Johann Jacob Dillenius

{{short description|German botanist (1684-1747)}} {{redirect|Dill.|other uses|Dill (disambiguation)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}} {{Use British English|date=November 2022}} {{Infobox scientist | image = Johann Jakob Dillenius.jpg | birth_date = 1684 | birth_place = [[Darmstadt]], [[Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt|Hesse-Darmstadt]] | death_date = {{death date|1747|4|2|df=y}} | death_place = [[Oxford]], [[England]] | fields = {{Unbulleted list|[[Botany]]}} | workplaces = [[Oxford University]] | alma_mater = [[University of Giessen]] | author_abbrev_bot = '''Dill.''' | known_for = ''Hortus Elthamensis'', ''Historia muscorum'' }} '''Johann Jacob Dillen Dillenius''' (1684 – 2 April 1747) was a German [[botany|botanist]]. He is known for his '''''Hortus Elthamensis''''' ("Eltham Garden") on the rare plants around [[Eltham|Eltham, London]], and for his '''''Historia muscorum''''' ("History of Mosses"), a natural history of lower plants including [[moss]]es, [[liverwort]]s, [[hornwort]]s, [[Lycopodiopsida|lycopod]]s, [[algae]], [[lichen]]s and [[Fungus|fungi]].

== Biography ==

Dillenius was born at [[Darmstadt]] and was educated at the [[University of Giessen]], earlier the family name had been changed from Dillen to Dillenius. In 1721, at the instance of the botanist [[William Sherard]] (1659–1728), he moved to England. In 1734 Dillenius was appointed Sherardian professor of botany at [[Oxford]], in accordance with the will of Sherard, who at his death in 1728 left the university £3000 for the endowment of the chair, as well as his library and [[herbarium]],<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Dillen, Johann Jakob |volume=8 |page=272}}</ref> all on the condition that Dillenius should be appointed the first professor.<ref>{{cite DNB|wstitle=Dillenius, John James|volume=15|year=1888|page=79}}</ref>

Dillenius died at Oxford, of [[apoplexy]]. His manuscripts, books and collections of dried plants, with many drawings, were bought by his successor at Oxford, Dr. [[Humphry Sibthorp (botanist)|Humphry Sibthorp]] (1713–1797), and ultimately passed into the possession of [[Oxford University]]. For an account of his collections preserved at Oxford, see ''The Dillenian Herbaria'', by [[George Claridge Druce|G. Claridge Druce]] (Oxford, 1907).<ref name="EB1911"/>

== Work ==

At Giessen Dillenius wrote botanical papers for the ''Ephemerides naturae curiosorum''. He printed, in 1719, his ''[[flora]]'' of the university's surroundings, a ''Catalogus plantarum sponte circa Gissam nascentium'', illustrated with figures he had personally drawn and engraved, with descriptions of several new species.<ref name="EB1911"/>

In 1724 Dillenius published the third edition of [[John Ray]]'s ''Synopsis Methodica Stirpium Britannicarum''. It incorporated plant species discovered by [[Samuel Brewer]], and work on mosses by [[Adam Buddle]].<ref>{{cite ODNB|id=3366|first=John|last=Martin |title=Brewer, Samuel}}</ref><ref>{{cite ODNB|id=3883|first=Janet|last=Browne |title=Buddle, Adam}}</ref> It remained a standard reference for British botanists until the appearance of [[Carl Linnaeus]]'s ''[[Species Plantarum]]'' in 1761.

=== ''Hortus Elthamensis'' ===

In 1732 he published ''Hortus Elthamensis'',{{sfn|Dillenius|1732}} a substantial catalogue in two volumes of some 400 plants growing at [[Eltham, London]], in the collection of Sherard's younger brother, [[James Sherard|James]] (1666—1738), who, after making a fortune as an [[apothecary]], devoted himself to gardening and music. For this work Dillenius himself drew and engraved 324 plates, containing 417 figures of the plants.<ref name="EB1911"/><ref name="Tjaden 1986"/> The title called the plants "rare", but the botanist Will Tjaden comments that they were "often only uncommon and not always of very recent introduction."<ref name="Tjaden 1986">{{cite journal |last1=Tjaden |first1=Will |title=Hortus Elthamensis: the Eltham Garden |journal=British Cactus & Succulent Journal |date=December 1986 |volume=4 |issue=4 |pages=108–110 |jstor=42792377}}</ref> The book was described by Linnaeus, who spent a month with him at [[Oxford]] in 1736, and afterwards dedicated his ''[[Critica Botanica]]'' to him, as ''opus botanicum quo absolutius mundus non vidit'', "a botanical work of which the world has not seen one more authoritative". Linnaeus later named a genus of tropical tree ''[[Dillenia]]'' in his honour.<ref name="EB1911"/>

<gallery mode=packed heights=185px> File:Hortus Elthamensis titlepage.jpg|Title page of ''Hortus Elthamensis'', 1732 File:P inquinans Dillenius.jpg|''[[Pelargonium inquinans]]'' </gallery>

=== ''Historia muscorum'' ===

Dillenius wrote ''Historia muscorum'' (1741), a natural history of lower plants including [[moss]]es, [[liverwort]]s, [[hornwort]]s, [[Lycopodiopsida|lycopod]]s, [[algae]], [[lichen]]s and [[Fungus|fungi]].<ref name="Arora 2022">{{cite news |last=Arora |first=Nikita |title=The many meanings of moss |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/03/the-many-meanings-of-moss |access-date=3 November 2022 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=3 November 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Hawksworth |first=David L. |title=The Changing Wildlife of Great Britain and Ireland |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zZ3OkeWrSjcC&pg=PA78 |date=26 June 2003|publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-0-415-32681-0 |page=78}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Historia Muscorum |url=https://herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk/bol/historiamuscorum |publisher=Oxford Herbaria, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford |access-date=3 November 2022}}</ref> He acknowledged the help of [[George Charles Deering]]. They had met at [[John Martyn (botanist)|John Martyn]]'s club for botanists, and had studied [[fungi]] together.<ref>{{cite ODNB|id=7419|first=D. E.|last=Allen|title=Deering, George Charles}}</ref><ref>{{cite ODNB|id=7648|first=D.J.|last=Mabberley |title=Dillenius, Johann Jakob}}</ref>

<gallery mode=packed heights=185px caption="Sample of plates with original titles (and notes)"> Historia muscorum 0 title page.jpg|Title page, 1768 edition Historia muscorum plate 6 Conserva.jpg|6 Conferva Historia muscorum plate 8 Tremella.jpg|8 Tremella Historia muscorum plate 11 Usnea.jpg|11 [[Usnea]] (beard lichens) Historia muscorum plate 14 Coralloides.jpg|14 Coralloides ([[Cladonia|cup lichens]]) Historia muscorum plate 18 Lichenoides.jpg|18 Lichenoides ([[crustose lichen]]s) Historia muscorum plate 32 Sphagnum.jpg|32 [[Sphagnum]] (bog moss) Historia muscorum plate 38 Hypnum.jpg|38 [[Hypnum]] Historia muscorum plate 46 Bryum.jpg|46 [[Bryum]] Historia muscorum plate 56 Selago.jpg|56 Selago Historia muscorum plate 59 Lycopodium.jpg|59 [[Lycopodium]] Historia muscorum plate 76 Lichen (liverworts).jpg|76 Lichen ([[Marchantiophyta|liverworts]]) Historia muscorum plate 79 Pilularia.jpg|79 [[Pilularia]] File:Historia muscorum plate 80 Calamaria.jpg|80 Calamaria Historia muscorum plate 81 Subularia.jpg|81 [[Subularia]] </gallery>

== Honours ==

In 1753, [[Carl Linnaeus]] in his ''Species Plantarum'' published ''[[Dillenia]]'', a genus of [[flowering plant]]s in the family [[Dilleniaceae]], native to tropical and subtropical regions of southern [[Asia]], [[Australasia]], and the [[Indian Ocean]] islands, both genus and family named in Dillenius's honour.<ref>In: ''Species Plantarum'' 1: 535. 1753. {{ cite web |url=http://www.tropicos.org/Name/40031201 |title=Name - ''Dillenia'' L. |quote=Type Specimens: ''Dillenia indica'' |work=Tropicos |publisher=[[Missouri Botanical Garden]] |location=[[Saint Louis, Missouri]] |accessdate=20 February 2010}}</ref>

In 1997, the Spanish botanist [[Gerardo Antonio Aymard Corredor]] published ''[[Neodillenia]]'', a genus of [[flowering plant]]s from South America belonging to the family [[Dilleniaceae]], named in Dillenius's honour.<ref>{{cite web |title=''Neodillenia'' Aymard |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:995537-1 |website=Plants of the World Online: Kew Science |access-date=27 May 2021}}</ref>

== Selected publications ==

{{refbegin}} * {{cite book|last1=Dillenius|first1=Johann Jakob|author-link=Dillenius|title=Hortus Elthamensis, seu Plantarum rariorum, quas in horto suo Elthami in Cantio coluit ... Jacobus Sherard ... Guilielmi ... frater delineationes et descriptiones|date=1732|publisher=Sumptibus auctoris|location=London|url=http://bibdigital.rjb.csic.es/ing/Libro.php?Libro=1386|access-date=26 July 2015|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304205341/http://bibdigital.rjb.csic.es/ing/Libro.php?Libro=1386|url-status=dead}} ** [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k96818j also] on [[Gallica]] * {{cite book|editor-last=Dillenius|editor-first=Johann Jacob|editor-link=Dillenius|last1=Ray|first1=John|author-link=John Ray|title=Synopsis methodica stirpium Britannicarum: in qua tum notae generum characteristicae traduntur, tum species singulae breviter describuntur: ducentae quinquaginta plus minus novae species partim suis locis inseruntur, partim in appendice seorsim exhibentur: cum indice & virium epitome (editio tertia multis locis emendata, & quadringentis quinquaginta circiter speciebus noviter detectis aucta )|trans-title=Synopsis of British plants|date=1724|orig-year=1690|edition=3rd|publisher=Gulielmi & Joaniis Innys|location=London|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/63346|language=la}} ** [http://www.raysociety.org.uk/publications/general-and-historical/synopsis-methodica-stirpum-britannicarum-john-ray/ Facsimile edition 1973] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170320053107/http://www.raysociety.org.uk/publications/general-and-historical/synopsis-methodica-stirpum-britannicarum-john-ray/ |date=20 March 2017 }}, [[Ray Society]], London. With introduction by [[William T. Stearn]]. {{ISBN|978-0-903874-00-7}} * {{cite book |last=Dillenius |first=John Jac. |title=Historia Muscorum: A General History of Land and Water, &c. Mosses and Corals, Containing All the Known Species, Exhibited by about 1000 Figures, on 85 large Royal 4to Copper Plates, collected, drawn and engraved in the best Manner from the Originals. |date=1768 |publisher=J. Millan |location=Opposite the Admiralty, Whitehall, London |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k97929q.image }} {{refend}}

==References== {{reflist|30em}}

== Bibliography == {{refbegin}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20160305134553/http://plantgenera.org/volume.php?id_volume=4623 Illustrations from Johann Jacob Dillenius ''Hortus Elthamensis'' 1732] * [http://www.encyclopedia.com/science/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/dillenius-johann-jacob Dictionary of Scientific Biography] {{refend}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dillenius, Johann Jacob}} [[Category:1687 births]] [[Category:1747 deaths]] [[Category:German bryologists]] [[Category:German pteridologists]] [[Category:Botanists with author abbreviations]] [[Category:18th-century German botanists]] [[Category:German mycologists]] [[Category:German fellows of the Royal Society]] [[Category:Sherardian Professors of Botany]]