Ferdinand Christian Gustav Arnold

Ferdinand Christian Gustav Arnold

Ferdinand Christian Gustav Arnold (24 February 1828 – 8 August 1901) was a German lichenologist and taxonomist born in Ansbach, Bavaria. Even as a high school student he showed an active interest in botany: "Ich und August Gattinger ... durchstreiften von November 1846 bis zum Spätherbst 1847, Pflanzen sammelnd, die Landschaft von München nach allen Richtungen." ("August Gattinger and I … roamed across the landscape of Munich from November 1846 up to the late autumn 1847, collecting plants, in all directions.").^[1]

He studied jurisprudence in Munich and Heidelberg and during his career practiced law in Eichstätt (1857–77) and Munich (1877–96). He was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Munich in 1878. Additionally he was a student of botanists Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius (1794–1868) and Otto Sendtner (1813–1859), and his spare time was devoted to floristics and classification of plants and fungi.

His initial studies dealt with vascular plants, but his primary focus later shifted to lichens and bryophytes. Well known for his studies of herbarium specimens (exsiccatae), his personal herbarium contained approximately 150,000 specimens, largely consisting of lichens and lichenicolous fungi.^[2] Today this collection is kept at the Botanische Staatssammlung in Munich.

Arnold was the author of Lichenologische Ausflüge in Tirol (Lichenological Excursions in Tyrol), which is still considered to be an important source of information on alpine lichenology . He was a founding member of the Bayerische Botanische Gesellschaft, and in 1878 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Munich.^[3] Arnold died in Munich in 1901. The journal series Arnoldia, named in his honor, started publication in 1991. It is devoted to describing the labels and annotations of the dried herbarium specimens in the Botanische Staatssammlung.^[4]

Selected publications

The following list represents a small sampling of the approximately 140 publications of Arnold.

• (1869). Lichenologische Ausflüge in Tirol. IV. Der Schlern. Verhandlungen der Zoologisch-Botanischen Gesellschaft zu Wien 19: 605–610.
• (1870). Lichenologische Fragmente. X. Flora 53: 465–469.
• (1871). Lichenologische Fragmente. XI. Flora 54: 49–50.
• (1876). Lichenologische Ausflüge in Tirol. XV. Gurgl. Verhandlungen der Zoologisch-Botanischen Gesellschaft zu Wien 26: 353–371.
• (1879). Lichenologische Ausflüge in Tirol: XX. Predazzo. Verhandlungen der Zoologisch-Botanischen Gesellschaft zu Wien 29: 351–356.
• (1880). Lichenologische Ausflüge in Tirol. XXI. Berichtigungen und Nachträge. B. Verzeichnis der Tiroler Lichenen. Verhandlungen der Zoologisch-Botanischen Gesellschaft zu Wien 30: 95–117.
• (1881). Lichenes Britannici exsiccati, herausgegeben von Leighton. Flora 44: 435–661.
• (1881). Lichenologische Fragmente. XXIV [concl.]. Flora 64: 193–196.
• (1884). Die Lichenen des Fränkischen Jura [cont.]. Flora 67: 403–416.
• (1885). Die Lichenen des Fränkischen Jura [cont.]. Flora 68: 49–55.
• (1885). Die Lichenen des Fränkischen Jura [cont.]. Flora 68: 143–158.
• (1885). Die Lichenen des Fränkischen Jura [cont.]. Flora 68: 211–246.
• (1887). Lichenologische Ausflüge in Tirol. XXIII. Predazzo und Paneveggio. Verhandlungen der Zoologisch-Botanischen Gesellschaft zu Wien 37: 81–98.
• (1896). Lichenologische Ausflüge in Tirol. XXVII. Galtür. Verhandlungen der Zoologisch-Botanischen Gesellschaft zu Wien 46: 105–107.

Notes

References

• Botanische Staatssammlung München, Biography and Photo

External links

• "www.biologiezentrum.at" (PDF). Retrieved 2009-03-30.