Biography

German botanist in the Dutch East Indies army. Kurz worked at the botanic gardens in Bogor (Indonesia) and as curator of the herbarium in the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta. Wilhelm Kurz was born in Augsburg, Bavaria, and was schooled in Munich following his father's death in 1842. He entered the University of Munich, studying under C.F.P. von Martius, renowned for his botanical exploration of Brazil.

Having fallen out with his family, Kurz left Germany in 1854 and began working as an apothecary in Delft, Holland. He then joined the medical services of the Dutch East Indies Army (Koninklijk Nederlands Indisch Leger, KNIL) in 1856, going under the false, more Dutch-sounding name of Johann Amann. Arriving in Batavia in September 1856, he was stationed in Bangka and Celebes (Sulawesi), taking the opportunity to collect plants widely. Returning to Batavia in 1859, Kurz's keen interest in botany was recognised by his superiors and he was appointed to a position in the botanic gardens at Buitenzorg (Bogor), assisting Johannes Teijsmann with plant identification. Here he met Thomas Anderson, superintendent of the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta, who persuaded Kurz to leave Buitenzorg in late 1863 and sail to British India, where he began work as herbarium curator the following year. Kurz's most productive period was spent here at the Sipbur gardens, in terms of collecting and publishing his research.

Kurz had made collections in Singapore on his way to India in 1863 and over the coming years was frequently dispatched to gather more plants in Southeast Asia. He spent three months on the Andaman Islands in 1866 and made two expeditions to Burma (Myanmar) in 1867-1868 and 1870-1871. His most important work, the two-volume Forest Flora of British Burma (1877), resulted from these sojourns. Suffering ill health, Kurz took a leave of absence in late 1877 to tour Burma and the Straits Settlements. He was not to return to Calcutta, however, for he died in Pulo-Penang in January 1878 of a fever and an abscess on his thigh. A monument to him was erected in the Calcutta gardens. He published more than 60 reports and papers during his lifetime, many of which appeared in the journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (he was a member from 1869). He also published in the Journal of Botany and in Flora. Kurz's lichens and bryophytes were published by Nylander, Stephani, C. Müller and Brotherus.

Kurz was usually known familiarly by his middle name, Sulpiz, as well as by his pseudonym, Johann Amann, sometimes misspelt Amand. He should not be confused with Jules Amman (1859-1930).

Sources:
Anon., 1878, Journal of Botany 16: 127-128
I.H. Burkill, 1927, "Botanical Collectors, Collections and Collecting Places in the Malay Peninsula", Gardens' Bulletin, Straits Settlements, 4(4-5): 126
A. Grout, 2004, "Kurz, (Wilhelm) Sulpiz (1834-1878)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, online edn:
www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/15811, accessed 20 December 2011
G. King, Annual Report of the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta, 1877-1878: 7
G. Sayre, 1975, "Cryptogamae Exsiccatae: an annotated bibliography of exsiccatae of algae, lichens, hepaticae, and musci. V. Unpublished Exsiccatae: I. Collectors", Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden, 19(3): 353-354
M.J. van Steenis Kruseman, "Cyclopedia of Collectors", Flora Malesiana, online edn:
http://www.nationaalherbarium.nl/FMCollectors/K/KurzWS.htm, accessed 8 March 2011.