indigenous trees - first at Brakwater near Windhoek and later at Okahandja - Cypresses, Eucalypts and Acacia erioloba
Acacia erioloba
Acacia erioloba is also commonly known as the Camel Thorn, Kameeldoring , Giraffe Thorn or Mokala . The Mokala National Park in the Northern Cape is named after this tree. The type specimen of Acacia giraffae, proved on closer examination to be a hybrid of A. haematoxylon and the species which...
. In one of the Herero uprisings he lost most of his personal effects and about half of his plant collection. He visited Germany in 1905 and donated the remainder of his collection to Berlin-Dahlem
Dahlem (Berlin)
Dahlem is a locality of the Steglitz-Zehlendorf borough in southwestern Berlin. Until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was a part of the former borough of Zehlendorf. Dahlem is one of the most affluent parts of the city and home to the main campus of the Free University of Berlin with the...
. According to his Index, in 1900 he started a new set of numbers for his specimens.
While in Bautzen he met Helena Jutta Schilde, who followed him to South West Africa and married him in Swakopmund on 16 May 1906, after which they settled in Okahandja; she turned out to be a tireless companion and colleague on his many expeditions. In 1907 he was visited by Galpin
Ernest Edward Galpin
Ernest Edward Galpin Ernest Edward Galpin Ernest Edward Galpin (born Grahamstown December 6, 1858 - October 16, 1941 Mosdene, Transvaal, was a South African botanist and banker. He left some 16,000 sheets to the National Herbarium in Pretoria and was dubbed "the Prince of Collectors" by General...
and Henry Pearson at Okahandja. He accompanied and guided Prof. Adolf Engler
Adolf Engler
Heinrich Gustav Adolf Engler was a German botanist. He is notable for his work on plant taxonomy and phytogeography, like Die Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien , edited with Karl A. E...
, the noted authority on African flora, on a rather fleeting trip through the region in 1913. Their trip started at Swakopmund and proceeded smoothly in a specially-commissioned railway carriage as far as Tsumeb
Tsumeb
Tsumeb is a city of 15,000 inhabitants and the largest town in Oshikoto region in northern Namibia. Tsumeb is the home of the world-famous Tsumeb mine, and the "gateway to the north" of Namibia. It is the closest town to the Etosha National Park...
and then south to Warmbad, covering about 2000km in the space of a month.
Dinter returned to Germany in 1914 and was obliged to remain there until after the end of the war. South Africa had been given a mandate to administer the former Deutsch-Südwest-Afrika and Dinter applied to the authorities to be reinstated as the regional botanist. To this end he returned to Okahandja in 1922 and helped with the planning of Ernst Julius Rusch's succulent garden on the farm Lichtenstein. Dr. IB Pole Evans
Illtyd Buller Pole-Evans
Illtyd Buller Pole-Evans CMG was a Welsh-born South African botanist.-Biography:Pole-Evans was born in Llanmaes near Cardiff, the son of an Anglican clergyman, Daniel Evans and Caroline Jane Pole...
had discussions with the South West African government and as a result Dinter was given an ox-wagon, transport and labour expenses, and free rail travel. In return he would prepare four sets of specimens at a fixed price per sheet, one for himself and the other three to various herbaria.
In 1924 he was awarded an honorary professorship by the German government together with a modest pension. This enabled him to return to Germany in 1925. He made two further visits to South West Africa, from 1928 to 1929 when he collected in the coastal desert area, and again from 1933 to 1935 when he travelled north from Grootfontein
Grootfontein
Grootfontein is a city of 14,200 inhabitants in the Otjozondjupa Region of central Namibia. It is one of the three towns in the Otavi Triangle, situated on the B8 national road that leads from Windhoek to the Caprivi Strip...
to the Okavango River
Okavango River
The Okavango River is a river in southwest Africa. It is the fourth-longest river system in southern Africa, running southeastward for . It begins in Angola, where it is known as the Cubango River...
and from Aus to Sendelingsdrif on the Orange River
Orange River
The Orange River , Gariep River, Groote River or Senqu River is the longest river in South Africa. It rises in the Drakensberg mountains in Lesotho, flowing westwards through South Africa to the Atlantic Ocean...
.
Legacy
Dinter and his wife Jutta are commemorated in the genera Dintera Stapf, Dinteracanthus C.B.Cl. ex Schinz, Dinteranthus Schwantes and Juttadinteria Schwantes, as well as a great number of specific names including Amaranthus dinteri Schinz, Anacampseros dinter Schinz, Cissus juttae Dinter, Hoodia juttae Dinter, Stapelia dinteri Berger, Stapelia juttae Dinter, Trichocaulon dinteri Berger and Vigna dinteri Harms. The botanical journal Dinteria was named in his honour to celebrate the centenary of his birth.Dinter covered an estimated 40,000 km on foot, by wagon and motor vehicle during the course of his collecting trips, which spanned 38 years, in South West Africa. His collection of pressed specimens numbered in excess of 8400. Large quantities of living plants and seeds, and his wife's collections, were never numbered.
Publications
- Alphabetical Catalogue of Plants Growing in the Garden La Mortola (1897)
- Deutsch-Südwest-Afrika: Flora, forst- und landwirtschaftliche Fragmenta (Leipzig 1909)
- Die vegetabilische Veldkost Deutsch-Südwest-Afrikas (Okahandja 1914)