Nils Johan Andersson was a Swedish botanist and traveller. This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation N.J.Andersson when citing

Author citation (botany)

In botanical nomenclature, author citation refers to citing the person who validly published a botanical name, i.e. who first published the name while fulfilling the formal requirements as specified by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature...

 a botanical name

Botanical name

A botanical name is a formal scientific name conforming to the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature and, if it concerns a plant cultigen, the additional cultivar and/or Group epithets must conform to the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants...

.

He studied at Uppsala University

Uppsala University

Uppsala University is a research university in Uppsala, Sweden, and is the oldest university in Scandinavia, founded in 1477. It consistently ranks among the best universities in Northern Europe in international rankings and is generally considered one of the most prestigious institutions of...

 between 1840-45 obtaining a DSc

DSC

-in academia:* D.Sc., Doctor of Science* Doctor of Surgical Chiropody, superseded in the 1960s by Doctor of Podiatric Medicine* Dalton State College, Georgia* Daytona State College, Florida* Deep Springs College, California* Dixie State College of Utah...

. On 30 September 1851 he accompanied the Swedish expedition as botanist aboard the frigate "Eugenie", sailing from Karlskrona

Karlskrona

Karlskrona is a locality and the seat of Karlskrona Municipality, Blekinge County, Sweden with 35,212 inhabitants in 2010. It is also the capital of Blekinge County. Karlskrona is known as Sweden's only baroque city and is host to Sweden's only remaining naval base and the headquarters of the...

 under the command of Captain Christian Adolf Virgin (1797-1870), on the first Swedish circumnavigation, calling at Honolulu, Tahiti

Tahiti

Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...

, San Francisco, Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

 and Manila

Manila

Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...

, various South American ports, the Galapagos, Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

 and Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

. On this voyage he collected at 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...

 in April 1853. Returning to Sweden, he was appointed Professor of Botany at Lund University

Lund University

Lund University , located in the city of Lund in the province of Scania, Sweden, is one of northern Europe's most prestigious universities and one of Scandinavia's largest institutions for education and research, frequently ranked among the world's top 100 universities...

. He was also director of the Botanical Department of the Swedish Museum of Natural History

Swedish Museum of Natural History

The Swedish Museum of Natural History , in Stockholm, is one of two major museums of natural history in Sweden, the other one being located in Gothenburg....

 and the Hortus Bergianus in Stockholm. His special interests were Salix, Cyperaceae

Cyperaceae

Cyperaceae are a family of monocotyledonous graminoid flowering plants known as sedges, which superficially resemble grasses or rushes. The family is large, with some 5,500 species described in about 109 genera. These species are widely distributed, with the centers of diversity for the group...

 and Gramineae and he published numerous papers on the systematics and morphology of these taxa.

In 1875, acting on behalf of the Swedish Museum of Natural History, he acquired Sonder

Otto Wilhelm Sonder

Otto Wilhelm Sonder was a German botanist and pharmacist who was a native of Holstein. From 1841 to 1878 he was the proprietor of a pharmacy in Hamburg. In 1846 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Königsberg.He was the author, with William Henry Harvey , of the Flora Capensis...

's South African collection of some 100 000 specimens.

Andersson was commemorated in the Piperaceae

Piperaceae

The Piperaceae, also known as the pepper family, is a large family of flowering plants. The group contains roughly 3,610 currently accepted species in five genera. The vast majority of peppers can be found within the two main genera: Piper and Peperomia .Members of the Piperaceae may be small...

 genus Anderssoniopiper Trel.

William Trelease

William Trelease was an American botanist, entomologist, explorer, writer and educator. This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation Trel. when citing a botanical name....

. According to Yuncker

Truman G. Yuncker

Dr. Truman George Yuncker was a taxonomic botanist and was best known for his work in the Piperaceae field. Yuncker first taught at Manual High School in Indianapolis, Indiana. After service in World War I, he received his Doctorate from the University of Illinois in 1919...

, Trelease's student who completed Trelease's work after his death, there are grave doubts about the type locality of Anderssoniopiper panamense Trel. (presently filed under Piper latifolium L.f.) , which is not to be found anywhere in Panama

Panama

Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...

. It may well have been collected in Tahiti

Tahiti

Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...

, Honolulu or Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

 and mislabelled during or after the voyage.

He was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences or Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden. The Academy is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization which acts to promote the sciences, primarily the natural sciences and mathematics.The Academy was founded on 2...

 in 1859.

Family

Andersson was married to the artist Anna Tigerhielm. Their son Johan Axel Gustaf Andersson (1859-1924) was a well-known painter, sculptor and illustrator.

Some works

• Enumeratio Plantarum in Insulis Galapagensibus huiusque Observatorum - Nils Johan Andersson (1861)
• En verldsomsegling Stockholm 1853-1854, 3 vols, Leipzig 1854
• Salices Lapponiæ Uppsala 1845
• Conspectus vegetationis Lapponiae ca. 1846
• Atlas öfver Skandinaviska florans naturliqa familjer 1849
• Cyperaceae Scandinaviae Stockholm 1849
• Gramineae Scandinavae Stockholm 1852
• Om Galapagos-Öernas Vegetation Stockholm 1854
• Inledning till Botaniken Stockholm 1851-53, 3 tomos
• Väggtaflor för åskådnings-undervisningen i Botanik 1861 - 1862