Johannes von Hanstein

Johannes Ludwig Emil Robert von Hanstein (May 15, 1822 - August 27, 1880) was a German botanist who was a native of Potsdam.

He attended classes at the Gärtnerlehranstalt (Institute of Horticulture) in Potsdam, and later studied sciences in Berlin, attaining his doctorate in 1848. In 1855 he was a lecturer of botany at the University of Berlin, and six years later became curator of the royal herbarium. In 1865 he was appointed professor of botany at the University of Bonn and director of the botanical garden.

Hanstein is remembered for studies in plant anatomy and morphology. In 1868 he introduced the "histogen theory" to explain shoot apex behaviour in plants.^[1] With his close friend, Nathanael Pringsheim (1823-1894), he conducted pioneer research involving the fertilization process in ferns.

The plant genus Hansteinia of the family Acanthaceae is named after him.^[2]

Gallery

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  Capsella bursa-pastoris drawing by Johannes von Hanstein

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  Asteranthera ovata , (Cav.) Hanst. in the Puyehue National Park

Selected publications

• Untersuchungen über den Bau und die Entwickelung der Baumrinde (Studies on the construction and development of tree bark) (1853).
• Die Milchsaftgefässe und die verwandten Organe der Rinde, (1864).
• Die Scheitelzellgruppe im Vegetationspunkt der Phanerogamen (The cortex cell group in the growth-point of phanerogams), (1869).
• Die Entwicklung des Keimes der Monokotylen und Dikotylen (Development involving germination of monocotyls and dicots), (1870).
• Botanische Abhandlungen aus dem Gebiete der Morphologie und Physiologie (Botanical treatises from the areas of morphology and physiology), (1870-82).

References

• Parts of this article are based on a translation of an article from the German Wikipedia, including:
  • NDB/ADB Deutsche Biographie (biography)
  • Meyers Konversations-Lexikon 4. Auflage. Band 8, Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig 1885–1892, S. 149–150.