The Copenhagen Legacy
Eugen Warming (1841-1924)
Professor of botany and director of the Botanical Garden of the University of Copenhagen 1885-1911.
Rector Magnificus (vice-chancellor of the University) 1907-1908, was one of the most prolific and all-round Danish botanists ever.
He is perhaps best known as the founder of plant ecology, but he also made significantly contributions to morphology, anatomy, embryology,
taxonomy, plant geography, and floristics, both in the tropics and the arctic. His textbook in systematic botany was first published in
Danish in 1879 and appeared in three editions. It was translated into German (Handbuch der systematischen Botanik, 1890-1911), English
(A Handbook of Systematic Botany, 1895), and Russian (a Danish excerpt on the seed plants was published in 1912 and in a slightly edited
version in 1933). A facsimile edition was even used at Danish Universities until 1974. The orchid genus Warmingia Rchb.f. is based on
Warming's collections from Brazil. Further information
Christen Raunkiær (1860-1938)
Professor of botany and director of the Botanical Garden of the University of Copenhagen 1912-1923.
Succeeded Warming and is undoubtedly internationally best known as a pioneer in plant ecology, especially for his plant life form system,
first published in Danish in 1904, and his contributions to statistical plant geography. A monumental book dedicated to Eug. Warming
('De Danske Blomsterplanters Naturhistorie. Vol. 1. Enkimbladede' 724 pp., 1895-1899) and describing the natural history of Danish monocots
is another main work. It includes numerous original observations, e.g. on the vasculature in the ovary and perianth of Orchidaceae, but
being published in Danish it has regrettably been overlooked. Planned sequels treating the dicots never materialized.
Further information
Rolf M. T. Dahlgren (1932-1987)
Born in Sweden and professor of botany at the Botanical Museum of University of Copenhagen from 1972.
Dahlgren was one of the last non-molecular, large-scale plant taxonomists and the only one eventually using cladistic argumentation.
'The Dahlgren system' of angiosperms relied more on chemical characters than any previous classifications, perhaps reflecting Dahlgren's
background as son of an apothecary. His system was continuously and extensively revised and always accompanied by the characteristic
character distribution maps, the so-called 'dahlgrenograms' or 'dahlgrams'. Dahlgren produced a 4-volume textbook in two editions in
Danish expounding his system and intended to do an international edition in the tradition of Warming. Vol. 1 was planned to deal with
the monocots, but during its preparation he took a deeper interest in the intricate taxonomic problems of monocots, in particular the
'Liliiflorae', and the project evolved into 'The Families of the Monocotyledones' with Clifford and Yeo. While clearly out of scope as
a textbook it was the beginning of an international collaborative effort aimed at elucidating the phylogeny of this large clade of
angiosperms. The first monocot-symposium at Kew was dedicated to Rolf Dahlgren.
