Olof Peter Swartz was a Swedish botanist and taxonomist. He is best known for his taxonomic work and studies into pteridophytes. He attended the University of Uppsala where he studied under Carolus Linnaeus the Younger

Carolus Linnaeus the Younger

Carl Linnaeus the Younger, Carl von Linné or Carolus Linnaeus the Younger was a Swedish naturalist...

 and received his doctorate in 1781.
He first traveled in 1780, to Lapland in the company of several other botanists. In 1783 he sailed for North America and the West Indies, primarily in the area of Jamaica

Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

 and Hispaniola

Hispaniola

Hispaniola is a major island in the Caribbean, containing the two sovereign states of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The island is located between the islands of Cuba to the west and Puerto Rico to the east, within the hurricane belt...

, to collect botanical specimens. His botanilcal collection, of an impressive 6000 specimens, is now held by 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....

, as part of the Regnellian herbarium.
By 1786 he left for London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 to prepare his collection. There he met Joseph Banks

Joseph Banks

Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, GCB, PRS was an English naturalist, botanist and patron of the natural sciences. He took part in Captain James Cook's first great voyage . Banks is credited with the introduction to the Western world of eucalyptus, acacia, mimosa and the genus named after him,...

, who was impressed with his knowledge of Botany. He was offered a position with the British East India Company

British East India Company

The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...

 as a travelling physician, but turned it down, and returned to Sweden in 1787. Ten years later he proposed to 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...

 (of which he became a member in 1789) the idea of a permanent travel grant, based on the methods he had seen employed by Banks within the British Empire. In 1791 he became Professor Bergianus

Bergianska trädgården

The Bergianska trädgården, the Bergian Garden or Hortus Bergianus, is a botanical garden located in the Frescati area on the outskirts of Stockholm, close to the Swedish Museum of Natural History and the main campus of Stockholm University...

 at the Academy of Sciences at Stockholm.
Swartz was the first specialist of orchid taxonomy, who published a critical review of orchid literature and classified the 25 genera that he recognized through his own work. He was also the first to realize that most orchids have one stamen, while slipper orchids have two.

The genus Swartzia

Swartzia

Swartzia is a genus of legume in the Fabaceae family.It contains the following species:* Swartzia aureosericea* Swartzia bombycina* Swartzia cardiosperma* Swartzia cubensis...

(Caesalpiniaceae, Fabaceae

Fabaceae

The Fabaceae or Leguminosae, commonly known as the legume, pea, or bean family, is a large and economically important family of flowering plants. The group is the third largest land plant family, behind only the Orchidaceae and Asteraceae, with 730 genera and over 19,400 species...

 or Leguminosae) was named in his honor by Schreber

Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber

Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber , often styled I.C.D. von Schreber, was a German naturalist.-Career:He was elected Professor of Materia medica at the University of Erlangen in 1769....

.

Works

• Nova genera et species plantarum seu prodromus,1788 Botanicus
• Observationes botanicae, 1791
• Icones plantarum incognitarum, 1794-1800
• Flora Indiae occidentalis, 1797-1806
• Synopsis Filicum, 1806
• Summa vegetabilium Scandinaviae, 1814

External links

Digitised versions of works by Swartz

• BDH Flora Indiae Occidentalis :aucta atque illustrata sive descriptiones plantarum in prodromo recensitarum
• BDH Lichenes Americani : quos partim in Flora Indiae Occidentalis descripsit, partim e regionibus diversis Americae obtinuit Illustrations by Jacob Sturm
  Jacob Sturm
  Jacob Sturm was the most famous engraver of entomological and botanical scientific publications in Germany at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century. He lived in Nuremberg....
  
  
• BDHNova genera & species plantarum; seu, Prodromus descriptionum vegetabilium, maximam partem incognitorum quae sub itinere in Indiam Occidentalem annis 1783-87
• BDH Observationes botanicae :quibus plantae Indiae Occidentalis aliaeque Systematis vegetabilium ed. XIV illustrantur earumque characteres passim emendantur
• BDH Svensk botanik