Olof Swartz

{{redirect|Sw.|other uses|SW (disambiguation){{!}}SW}}

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Olof Swartz

| image = Olof Peter Swartz00.jpg

| image_size =

| caption = Olof Swartz

| birth_date = 21 September 1760

| birth_place = Norrköping

| death_date = {{death-date and age|19 September 1818|21 September 1760}}

| death_place = Stockholm

| residence =

| citizenship =

| nationality = Swedish

| ethnicity =

| field = botany

| work_institutions =

| alma_mater = University of Uppsala

| doctoral_advisor = Carolus Linnaeus the Younger

| doctoral_students =

| known_for = pteridophytes

| author_abbrev_bot = Sw.

| author_abbrev_zoo =

| influences =

| influenced =

| prizes =

| religion =

| footnotes =

| signature =

}}Olof Peter Swartz (21 September 1760 – 19 September 1818) was a Swedish botanist and taxonomist. He is best known for his taxonomic work and studies into pteridophytes.

Biography

Olof Swartz attended the University of Uppsala where he studied under Carl Linnaeus the Younger (1741–1783) and received his doctorate in 1781.

He first traveled in 1780 to Lapland in the company of several other botanists.[http://www.overtornea.se/kultur_fritid/ottar/engelska/swartzeng.htm Olof Swartz] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041225202235/http://www.overtornea.se/kultur_fritid/ottar/engelska/swartzeng.htm |date=2004-12-25 }}. Retrieved on June 27, 2006.

{{cite web|url= http://www2.nrm.se/fbo/hist/linnefil/linfil.html.en|title= Carl Linnaeus fil.

|publisher = Department of Phanerogamic Botany Swedish Museum of Natural History|author= Louise Petrusson |access-date=December 1, 2018}}

In 1783 he sailed for North America and the West Indies, primarily in the area of Jamaica and Hispaniola, to collect botanical specimens.{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Swartz, Olof |volume= 26 |short=x}}

His botanical collection, of an impressive 6000 specimens, is now held by the Swedish Museum of Natural History, as part of the Regnellian herbarium.Swedish Museum of Natural History; [http://swedish.naturalhistory.museum/fbo/coll/reg/welcome.html.en The Regnellian herbarium] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928145212/http://swedish.naturalhistory.museum/fbo/coll/reg/welcome.html.en |date=2007-09-28 }}. Retrieved on June 27, 2006.{{cite web|url= http://www.nrm.se/en/forskningochsamlingar/botanik/samlingar/regnellskaherbariet.570.html

|title= Regnellian herbarium|publisher =Swedish Museum of Natural History|access-date=December 1, 2018}}

Image:Malaxis umbelliflora col..jpg

By 1786 he left for London to prepare his collection. There he met naturalist Joseph Banks (1743–1820), who was impressed with his knowledge of Botany. He was offered a position with the British East India Company as a travelling physician, but turned it down, and returned to Sweden in 1787. Ten years later he proposed to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (of which he became a member in 1789) the idea of a permanent travel grant, based on the methods he had seen employed by Joseph Banks within the British Empire. In 1791 he became Professor Bergianus at the Academy of Sciences at Stockholm.Bravo, Michael; Sorlin, Sverker (May 1, 2002). Narrating the Arctic. Watson Pub Intl. {{ISBN|0-88135-385-X}}. Page 130. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1805.{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter S|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterS.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=7 August 2014}}

{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Banks, Sir Joseph, Bart. |volume= 03 |short=x}} He was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1806.{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Olof+swartz&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|access-date=2021-04-01|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}

Swartz was the first specialist of orchid taxonomy, who published a critical review of orchid literature and classified the 25 genera that he recognized through his work. He was also the first to realize that most orchids have one stamen, while slipper orchids have two.Pridgeon, Alec M, et al. (December 16, 1999). Genera Orchidacearum. Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-850513-2}}. Page 3.

The genus Swartzia (Caesalpiniaceae, Fabaceae or Leguminosae) was named in his honour by Schreber. Then Schwartzia, which is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Marcgraviaceae was named in 1829 by Vell.{{cite book | last=Burkhardt | first=Lotte | title=Eine Enzyklopädie zu eponymischen Pflanzennamen |trans-title=Encyclopedia of eponymic plant names | publisher=Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum, Freie Universität Berlin | year=2022 | isbn=978-3-946292-41-8 | url=https://doi.org/10.3372/epolist2022|format=pdf |language=German |location=Berlin | doi=10.3372/epolist2022 | s2cid=246307410 |access-date=January 27, 2022}}

Selected works

[http://www.botanicus.org/title/b1199485x Nova genera et species plantarum seu prodromus], 1788
Observationes botanicae, 1791
Icones plantarum incognitarum, illustrating the rare plants of the West Indies (Upsala, 1794-1800)
[http://www.botanicus.org/item/31753003467641 Flora Indiae occidentalis], (3 vols., 1797-1806)
Synopsis Filicum, 1806
Lichenes Americani (Nuremberg, 1811)
Summa vegetabilium Scandinaviae, 1814

References

Note

{{Appletons|wstitle=Swartz, Olaus|year=1889}}

External links

Digitised versions of works by Swartz

[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/434 BDH] Flora Indiae Occidentalis :aucta atque illustrata sive descriptiones plantarum in prodromo recensitarum
[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/4353 BDH] Lichenes Americani : quos partim in Flora Indiae Occidentalis descripsit, partim e regionibus diversis Americae obtinuit Illustrations by Jacob Sturm
[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/4400 BDH]Nova genera & species plantarum; seu, Prodromus descriptionum vegetabilium, maximam partem incognitorum quae sub itinere in Indiam Occidentalem annis 1783-87
[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/4505 BDH] Observationes botanicae :quibus plantae Indiae Occidentalis aliaeque Systematis vegetabilium ed. XIV illustrantur earumque characteres passim emendantur
[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/14926 BDH] Svensk botanik