Rupert Huter

Rupert Huter ( born September 26, 1834 in Kals in East Tyrol, then Austria-Hungary, † February 11, 1919 in Ried bei Sterzing ) was an Austrian priest, curate and botanist. He bequeathed the Vinzentinum in Bressanone an important scientific research herbarium.

Its official botanical author abbreviation is " Huter. ".

Life and work

Ruper Huter was born on September 26, 1834, the son of a farmer in Kals. He attended primary school in his native village and then the high school of the Augustinians in Brixen in South Tyrol. After completing his theological studies, he was ordained priest on 25 April 1858. The following year, he finished his theological studies in Brixen and was assistant priest in St. Jakob in Defereggen. He then worked as a curate, first from 1861 to 1863 in Ahrn, 1863-1864 in Upper Linz, 1864-1867 in Obergsies, from 1867 to 1871 in Antholz, 1871-1877 and 1878-1881 in Sesto in Sterzing. 1881 Huter worked as Expositus in Jaufental until he got a job in 1884 as a curate in Ried bei Sterzing, where he remained until his death.

Huter was a passionate plant collector and self-taught in the field of botany and studied the fauna of Tyrol and Central Europe. Together with the botanists Pietro Porta (1832-1923) and Giorgio Rigo he traveled through South Tyrol and in 1877 to southern Italy and in 1879 to Spain. Huter used these trips to add his herbaria additional copies. There were also findings that Porta and Rigo on further expeditions to the Balearic Islands ( 1885) did. In addition Huter led an active buying and bartering with dried plants and mailed 1862-1898 lists corresponding to its business partners.

Huter made ​​outstanding contributions to the study of the flora of the Eastern Alps, discovered new sites and species. His particular interest was the Tyrolean species of the genera Hieracium and Salix.

Herbarium Huteri

On behalf of the Prince Bishop Vincent Gasser Huter amassed a collection of 17,000 different types for the Vinzentinum it documented in 1909 in a handwritten catalog. He was supported by Professor Johann Vinzens Hofmann and director Gregor Bechlechner. The Herbarium Huteri contains many type specimens, especially of the genus Hieracium, which represents a significant source of the current research of the Central European fauna dar. Since 1996, the herbarium is being restored and digitized by the Tiroler Landesmuseum. Since the Vinzentinum the increasing cost could bear no more, it closed in 2009 an agreement with the South Tyrolean provincial government, which took over the financing. In return, the South Tyrol receives the herbarium Huteri as a free loan for 99 years. In 2011, an additional restoration team at the Museum of Nature South Tyrol on the job. There the Herbarium Huteri whose estimated value is about 4 million euros, is expected to be issued on completion of the restoration.

Writings

• Flora of vascular plants of stone cave and its immediate vicinity. Sesto 1872.
• Herbarstudien. Vienna 1908.