Adolf Engler

Heinrich Gustav Adolf Engler (25 March 1844 – 10 October 1930) was a German

Engler published a prodigious number of taxonomic works. He used various artists to illustrate his books, notably Joseph Pohl (1864–1939), an illustrator who had served an apprenticeship as a wood-engraver. Pohl's skill drew Engler's attention, starting a collaboration of some 40 years. Pohl produced more than 33 000 drawings in 6 000 plates for Die naturlichen Pflanzenfamilien. He also illustrated Das Pflanzenreich (1900–1953), Die Pflanzenwelt Afrikas (1908–1910), Monographien afrikanischer Pflanzenfamilien (1898–1904) and the journals Engler's botanische Jahrbücher.^[2]

Biography

Adolf Engler was born on March 25, 1844, in Sagan, Silesia, now Żagań, in western Poland as Heinrich Gustav Adolf Engler, and died in Berlin, Germany, on October 10, 1930.

He studied and obtained a PhD from the

He visited several regions of the world, enlarging the knowledge of floristic distribution, especially of Africa.

Works

Plant taxonomy

Besides his important work in general plant taxonomy, he was also an expert in some taxa, such as Saxifraga, Araceae, Burseraceae, and others.

Adolf Engler collaborated with several other great botanists, including

He founded the journal Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie (Botanical Yearbook for Systematics, Plant Phylogeny and Phytogeography, ISSN 0006-8152), published in Leipzig, Germany, which has continued in publication from 1881 to the present. In 2010, this publication changed its name to Plant Diversity and Evolution: Phylogeny, Biogeography, Structure and Function, ISSN 1869-6155.

• Karl A. E. Prantl, with the collaboration of many notable experts, 1887–1915, 23 volumes: This enormous series is one of the very few detailed works (since Linnaeus) to attempt the classification of plants from algae to flowering plants, and constitutes an invaluable work. A second, incomplete edition was produced (1924–1980) in 28 parts by Duncker und Humblot Verlag, Berlin).^[1][3] Some volumes have been re-issued in English.^[4] The second edition was hard to use for many years because no part of it was indexed until 1984, when an index was published in the Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden.^[5]
• Das Pflanzenreich (The Plant Kingdom), with the collaboration of many notable experts, 1900–1968: This monographic series on the plant kingdom is presently incomplete.[1]^[6]
• Syllabus der Pflanzenfamilien, first published in 1892. The 12th edition, edited by H. Melchior & E. Werdermann, with the collaboration of many notable experts, was published between 1954 and 1964. This is the most recent summary of the Engler system and gives descriptions of the higher taxonomic levels, in two volumes.^[1]