Biography

German botanist. Werner Rauh was associated with the University of Heidelberg for 61 years. Born in Niegmegk, Saxony, and educated in natural science at the Universities of Leipzig, Innsbruck, and Halle, he was appointed as an assistant to A. Seybold in 1939, two years after receiving his doctorate from the University of Halle, where he had studied under the eminent plant morphologist Prof. Wilhelm Troll. During the Second World War he served as a naval meteorologist. Not long after his return to Heidelberg he became a lecturer, then associate professor in 1953, and finally, in 1960, full professor and director of the newly founded Institute for Systematic Botany and Plant Geography and of the associated Botanical Garden. He remained at the Institute, as Director and Professor Emeritus, after his retirement in 1981.

Under his guidance the Heidelberg Botanical Garden became a leading scientific institution. He built a remarkable collection of plants, many of which came from his own fieldwork in the world's tropical and subtropical regions, and was admired in the scientific community for his generosity in distributing the plants he had collected or cultivated. The construction of twelve new greenhouses was required to house the collection he assembled during his long curatorship.

His scientific research and publications were concentrated on taxonomy, systematics, morphology, and biogeography. Cacti and other succulents of southern and northern America and southern Africa were his special area of study, but bromeliads of the South American rain forests and tropical alpine plants also fascinated him. He conducted his first fieldwork outside Europe in the Atlas Mountains of North Africa. His subsequent botanical explorations were wide-ranging; they covered the arid and tropical regions of several continents and led to the discovery of hundreds of species new to science, especially from Peru and Madagascar. He returned to both countries repeatedly to study their flora and biogeography. The miniature Aloe rauhii Reynolds (= Guillauminia rauhii (Reynolds) P.V. Heath) from Madagascar is one of the many plants named after him. His publications – more than 300 papers and two dozen books – address these and many other topics.

Rauh was an honorary member of numerous societies, including the American Cactus and Succulent Society, as well as both vice-president and president of the International Organization for Succulent Plant Study, which presented him with the first ever Cactus d'Or. He also received the Veitch Memorial Medal from the Royal Horticultural Society of London, the Willdenow Medal from the Berlin Botanical Garden, and medals from the Republic of Peru and the Principality of Monaco. A year before his death, the Republic of Madagascar made him a Knight of the National Order.

Sources:
W. Barthlott and G.F. Smith, 2000, "Werner Rauh (1913-2000): One of the world's most prolific authors on succulent plants", Bothalia, 30(2): 223-224
G. Rowley and K. Mortimer, 2000, "Werner Rauh: 1913-2000", British Cactus and Succulent Journal, 18(2): 68-69
H. Schwartz, 1987, "Werner Rauh: A Life in Botany", Euphorbia Journal, 4: 8-10.

Biography

German botanist. Werner Rauh was associated with the University of Heidelberg for 61 years. Born in Niegmegk, Saxony, and educated in natural science at the Universities of Leipzig, Innsbruck, and Halle, he was appointed as an assistant to A. Seybold in 1939, two years after receiving his doctorate from the University of Halle, where he had studied under the eminent plant morphologist Prof. Wilhelm Troll. During the Second World War he served as a naval meteorologist. Not long after his return to Heidelberg he became a lecturer, then associate professor in 1953, and finally, in 1960, full professor and director of the newly founded Institute for Systematic Botany and Plant Geography and of the associated Botanical Garden. He remained at the Institute, as Director and Professor Emeritus, after his retirement in 1981.

Under his guidance the Heidelberg Botanical Garden became a leading scientific institution. He built a remarkable collection of plants, many of which came from his own fieldwork in the world's tropical and subtropical regions, and was admired in the scientific community for his generosity in distributing the plants he had collected or cultivated. The construction of twelve new greenhouses was required to house the collection he assembled during his long curatorship.

His scientific research and publications were concentrated on taxonomy, systematics, morphology, and biogeography. Cacti and other succulents of southern and northern America and southern Africa were his special area of study, but bromeliads of the South American rain forests and tropical alpine plants also fascinated him. He conducted his first fieldwork outside Europe in the Atlas Mountains of North Africa. His subsequent botanical explorations were wide-ranging; they covered the arid and tropical regions of several continents and led to the discovery of hundreds of species new to science, especially from Peru and Madagascar. He returned to both countries repeatedly to study their flora and biogeography. The miniature Aloe rauhii Reynolds (= Guillauminia rauhii (Reynolds) P.V. Heath) from Madagascar is one of the many plants named after him. His publications – more than 300 papers and two dozen books – address these and many other topics.

Rauh was an honorary member of numerous societies, including the American Cactus and Succulent Society, as well as both vice-president and president of the International Organization for Succulent Plant Study, which presented him with the first ever Cactus d'Or. He also received the Veitch Memorial Medal from the Royal Horticultural Society of London, the Willdenow Medal from the Berlin Botanical Garden, and medals from the Republic of Peru and the Principality of Monaco. A year before his death, the Republic of Madagascar made him a Knight of the National Order.

Sources:
W. Barthlott and G.F. Smith, 2000, "Werner Rauh (1913-2000): One of the world's most prolific authors on succulent plants", Bothalia, 30(2): 223-224
G. Rowley and K. Mortimer, 2000, "Werner Rauh: 1913-2000", British Cactus and Succulent Journal, 18(2): 68-69
H. Schwartz, 1987, "Werner Rauh: A Life in Botany", Euphorbia Journal, 4: 8-10.

Biography

German botanist. Werner Rauh was associated with the University of Heidelberg for 61 years. Born in Niegmegk, Saxony, and educated in natural science at the Universities of Leipzig, Innsbruck, and Halle, he was appointed as an assistant to A. Seybold in 1939, two years after receiving his doctorate from the University of Halle, where he had studied under the eminent plant morphologist Prof. Wilhelm Troll. During the Second World War he served as a naval meteorologist. Not long after his return to Heidelberg he became a lecturer, then associate professor in 1953, and finally, in 1960, full professor and director of the newly founded Institute for Systematic Botany and Plant Geography and of the associated Botanical Garden. He remained at the Institute, as Director and Professor Emeritus, after his retirement in 1981.

Under his guidance the Heidelberg Botanical Garden became a leading scientific institution. He built a remarkable collection of plants, many of which came from his own fieldwork in the world's tropical and subtropical regions, and was admired in the scientific community for his generosity in distributing the plants he had collected or cultivated. The construction of twelve new greenhouses was required to house the collection he assembled during his long curatorship.

His scientific research and publications were concentrated on taxonomy, systematics, morphology, and biogeography. Cacti and other succulents of southern and northern America and southern Africa were his special area of study, but bromeliads of the South American rain forests and tropical alpine plants also fascinated him. He conducted his first fieldwork outside Europe in the Atlas Mountains of North Africa. His subsequent botanical explorations were wide-ranging; they covered the arid and tropical regions of several continents and led to the discovery of hundreds of species new to science, especially from Peru and Madagascar. He returned to both countries repeatedly to study their flora and biogeography. The miniature Aloe rauhii Reynolds (= Guillauminia rauhii (Reynolds) P.V. Heath) from Madagascar is one of the many plants named after him. His publications – more than 300 papers and two dozen books – address these and many other topics.

Rauh was an honorary member of numerous societies, including the American Cactus and Succulent Society, as well as both vice-president and president of the International Organization for Succulent Plant Study, which presented him with the first ever Cactus d'Or. He also received the Veitch Memorial Medal from the Royal Horticultural Society of London, the Willdenow Medal from the Berlin Botanical Garden, and medals from the Republic of Peru and the Principality of Monaco. A year before his death, the Republic of Madagascar made him a Knight of the National Order.

Sources:
W. Barthlott and G.F. Smith, 2000, "Werner Rauh (1913-2000): One of the world's most prolific authors on succulent plants", Bothalia, 30(2): 223-224
G. Rowley and K. Mortimer, 2000, "Werner Rauh: 1913-2000", British Cactus and Succulent Journal, 18(2): 68-69
H. Schwartz, 1987, "Werner Rauh: A Life in Botany", Euphorbia Journal, 4: 8-10.