{{Short description|Russian Soviet botanist (1888–1948)}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Alexander Alfonsovich Grossheim | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_date = {{birth-date|6 March 1888}} | birth_place = Lichovka, Russian Empire | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1948|12|4|1888|3|6}} | death_place = | fields = Botany | workplaces = {{ubl|{{nowrap|Azerbaijan Institute of Botany}}|Komarov Botanical Institute|St. Petersburg University}} | alma_mater = University of Moscow | doctoral_advisor = | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = Taxonomy | author_abbrev_bot = Grossh | author_abbrev_zoo = | influences = | influenced = | awards = | signature = | signature_alt = | footnotes = }}
'''Alexander Alfonsovich Grossheim''' (6 March 1888 – 4 December 1948) was a Soviet botanist of German descent. He traveled widely over the Caucasus region collecting and studying various different plant life. He is most known for Pteridophytes and Spermatophytes species.
==Biography== Alexander Alfonsovich Grossheim (or Grossgeim) was born in Likhovka, Russian Empire (now Lykhivka in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine). He was an expert on the flora of the Caucasus.<ref name=jstor>{{cite web|title=Grossheim, Alexander Alfonsovich (1888-1948)|url=http://plants.jstor.org/person/bm000151575 |publisher=plants.jstor.org |access-date=18 July 2014}}</ref>
After graduating from University of Moscow with a doctorate in 1912, he became the director of the Azerbaijan Institute of Botany.<ref name=jstor/>
In 1919, he described ''Fritillaria grandiflora'', which later re-classified as a subspecies of ''Fritillaria kotschyena'' and ''Fritiallaria tatianae''.<ref name=lily>{{cite web | editor-first=Alan | editor-last=Mitchell | title=Lilies and related plants | year=2013 | url=http://www.rhslilygroup.org/2013-2014_LR.pdf | pages=79 | publisher=RHS Lily Group | access-date=2 October 2014 | archive-date=6 October 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006102820/http://www.rhslilygroup.org/2013-2014_LR.pdf | url-status=dead }}</ref> Together with Boris Schischkin he published the exsiccata series ''Plantae orientales exsiccatae'' (1924-1928).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Plantae orientales exsiccatae: IndExs ExsiccataID=1659788671 |website=IndExs - Index of Exsiccatae |publisher=Botanische Staatssammlung München |url=http://www.botanischestaatssammlung.de/DatabaseClients/IndExs/Exsiccatae_IndExs_Details.jsp?ExsiccataID=1659788671 |access-date=12 May 2024}}</ref>
From 1929 he moved to the Tiflis (Tbilisi) Botanic Garden in Georgia. He still carried on plant collecting expeditions in the Caucasus.<ref name=jstor/>
Between 1928 and 1934, he recorded up to 5767 plant species (out of the 6200 recorded species) in his volumes of ''Flora Kavaza'' (''Flora of the Caucasus'', 1928–1934). In 1939, he started a second volume with annotated maps.<ref>David G. Frodin {{Google books|aMjXCF4rmDUC| Guide to Standard Floras of the World: An Annotated, Geographically Arranged|page=675}}</ref>
In 1946, Grossheim was appointed curator of the Caucasian Herbarium at the Komarov Botanical Institute in Leningrad (Saint Petersburg), and also director of the Department of Plant Systematics and Morphology at St. Petersburg University. When he died in 1948, he was still working on the second edition of his ''Flora Kavkaza'', which was continued by his colleague Andrei Fedorov.<ref name=jstor/>
Losina-Losinskaya named ''Fritillaria grossheimiana'' in his honour, but this is now thought to be a synonym of'' Fritillaria crassifolia'' subsp. ''kurdica''.<ref name=lily/>
The genus ''Grossheimia'' Sosn. & Takht. (synonym ''Centaurea'') was named in his honour. ''Grossheimiana'' was also used as a name for a subgenus of grasses.<ref>Harold T. Clifford, Peter D. Bostock{{Google books|FQRHAAAAQBAJ|Etymological Dictionary of Grasses|page=126}}</ref>
{{botanist|Grossh.|Grossheim, Alexander Alfonsovich|border=0}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Other sources== * T. Geideman, 1949, Botanicheskii Zhurnal, 34: 336-337 * S.G. Shetler, 1967, The Komarov Botanical Institute: 113. References Brummitt, R.K. & Powell, * C.E., Authors Pl. Names (1992): 244 * Harrison, S.G., Ind. Coll. Welsh Nat. Herb. (1985): 46 * Lanjouw, J. & Stafleu, F.A., Index Herb. Coll. E-H (1957): 241 * Vegter, H.I., Index Herb. Coll. N-R (1983): 842
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Grossheim, Alexander Alfonsovich}} Category:1888 births Category:1948 deaths Category:Soviet writers Category:Russian people of German descent Category:Full Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Category:Recipients of the Stalin Prize Category:Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Category:Botanists active in Europe Category:Botanists with author abbreviations Category:Soviet botanists