Biography

Baltic-Russian botanist interested in the flora of western Russia and the Caucasus. Ernst Rudolf von Trautvetter was born in Jelgava (Mitau), a city in the Zemgale (Semigallia) region of Latvia, which was once the capital of the Duchy of Courland. His father, J.E.C. Trautvetter, was a German philosopher, teacher and author from Saxony, responsible for publishing De novo systemate botanico brevem notitiam (1842). Ernst Rudolf was educated at the University of Dorpat (now the Estonian city of Tartu), initially studying medicine (1825-1829) and later the natural sciences. During this latter period (1829-1831) he undertook botanical excursions in the historic Baltic region of Livonia before returning to Jelgava where he became a private teacher between 1831 and 1833. His first publication was entitled Ueber die Nebenblätter (1831) and was a work on plant stipules.

In 1833 Trautvetter received his candidate in philosophy degree from the University of Dorpat and became an assistant at the botanic garden of the same city that year. In 1834 he started to lecture at this institution and the following year was named doctor of philosophy by the University of Königsberg. In St. Petersburg in 1835 he worked as assistant in the botanic garden before moving to Kiev in 1838 to become a professor of botany and a director of the botanic garden of this city. Trautvetter remained here for many years and was even named rector of the University of Kiev (1847-1859). After a brief spell as director of the Agricultural Institute at Gory-Gorki (Mogilev) he returned to the Botanic Garden of St. Petersburg to become the administrator and director there. In this role he was responsible for publishing an account of the history of the garden. He retired in 1875, only to return to directorship in 1889, the same year in which he died.

Trautvetter published a great many works throughout his life, including treatments of the Echinops L., Pentastemon Batsch. and Trifolium L. genera, as well as accounts of the Russian flora such as Plantarum imagines et descriptiones floram russicam illustrantes (1844) and Die Pftanzengeographischen Verhältnisse des europäischen Russlands (1849-1851). Another important work of his was the Skizze der Classen und Ordnungen des natürlichen Ppflanzensysterns a sketch of the natural orders and classes of plant systems. Around the time of his retirement Trautvetter also contributed to the regional floras of northern Siberia (A. Gzekanowski and F. Mueller) and of the Caspio-Caucasus (G. Radde and A. Becker), and throughout his life described numerous new plant varieties. The genus Trautvetteria Fisch. and C.A. Mey. was named after him.

Sources:
W.J. Bryce, 2008, A Botanist's Paradise: The Establishment of Scientific Botany in Russia in the Eighteenth Century
F.A. Stafleu and R.S. Cowan, 1976-1998, Taxonomic Literature, 2nd edition (TL-2).