Franz Sieber

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Franz Sieber
Born (1789-03-30)30 March 1789
Prague
Died 17 December 1844(1844-12-17) (aged 55)
insane asylum, Prague
Occupation Botanist

Franz Wilhelm Sieber (30 March 1789 – 17 December 1844[1]), was a botanist and collector who travelled to Europe, the Middle East, Southern Africa and Australia.

Early life

Franz Sieber was born in Prague, on 30 March 1789.[1] After 5 years of study at the Gymnasium, endowed with a considerable talent for the graphic arts he studied architecture, switched to engineering and finally settled on natural history, in particular botany.

Expeditions

He made several collecting trips to Italy, Crete, Greece, Egypt and Palestine; and a two-year long expedition to Australia, Mauritius and South Africa, collecting not only plants, but also animals, art and ethnographic objects.

He never reached the Western hemisphere (in contradistinction to Friedrich Wilhelm Sieber, an employee of Johann Centurius Hoffmannsegg), but sent several people to make collections for him, notably Franz Kohaut in the Antilles and Wenceslas Bojer on Mauritius.

Later life and death

His behavior and publications became progressively more erratic. He was constantly involved in quarrels with the authorities and fast became more and more deranged. Having “discovered” a cure for rabies he appeared in front of the city elders of Prague and demanded financial support. Soon thereafter he landed in the Prague insane asylum, where he spent the fourteen final years of his life, dying there at the age of fifty-five.

Legacy

He is commemorated in the genus Siebera J.Gay (Asteraceae), and many species, e.g. Acacia sieberiana, DC, Pleurothallis sieberi Luer, or Allium sieberianum Schult.f., [2] Crocus sieberi, Phyteuma sieberi, Luzula sieberi, Eucalyptus sieberi, Cheilanthes sieberi, Callistemon sieberi, Badula sieberi, and Hosta sieberiana, though these names may also have honored Friedrich Wilhelm Sieber.

The standard author abbreviation Sieber is used to indicate this individual as the author when citing a botanical name.[3]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Ernst, Wunschmann. "Sieber, Franz Wilhelm". Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie. Retrieved 27 October 2011. 
  2. ↑
  3. ↑ "Author Query for 'Sieber'". International Plant Names Index. 

Publications

Authority control
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