Persons, collectors and collections (photos)
August 2009
copyright Heinz Hoock
Aguirre Benavides, G., born 1877 in Parras de la Fuente, Coahuila, where he also owned a small "botanical garden", which could be visited by appointment. He was one of the best cactus connoisseurs in the sate of Coahuila and accompanied not only Fric, A. V. but also Charles Glass in the field. His account of spined Astrophytum coahuilense between Parras and Viesca, may indicate natural hybrids. He died in 1982. His Astrophytum collection was no more available in 1985 for the webmaster.
Albert, R., collected on 8th January 1959 Astrophytum asterias for Lymon Benson, northwest of Rio Grande City, Texas, USA.
Baum, Hugo, 1867-1950; visited 1925 his former pupil Viereck H. W. Mexico. He was a chief inspector at the Botanical Garden of Rostock.
Boke, Norman, H. Dr., a professor of botany at the Universities of California and Oklahoma, found in 1967 on a field trip with students the by Viereck, H. W. hold back location of Astrophytum v. niveum at Cuatro Cienegas, Coahuila.
Brandegee, T. S. Dr., 1843-1925, botanist. Dr. Carl Albert Purpus collected plants for him.
CANTE, (photo) protection and herbarium collections at San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, where Charles Glass was active as curator of cacti and other succulents.
Coulter, Thomas, born 1793, died 1843 in Geneva (or Dublin; source: Sadovsky, O. 1979, p. 54). Physician, botanist, Mexico traveler, active as doctor in a local mining company, Hidalgo. He sent in 1827 a large collection of cacti to De Candolle and discovered the first Astrophytum (Echinocactus ornatus).
De Laet, also Delaet, Frantz, 1866-1928 Belgian cactus dealer in Antwerp.
Dietrich, Albert, doctor of Philosophy, 1795-1856. Teacher at the gardener school in Berlin. Botanical author, with Otto F. the general editor of the garden newspaper ("Allgemeinen Gartenzeitung") in Berlin, in which the first description of Astrophytum capricorne was published.
Fleischer, Zdenek, Czech cactus specialist and excellent Astrophytum-expert. After the war ended in 1945 he bought from Sadovsky, O. the entire collection of Astrophytum. He became known also by growing a pure yellow flowering Astrophytum capricorne v. minus, known as Astrophytum capricorne cv. crassispinoides. His sterile sowing method is still known as "Fleischer method".
Ehrenberg, Carl August was born in 1801 in Delitsch near Leipzig, the son of an official. From 1831 to 1840 he worked in Mexico primarily as a secretary and bookkeeper in a British mining company in Mineral del Monte, Hidalgo. In his free time he collected plants nearby. After giving up his appointment in 1839 he made more trips to the north. He supported Thomas Coulter in 1834 and then 1836 Galeotti in their field work. In the locality data Hacienda de San Lazaro for Astrophytum myriostigma K. Schumann cited except Galeotti also Ehrenberg. Perhaps that is the reason why Megata, names M. Ehrenberg as discoverer not Galeotti. In 1840 Ehrenberg came back to Germany, where he died in 1849 of cholera.
Fibonacci, Leonardo around 1170 to about 1240 was an Italian businessman and a famous mathematician. In the series of numbers named after him, each of the following numbers is the sum of the two numbers in front. It begins with a definition of 1 and then follows with the series: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, etc. It is amazing that the "Fibonacci series" also finds a parallel in natural, botanical structures. For example, in the most frequently occurring numbers of ribs of Astrophytum (literature: Hoock, H. 1992 c; Sanchez-Mejorada, H. 1964)
Galeotti, H., born 1814 in Versailles. Collected among other cacti for Monville, but also to Paris, Berlin, Brussels and Vienna he sent his "Callicoche" (that is "beautiful starfish" = Astrophytum myriostigma). After returning from his travels in Mexico, he was director of the botanical garden in Brussels; he died 1858.
Glass, Charles, Edward, (photo 1, 2, 3) born 24.05.34 in New York City, died on 2/23/1998 in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico. As the son of a family of artists, he visited 16 years old, a private high school in Exeter, New Hempshire, USA, was then in Paris to learn French. Mid 1953 to mid 1956, he served in the U.S. Army in Nuremberg as radio operator. Since he had very musical parents, it is not surprising that he participated 1957 in the operetta "Der Rosenkavalier" in Santa Barbara, California. After further study of languages at the Columbia University in German, Latin, Spanish, Italian, Tagalog (Filipino) and Russian he settled in California in 1960, which became his home for 31 years. As cactus dealer he began writing in 1964 for the U.S. Cactus journal and later became its editor. In 1963 he met his future partner, Robert Foster, a community that lasted almost 25 years. They conducted many expeditions in succulents, especially in Mexico and published their results with 27 first descriptions, and 26 revisions / new taxa of cacti. 1991 "Charlie", as he was called by friends, moved forever to Mexico where he worked as a curator at El Charco del Ingenio, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato. Even at the time of the visit of the webmaster in Mexico in 1993, he joined sporadically as a singer in radio and television media from Los Angeles.
Gräser, Robert, 1893-1977 came from a gardener family in Nuremberg, became a vocational school teacher and was concerned sideline intensive with cacti, especially the genus Astrophytum. He succeeded after years of cross breeding to produce three-ribbed Astrophytum myriostigma which were constant in the following generations. Unfortunately, the collection was disbanded after his death. However, his skilled, comprehensive literary work remains unforgettable.
Grässner, R., 1875-1942 was in his time a very well known cactus gardener in Perleberg.
Kakteen-Haage, famous dealer family and well known for the collection and cacti gardening in Erfurt, Germany, since the beginning of the 19th century:
Haage, Friedrich Adolph, 1796-1866. Founded in 1822 the company. His collection was visited by famous people such as Alexander von Humboldt, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and the composer Franz Liszt.
Haage, Ferdinand (senior), 1830-1921. Continued his father's work under difficult economic conditions.
Haage, Ferdinand (junior), 1859-1930. Expanded the business to foreign countries.
Haage, Walther, 1899-1992. Supported Fric, A. V. much in the rediscovery of Astrophytum asterias. He is the author of several publications e.g. he wrote with Sadovsky, O. the monograph "Kakteen-Sterne, Die Astrophyten".
Haage, Hans Friedrich, born 1942. He could 1991 the nationalized company in the former DDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik) lead back in private hands.
Haage, Ulrich, born 1970. Takes over the company from his father in 1996.
Haseloff, physician and cactus collector in Berlin.
Heese, Emil was a merchant, cactus collector and made 1895 a trip to Mexico. Among others, he visited Mineral del Monte and the Venados valley in Hidalgo.
Heyder, an official in Berlin with a very great and famous plant collection.
Karwinski (also Karwinsky), Wilhelm, Baron von, Dr., 1779-1855 from Munich, collected on two trips plants in Mexico: 1827-1832 for the Bavarian government and 1840-1843 on behalf of the Russian government. On this second trip he discovered Astrophytum asterias.
Kayser, Konrad, Dr., nephew of the famous "cactus hunter" A. V. Fric, had a fine collection of Astrophytum.
Linke, August, carpenter, also in Berlin with a large collection and a great specialist for cacti.
Megata, Moritane, born in 1917 in Kyoto, Japan, died in 1945 in Leyte on the Philippines. He graduated in 1942 at the University of Kyoto, where he also published "An Account of the Genus Astrophytum Lem." in 1944. In the 2nd World War, he served as a lieutenant in the Japanese army.
Möller, Arthur, Swiss engineer, was professional in San Pedro, Coahuila, in the 20s of last century. Descendants from him are still living in Saltillo. He collected a large scale cacti, and sent them to his brother in Neuhausen, Switzerland.
Möller, Heinrich, Dr., brother of Arthur Möller received since 1922 thousands of plants from Mexico, especially Astrophytum. From him were first published (in modern spelling): Astrophytum capricorne v. aureum, Astrophytum capricorne v. crassispinum, Astrophytum coahuilense, Astrophytum myriostigma v. potosinum, Astrophytum myriostigma v. quadricostatum.
Monville, M. de, was a wealthy factory owner in Normandy, who lost by a hurricane in 1842 all his property. In 1845 his great collections of plants were dissolved, which also had used Lemaire.
Ochoterena, Isaac, 1885-1950, worked for a long time in Lerdo, Durango as a school inspector. His many interests were also the native cacti. In his work, for the first time in the Mexican literature is mentioned the golden spined Astrophytum capricorne v. aureum under the name "occidentalis". He was also the founder and 17 years long the head of the Biological Institute at the UNAM in Mexico City.
Okumura, Y., Japan, recombined 1933 in his work in "Classification of Astrophytum" Syaboten-no-Kenkyu 4: pages 174-175, 195-201, 215-216 the then customary name Echinocactus to Astrophytum. Unfortunately, his former work is not publicly available.
Poselger, Hermann, Dr., doctor in Berlin, traveled 1849 - 1852 (1854?) in the southern United States and northern Mexico.
Purpus, Joseph Anton, 1860 - 1933, chief inspector at the Botanical Garden in Darmstadt. He reported about the collecting trips of his older brother.
Purpus, Carl Albert, Dr., (photo) 1851 - 1941. Cactus collector in Mexico. It differs as first one between the "green" Astrophytum myriostigma from San Luis Potosi and the "white" one in Coahuila. As we now know the latter is Astrophytum coahuilense. He was particularly impressed by the mimicry of Astrophytum.
Quehl, Leopold, 1849-1922. At the time of his first description of Astrophytum capricorne v. minus he was in "Halle an der Saale" postal clerk and an excellent cactus expert. As an employee of Prof. Karl Schumann, he gave in 1892 the suggestion to unit all cacti friends and led so to the founding of the German Cactus Society ("Deutsche Kakteen-Gesellschaft").
Reichenbach, Friedrich, an engineer from Dresden, made before 1900 a very successful collecting trip to Mexico. He liked to use the new railway lines, similar as later A. V. Fric. In 1893 he sent about 20,000 cacti to the collector Nikolai. Therefore many sites are close to earlier, now abandoned railway stations.
Rost, E. C., Alhambra, California, USA. Studied by his own account more than 20 years cactus in collections at the site. He named the genus "Maierocactus" in honor of Maier, Edward, collector in Los Angeles who supported him.
Sadovsky, Otakar, (photo) 05/10/1893 - 04/19/1990. He was a professional teacher and director of the Social Diagnostic Institute in Brünn, now Brno, Czech Republic. He had almost in his youth a broad interest in animals and plants such as butterflies, aquarium or orchids. In his later intense work with the genus Astrophytum he came by accident: the unusual shape of a seedling of Astrophytum myriostigma fascinated him so much that he focused solely on cacti. Sadovsky met A. V. Fric, personally, as this came back from his trip to Mexico, where he had discovered the Astrophytum asterias again. In 1924 he founded the Cactus Club "Astrophytum" in Brno. He soon undertook systematic breeding experiments with his favorite plants which came from the cacti exporters Ferdinand Schmoll and Hans Viereck directly from Mexico. The results of his work over decades have been published in two books and a series of articles. Part of the early breeding experiments to clarify the relationships in the genus Astrophytum was even known by Moritane Megata in Kyoto, Japan. But as it turned out did not know that Sadovsky, any more than he knew the time work in Japan in parallel with the final monograph by Megata (correspondence Otakar Sadovsky - Heinz Hoock, 16/06/1988-17/02/1990). Sadovsky was up in his old age, a universal thinker. He was also analyzed critical the cataclysmic political events which shortly before his death employed people in his home country and also globally.
Salm-Dyck Reifferscheid, Josef, Prince, 1773 -1861 was a great collector and connoisseur of succulents and has published several illustrated works. He tried to solve the conflict Astrophytum - Echinocactus by the breakdown in to "Asteroidei" for Astrophytum.
Staines, Fred, Englishman, an official of a mining company in San Luis Potosí. He made several collecting trips in the area of the capital, sent plants and a written record to the Botanic Gardens Kew in London. Also about Astrophytum myriostigma that bloomed in July 1845 in Kew.
Viereck, Hans-Wilhelm, (photo) 1903-1946 lived from 1920 some time in Mexico City, then long years as a farmer nearby of Jaumave (San Vicente), Tamaulipas. He collected many Astrophytum and other cacti, which he sent primarily to the Botanical Garden in Rostock, later around 1930 to the company Kakteen-Haage. Mr. Baum, garden inspector in Rostock, had arranged him at this time the first orders. We owe Viereck valuable information on habitat conditions and distribution of the genus Astrophytum.
Weber, Albert C. Dr. Med, 1830-1903. He was surgeon general of the French army in the campaign against Mexico 1864 to 1867. During this time he had the opportunity to familiarize with the local vegetation and was, as Karl Schumann formulated "the current best cactus connoisseur". It was Weber who renamed finally Echinocactus ornatus in 1896 to Astrophytum ornatum.
Wery, Heinz, 1915-1987. German Astrophytum specialist. He bred pure yellow flowers from Astrophytum asterias and crossed them with Astrophytum capricorne cv. crassispinoides, the pure yellow flowering variant of Astrophytum capricorne v. minus.
Zuccarini, Joseph Gerhard, Dr., 1797 - 1848, his father came from Italy (hence the name). He was professor of botany at the University of Munich and published the first description of Astrophytum asterias (Echinocactus asterias).
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