Theo Holm

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Herman Theodor "Theo" Holm (February 3, 1854 - December 26, 1932) was a Danish-American systematic botanist.[1] He studied botany at the University of Copenhagen under professor Eugenius Warming and graduated 1880. He participated in the Danish Dijmphna expedition to the territory between Russia and the North Pole during the First International Polar Year 1882-1883. The ship was icebound in the Kara Sea.[2] He explored the flora of West Greenland as assistant to Warming on the Fylla expedition in 1884. He them emigrated to the U.S.A., landing in New York on April 12, 1888. He soon was employed as assistant botanist by the U.S. National Museum. 1893-1897, he was assistant pathologist with the U.S.D.A.. He obtained his Ph.D. in botany from the Catholic University of America in Washington D.C. in 1902. He then moved to the countryside of Maryland and did assistant work as a botanist for the Smithsonian Institution and the U.S.D.A.. In 1932, he joined the faculty of the Catholic University of America, but died soon after.

His works deal with plants from the New and Old World Arctic and from the Rocky Mountains, mainly taxonomy and morphology. He was an unrivalled observer and drawer of plant structures.

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

The small-reed species Calamagrostis holmii Lange is named for him.

Selected scientific works

  • Holm, Theo (1885) Novaia-Zemlia’s Vegetation, særligt dens Phanerogamer. Dijmphna-Togtets zoologiske-botaniske udbytte. Kjøbenhavn, 1885. 515 p.
  • Holm, Theo. (1925) Hibernation and Rejuvenation, Exemplified by North American Herbs. American Midland Naturalist, Vol. 9 (9): 439-476. and Vol. 9 (10): 477-512.. The title probably alludes to the title of the first work on plant life-form, Om Skudbygning, Overvintring og Foryngelse [translated title: On shoot architecture, hibernation and rejuvenation] (1884) by Holm's former mentor in Copenhagen, Eugen Warming, who died the year before. At the end of the second part, Holm gives a list of all his papers on life-form-related morphology and anatomy of American plants, ordered by genus.

Sources

References

  1. ↑ "HOLM, Herman Theodor". The International Who's Who in the World: p. 608. 1912. 
  2. ↑ Photographs of the icebound steamer
  3. ↑ "Author Query for ' Holm'". International Plant Names Index. 
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