Theodor Kotschy, Austrian botanist and explorer, collected more than 300,000 plant specimens in the Middle East, Cyprus and north-east Africa. He was born in Ustrón, Austrian Silesia, where his father was a theologian. His interest in botany was encouraged from an early age, but Kotschy was expected to follow in the footsteps of his father and in 1833 moved to Vienna to study theology.

Kotschy was strongly drawn to the idea of exploration and botanical collecting, however. In particular he was inspired by expeditions being undertaken by well-known botanists of the time such as Johann Pohl and Nicolaas Jacquin. His own chance to collect plants beyond the borders of Europe came with an invitation to join an expedition led by Austrian mining engineer Joseph von Russeger. Tasked with conducting a geological survey for the Egyptian government, Kotschy accompanied Russeger travelling through Turkish Cilicia, Syria, Egypt and Sudan, over the course of 1836-1838. Kotschy returned to collect more plants in Sudan in 1839, and in 1840 visited Cyprus. In 1841 he was back in Asiatic Turkey, from whence he made his way south through Iraq to begin his explorations of the hitherto botanically unexplored Zagros mountains of southern Iran. Following this he spent part of 1843 exploring the area north of Tehran.

Among Kotschy's 800 gatherings from southern Iran in 1841-1842 are at least 276 types of new species, mostly described by Edmond Boissier in "Diagnoses Plantarum Orientalium Novarum" (1843-1859) and "Flora Orientalis" (1867-1884).

His botanical work finally recognised, Kotschy was granted a salaried position at the Imperial Cabinet of Curiosities in Vienna (later the Vienna Natural History Museum) in 1847, when he was aged 34. He wished to see Turkey again, though, and made his third visit to the country the following year, exploring the Cilician Taurus in the south. In 1852 he was appointed a curator at the Natural History Museum, and two years later made more travels within Europe, during which he met the ageing Alexander von Humboldt and Karl Koch in Berlin.

Kotschy's later travels included trips to Egypt, Palestine and Lebanon (1855), Cyprus and Kurdistan (1859), and with Franz Unger to Cyprus and northern Syria (1862). The Fabaceae genus Kotschya Endl. commemorates him.

Sources:
J.R. Edmondson, & H.W. Lack, "Karl Georg Theodor Kotschy's itinerary in southern Iran, 1841-42", Willdenowia, 36: 579-588
K.H. Rechinger, 1960, "Theodor Kotschy, ein Pionier der botanischen Orientforschung", Taxon, 9(2): 33-35
C. Riedl-Dorn, "Theodor Kotschy", in W. Seipel (ed.), 2001, Die Entdeckung der Welt - Die Welt der Entdeckungen: 257-260
G. Schweinfurth, 1868, Reliquiae Kotschyanae.