Karl Friedrich Reiche

Karl Friedrich Reiche ( _es. Carlos Reiche, October 31 1860 - February 26 1929) was a German botanist who worked as a university professor in Chile and Mexico.

Life

Reiche was born in Dresden and earned his doctorate in 1885 in Leipzig. He worked as a professor in Dresden (1886-1889) and Constitución, Chile (1889-1896). He was a professor in Mexico, and he directed the botanical section of the National Museum of Natural History of Chile ("Museo Nacional de Historia Natural de Chile") in Santiago de Chile from 1896 to 1911, while Rodolfo Amando Philippi was director. There he published in the "Annals of the University of Chile" and at the same time six volumes of the "Estudios críticos de la Flora de Chile" [Marticorena C. 1992. Bibliografía Botánica Taxonómica de Chile. "Monogr. Syst. Bot. Missouri Bot. Gard." 41.] , work which remained unfinished. Although formally he was recognized as the only author of this work, probably he collaborated with Federico Philippi and F. Johow. [Gunckel H. 1966. Estudios críticos sobre la flora de Chile ("Flora de Chile") Dr. K. Reiche y sus colaboradores. "Moliniana" 3: 3-10.] He wrote the entries to many plant families in the work "Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien" by Adolf Engler and Carl Prantl in the first edition (1890–1897).

Upon leaving the museum, he assumed a post as professor of botany in the Escuela de Altos Estudios México (1911-1923). [Cuevas C. e I. Ledezma 2006. Alfonso L. Herrera: Controversias y Debates durante el inicio de la biología en México "Historia mexicana" 55: 973-1013] He became a corresponding member of the German Botanical Society ("Deutschen Botanischen Gesellschaft") in 1911. From 1924 he worked in Munich, as an independent investigator of the Botanische Staatssammlung. In 1926 he returned to Mexico to complete his work and take a job as emprendido for the Chilean flora. In 1928 he directed the phanerogamy section of the Botanischen Gartens München-Nymphenburg. [Ross H. 1929. Karl Reiche "Berichen der deutschen Botanischen Gesellschaft" 47 Generalversammlung-Heft.] He died in Munich in 1929.

The plant genus "Reichea" ("Myrcianthes" today) in family Myrtaceae, "Reichenecactus" in family Cactaceae, and "Reicheella" in family Caryophyllaceae are named for him.

Writings

* "Grundzüge der Pflanzenverbreitung in Chile", Leipzig, 1907 (Reprint Gantner: Vaduz, 1976). ("Die Vegetation der Erde"; 8)
* '"Kreuz und quer durch Mexiko" in "Wanderbuch eines deutschen Gelehrten". Leipzig: Deutsche Buchwerkstätten GmbH 1930.
* "Estudios críticos de la Flora de Chile." "Anales de Universidad de Chile", 1894–1911. Available online at http://www.efloras.org/
* "Geografía botánica de Chile", 1934
* "La vegetación de los alrededores de la capital de México", 1924
* "Flora excursoria en el Valle Central de México", 1926

Notes

Sources

* H. Ross: "Karl Reiche". In: "Berichte der deutschen Botanischen Gesellschaft" 47, 1929, Generalversammlung-Heft.
* Robert Zander. "Handwörterbuch der Pflanzennamen". Fritz Encke, Günther Buchheim, Siegmund Seybold, eds. Vol. 13. Stuttgart: Ulmer Verlag, 1984. ISBN 3800150425
* [http://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/r/reiche.htm Kurzbiografie bei "biografiasyvidas.com"]
* [http://rsnz.natlib.govt.nz/volume/rsnz_42/rsnz_42_02_007433.pdf Abstract to Grundzüge der Pflanzenverbreitung in Chile] (from New Zealand National Library)
* Gunckel H. 1961. "Sesquicentenario de la Independencia nacional Centenario del Nacimiento del sabio botánico Dr. Carlos Reiche." "Revista Universitaria" 67-70.

:"This article is based on translations of articles from the Spanish Wikipedia and the German Wikipedia.