Georg Heinrich Mettenius

Georg Heinrich Mettenius (* November 24, 1823 in Frankfurt am Main, † August 18 1866 in Leipzig ) was a German botanist. His botanical author abbreviation is " Mett. ".

Life and work

Mettenius was the child of a wealthy merchant family in Frankfurt and received a good education. In 1841 he began the study of medicine at the University of Heidelberg and received his PhD in 1845. Subsequently he returned to Frankfurt and took thence to the state exam the activity as a practical physician. Influenced by Georg Fresenius he began making botanical studies, and in 1846 undertook a botanical study tour on Helgoland, Berlin and Vienna to the Adriatic.

In 1848 he qualified as a lecturer in botany in Heidelberg, 1850, he came to Freiburg as Professor of Botany and in 1853 he became a full professor at the University of Leipzig and Director of the Botanical Garden of the University of Leipzig, which he reorganized.

Mettenius married a daughter of Alexander Brown. On August 18, 1866, he died as one of the first victims of a cholera epidemic.

His field of specialization was mainly ferns. Hermann Karsten in 1859 honored him by naming the genus of Metteniusa, the only genus of the family of Metteniusaceae.

Writings

  • De Salvinia. In 1845.
  • Contributions to the knowledge of the Rhizocarpeen. , 1846.
  • Filices horti botanici Lipsiensis. In 1856.
  • Filices Lechlerianae Chilenses Peruanae ac cura. From 1856 to 1859.
  • About some Farngattungen. From 1856 to 1859.

Swell

Anton de Bary: Mettenius, George. In: General German Biography (ADB ). Volume 21, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1885, pp. 523 f

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