Olaus Swartz

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Olaus Swartz (1760 in Norrkjoping, Sweden – 18 September 1817, in Stockholm) was a Swedish botanist.

Biography

After receiving his education at Uppsala, he traveled in Finland, Lapland, and the West Indies, and explored the coasts of South America in 1783, returning with a collection of rare plants. He was appointed professor of natural history in the Medical-surgical Institute in Stockholm, and became one of the most celebrated botanists of his time.

Legacy

The genus Swartzia, of the order Leguminosae, was named in his honor.

Works

  • Icones Plantarum Incognitarium, illustrating the rare plants of the West Indies (Upsala, 1794-1800)
  • Flora Indiae Occidentalis (3 vols., 1797-1806)
  • Lichenes Americani (Nuremberg, 1811)

Notes

References

  • This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainWilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1889). "Swartz, Olaus" . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.

Further reading

  • Kurt Polycarp Joachim Sprengel, Memoir of the life and writings of Olaus Swartz, Edinburgh: A. Constable, 1823.