Carl Friedrich Hagenbach (1771-1849) und seine "Basler Flora" im historischen Kontext

Abstract

Carl Friedrich Hagenbach (1771–1849) and his “Flora of Basel” in its historic context: The floristic exploration of the surroundings of Basel (Switzerland) began in 1622 with the “Catalogus plantarum circa Basileam sponte nascentium” of Caspar Bauhin, one of the first comprehensive local floras worldwide. In 1821, almost 200 years later, Carl Friedrich Hagenbach, successor of Werner De Lachenal as the professor of Botany at the University of Basel, published the “Tentamen Florae basileensis” in an effort to carefully document all occurrences of plant species in the greater region of Basel in the first half of the 19th century. Hagenbachs Flora is structured according to the Linnean sexual system and refers to the names (polynomials) used by Caspar Bauhin in his Flora of Basel of 1622. Therefore, Hagenbachs “Tentamen” mediates between the beginnings of modern Botany in the 16th century and scientific plant taxonomy and systematics as it developed after Linnaeus. The relative completeness of the account of the regional flora makes the “Tentamen” an important milestone, as it represents a time period before the industrial era and before major changes in town and country planning, including the correction of waterbodies. Thereafter, the associated decline in landscape and habitat diversity caused a loss of many native plant species. Here, we summarize the available biographic knowledge on C. F. Hagenbach, the process of compilation of his flora, and we highlight the significance of his work in the historic context of the floristic exploration of the surroundings of Basel, in Switzerland and Europe