Biography

German agricultural botanist who spent some years collecting plants in Greece. Carl Fraas was born at Rattelsdorf near Bamberg, Bavaria. After exhibiting high potential at grammar school in Bamberg, he spent just a year and a half at the Lycaeum there before being admitted to Ludwigs Maximilian University in Munich to study medicine. He soon excelled in botany, earning a grant and assistant's post at the Munich botanic garden and herbarium (M). He was thus brought into contact with the renowned botanists C.F.P. von Martius and Joseph Gerhard Zuccarini. In 1834 Fraas earned his medical doctorate, submitting a purely botanical thesis ("De Smilaceis brasiliensibus").

At this time there was a great migration of Bavarians to the recently liberated Greece. Fraas seized the opportunity to make a botanical excursion to the country, obtaining for himself the role of court master for the German major general Friedrich von Saporta, with whom he travelled to Athens in early 1835. Fraas stopped on the way to collect plants in Corfu, Navarino (Pylos) and Methoni. He later made trips from Athens in the Parnitha mountains and the Theban plain, Marathon, Oropos and picturesque Penteli, Cape Sounium and the Hymettus range.

In the spring of 1836 Fraas accompanied kings Otto and Ludwig of Bavaria on a visit to the Cyclades, stopping at the islands of Milos, Santorini, Anaphi, Ios, Naxos, Syros, Tinos, Delos, Rhinia and Paros and Andros. He did not collect much on these islands for he found the vegetation very similar to that of the east coast of the mainland. Shortly after a trip to Salamis, he was ordered to travel north to make a botanical survey of the area then known as Rumelia, and in March 1837 was allowed to explore the Peloponnese. Here he visited Killini, Parnon and the Taygetos mountains, studied the vegetation of the fertile plains of the Argolis and the barren rocks at Nauplia. On his return he avoided Poros, where plague had broken out, and went via Argos and Corinth to Athens.

In later 1837 Fraas found himself unemployed, for Graf Saporta returned to Bavaria following the death of his wife. A position was found for him at the newly established university of Athens, as professor of botany. He wrote a textbook in an old form of modern Greek called Katharevousa and was tasked with laying out a botanical garden. He married a lady-in-waiting named Adelheid Voigt in 1838, with whom he would have nine children, six of whom survived to adulthood.

Collecting-wise, 1838-1839 was a quiet time for Fraas. In 1840 he made his last major expedition in Greece, travelling from Athens via Thebes to Livadia, Orchomenos, the Topalia swamp and the Cheronian plain. He also climbed Parnassos and collected on its wide plateau for nearly two weeks, before spending time at Distomo and passing along the western slopes of Helikon. He joined Wilhelm von Spruner at Livadia and together they went from Thebes to Evia, collecting on Mount Dirphis. Fraas then made his way to Steni, Chalkis and Aulis before arriving back in Athens.

In Athens Fraas was part of a scientific circle that included court pharmacists Joseph Sartori and Xaver Landerer. Together they founded a natural history society and created a small museum. One of the few people who acquired specimens from Fraas wa Schultz-Bipontinus, who named Crepis Fraasii Sch.Bip. and Achillea fraasii Sch.Bip. in his honour, among a few other species. Interested not only in systematics, but also in ecology and phenology, Fraas came to be known for his knowledge of agriculture while professor in Athens. For example he classified the soils of Greece into three types and advised on what should be planted in each.

Fraas left Greece in 1841 as living conditions deteriorated in Athens. He found a post as a school teacher in Freising and also took charge of the royal silkworm breeding farm. At this time he completed his botanical opus, Synopsis plantarum florae classicae, in which he attempted to assign Greek and Latin plant names of antique authors to modern scientific names of the time. His next significant posting was as professor of agriculture at Munich University in about 1848, where he soon succeeded the late J.G. Zuccarini. His work in soil research continued apace and it was Fraas who began the production of chemical fertilisers in Bavaria. Though he remained at Munich for the rest of his days, he led a rather secluded life and died at the early age of 65. There is a street named in his honour in his home town of Rattelsdorf.

Sources:
H. Kalheber, 2006, "Bavarian plant collectors in Greece - 1. Franz Xaver Berger, Franz Zuccarini and Carl Nikolaus Fraas", Willdenowia, 36: 568-570
F.A. Zehatmair, 1995, "Carl Nikolaus Fraas (1810-1875). Ein bayerischer Agrarwissenschaftler und Reformer der intensiven Landwirtschaft.", Miscellanea Bavarica Monacensis, 151.