Swiss barrister and amateur botanist interested in the flora of Switzerland. Born in Basel, Hermann Christ began to collect plants as a teenager in the surrounding countryside. In 1853, when training to become a lawyer (as his father had been) at the University of Berlin, he would accompany Alexander Braun to the field in order to learn from him. Also training at the University of Basel he was soon able to publish a book on the plant geography of the region (1854) from his early wanderings. Completing his studies in 1856, Christ moved to Lausanne in order to perfect his French and to study the local laws. He also studied botany during this time, especially learning about the flora of steppe regions. In 1857 Christ passed his examination and was named a notary and two years later began to work as a recorder in a court of justice.
Christ soon married and from 1868 worked as a barrister. He was particularly concerned with the rights of railway companies, but still managed to continue in his botanical studies. Beginning to research plant taxonomy, his first work in this capacity was a treatment of the Abietineae, published in 1863, which was followed by his book Roses of Switzerland in 1873. Although his interest in the roses continued throughout his life, he also published contributions to the genus Carex L. and later developed an interest in the ferns. Working tirelessly on this group after his retirement, Christ published 144 related papers, including three extensive books. Perhaps his most important contribution, however, predates this and was his Das Pflanzen-leben der Schweiz (1879). This general account of plant life in Switzerland contained many distribution maps and had a strongly phytogeographic base. Although he saw it as a tentative attempt, it was a great success and several editions were brought out including a version in French.
Later in life Christ became an activist against the mistreatment of people in the Congo region and he formed the Swiss League for the Protection of the Natives of the Congo State. This same year (1908) his wife passed away and Christ was so overcome with grief that he sold his herbarium and stopped studying botany completely. In 1912 he was elected a foreign member of the Linnean Society, an act which seems to have inspired him to return to his research. In the final years of his life he focused on the history of botany and made several important contributions to this field. Christ remained healthy in both body and mind right up until the age of 99, only to rapidly deteriorate after breaking his leg, and he died just 19 days from his 100th birthday.
Sources:
S. Genn, 1933, "Obituary: Hermann Christ (1833-1933)", Proceedings of the Linnean Society, 146: 146-147.
