George Engelmann, also known as Georg Engelmann, (2 February 1809 – 4 February 1884) was a German-American botanist. He was instrumental in describing the flora of the west of North America, then very poorly-known; he was particularly active in the Rocky Mountains and northern Mexico.
He was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, the oldest of thirteen children. According to himself, he first became interested in plants around age 15, but studied medicine and received an MD in 1831. He came to the US in the following year, apparently to invest some of his uncle's money, but spent his time on botanical travels, first visiting Thomas Nuttall in Philadelphia. He then went to St. Louis, Missouri, and from there around to the adjacent states. After a couple of years on a farm in Illinois, he returned to St. Louis and established a medical practice. In 1840 he visited Germany, where he married a cousin, Dorothea Horstmann, and they returned to America. (Their son George Julius Engelmann became a noted gynecologist.)
Engelmann devoted himself to his medical practice, but in his later years made further travels, particularly to the southwestern US to study cacti. His two major works on cacti remain important today.
He was a founder and longtime president of the St. Louis Academy of Sciences, and encouraged the wealthy St. Louis businessman Henry Shaw to develop his gardens to be of scientific as well as public use; "Shaw's Gardens" became the Missouri Botanical Garden. He was also one of the original founders of the National Academy of Science.
He played an important, but little known role in rescuing the French wine industry. In the 1870's French vineyards came under attack by a small insect,Phylloxera vastatrix. Growers observed that certain imported American vines resisted this pest, and the French government dispatched a scientist to St. Louis to consult with the Missouri state entomologist and with Engelmann, who had studied American grapes since the 1850's. The gentlemann verified that certain living American species had resisted Phylloxera for nearly 40 years. In addition, Vitis riparia, a wild vine of the Mississippi Valley, did not cross pollinate with less resistant species, the cause of previous grafting failures. Engelmann arranged to have millions of shoots and seeds collected and sent to France, where the species proved to be very successful. (From the MBG [Missouri Botanical Garden]Bulletin, September/October 2002)
He is commemorated in the names of several plants, including Engelmann Spruce Picea engelmannii and Apache Pine Pinus engelmannii.
References
- Duane Isely, One hundred and one botanists (Iowa State University Press, 1994), pp. 188-190
