John Sibthorp

John Sibthorp ( born October 28, 1758 in Oxford, † February 8, 1796 in Bath ) was an English botanist. Its official botanical author abbreviation is " Sibth. ".

• 2.1 Flora Graeca
• 2.2 Herbarium

Life

Background and education

His father, Dr. Humphrey Waldo Sibthorp (1713-1797) was from 1747 to 1784 the owner of the famous, named after William Sherard Chair of Botany at the University of Oxford. His second wife he married Elizabeth Gibbs ( 1758-1780 ). John was the only descendant of this compound. After finishing school in Oxford in 1777, John wrote a study medicine at Oxford. He then studied at Edinburgh, Paris and Montpellier. After working as a doctor in the hospital Oxford, Radcliffe Infirmary, which he received in 1784 appointed to the Oxford Chair of Botany, which had been previously occupied his father. 1788 Sibthorp was a founding member of the Linnean Society. At times, he devoted himself to the study of the flora of Oxford and the surrounding area. The result of this work was published in 1794 Flora Oxoniensis.

First trip to Greece

Already in 1785 he left Oxford to prepare in Göttingen and Vienna to a larger expedition. In Vienna he wanted to study in particular the Codex Vindobonensis, a valuable illuminated manuscript from the years before 512, which gives an announced, which had plants Pedanios Dioscorides, a military doctor of the Roman army around the year 60 considered curative. From Vienna he broke 1786 on along with the geologist John Hawkins ( 1761-1841 ) towards Greece. Previously, he had met the famous botanist and chemist Nicholas Joseph Jacquin and by this also the artist and illustrator Ferdinand Bauer ( 1760-1826 ). Latter he persuaded to come along to Greece and the Levant, and to support the expedition as a botanical illustrator. Sibthorp and Hawkins were great scientists and connoisseurs of antiquity, they mastered Greek and Latin. On her expeditions she went not only their scientific interests by, but also fulfilled the dream of a "Grand Tour". The journey to the eastern Mediterranean region led in the years 1786 and 1787 to Greece, in the Aegean Sea, to Western Anatolia and Cyprus. With an extensive collection of plants and animals, many of them new to science, Sibthorp returned to Oxford in 1788. In Physic Garden of the University of Oxford Department was specially reserved for Sibthorps Greek plants. Seeds were also supplied to the Botanical Gardens of Kew in London.

Second trip to Greece and death

1794 joined Sibthorp to another research trip to Greece, which was due to his ailing health to fail. The end of 1795 he returned seriously ill and died a few months later in Bath at a tuberculosis. In the Bath Abbey is an inscription and a classical relief by the sculptor John Flaxman recalls (1755-1826) to the botanist. It shows the returning from Greece researchers with some plants in his hand. The recognizable buildings in the background are not about Greek temples, as has often been conjectured, but the " Danby Gate", one of the three inputs of the Physic Garden at Oxford.

Main work and estate

Flora Graeca

In his will, Sibthorp met conscientiously arrangements for the publication of his estate. The University of Oxford, he bequeathed his library and donated an the Botany Department Affiliate Professor of Agriculture. He also inherited the University one of his country seats, and decreed that the proceeds from the lease agreements should be used to finance the publication of his scientific research. Every detail he fixed title, format and scope of a 10 -volume Flora Graeca in folio format, should contain 100 illustrations by Ferdinand Bauer of each individual band. Advance should an annotated list of all known plants from Greece ( Florae Graecae Prodromus be published). The texts authored Sir James Edward Smith (1759-1828) on the basis of Sibthorps records and he collected plants. The two volumes of the Prodromus published in 1806 and 1813, during the first six volumes of the Flora Graeca were issued in the years 1806 to 1828. The seventh volume appeared in 1830, after Smith's death. Was completed the mammoth project with the last three volumes 1833-1840 by John Lindley ( 1799-1865 ). For 54 years were from the first trip up to the completion of the work passed. The work was financed by subscription. The very low total circulation of less than 30 copies made ​​the Flora Graeca one of the most valuable botanical works of the 19th century. Even then, the work was so expensive that the British Museum strained a lawsuit to obtain a free copy. It lost the case.

One of Sibthorp also planned volume on the wildlife of Greece (Fauna Graeca ) did not come off.

Herbarium

Sibthorps plant collection is now part of the Fielding - Druce Herbarium at Oxford, and comprises about 2700 specimens Sibthorp, Hawkins and her helpers during research trips from 1786 to 1787 and 1794 to 1795 collected. Accordingly, they mostly come from Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, Italy, Bulgaria and Romania. The collection contains about 600 taxa that were new at the time for the science and were described primarily by JE Smith.

After Sibthorp named taxa

The scientific names of at least 40 plant species are reminiscent of John Sibthorp, including Crepis sibthorpiana, Fritillaria sibthorpiana, Helichrysum sibthorpii, Ornithogalum sibthorpii and thymus sibthorpii. The genus of the family Plantaginaceae Sibthorpia other hand, was named after his father.