{{short description|German learned society specialising in plants}} {{Infobox organization |name = Regensburg Botanical Society (''Regensburgische Botanische Gesellschaft'') |image = |image_size = |caption = |abbreviation = |formation = 1790 |extinction = |status = Not-for-profit organisation |purpose = The promotion of the study, conservation and appreciation of plants, especially of the local flora |location = Regensburg, Bavaria, Germany |region_served = |num_members = |leader_title = |leader_name = |main_organ = |parent_organization = |budget = |website = {{url|http://rbg1790.de/}} |remarks = }}
The '''Regensburg Botanical Society''' ('''''Regensburgische Botanische Gesellschaft'''''), founded 1790 in the city of Regensburg, Bavaria, Germany, is the oldest extant scientific society focused on botany.<ref name="GlobalPlants - Herbarium Weldenianum">{{cite web |last1=Klotz |first1=Jürgen |title=Herbarium der Regensburgischen Botanischen Gesellschaft von 1790 e. V. |url=https://plants.jstor.org/partner/REG |website=Global Plants – JSTOR |access-date=6 October 2022}}</ref><ref name="ScholarlySocietiesProject2007">{{cite web |last1=Parrott |first1=Jim |title=Regensburgische Botanische Gesellschaft|url=https://www.references.net/societies/history/1790rbg.html |website=Scholarly societies project |publisher=sponsored by University of Waterloo library |access-date=7 October 2022}}</ref> It was initially supported by the Prince-Archbishop Karl Theodor von Dalberg of Regensburg. Over the centuries the society has held scientific meetings, published scientific journals and had a botanic garden (until 1855), herbarium and library. In the twentieth century the society extended its role into nature conservation. It currently collaborates closely with the University of Regensburg.
==Foundation== The Regensburg Botanical Society was founded 14 May 1790 by the botanist David Heinrich Hoppe. It was previously known as the Royal Bavarian Botanical Society of Regensburg (''Königlich Bayerische Botanische Gesellschaft zu Regensburg'').
The first 'meeting' took place in the open air near Regensburg in what is now the Max-Schultze-Steig nature reserve. The location was adjacent to prominent cliffs with a cave above the river Danube that provides some shelter and was subsequently called the 'Hoppefelsen' in memory of Hoppe. He walked there accompanied by his friends Ernst Wilhelm Martius, Johann August Stallknecht and Heinrich Christian Funck, all pharmacists, and then read a statement of the aims and rules of the new Regensburg Botanical Society. Several prominent local people soon joined, including two Frenchmen, Charles François Marie Duval and François Gabriel de Bray, the French ambassador to Regensburg.<ref name="RegBotSoc founding 1790">{{cite web |title=David Heinrich Hoppe (1760–1846) on his 250th birthday – The founding of the Regensburg Botanical Society |url=http://www.bibliothek.uni-regensburg.de/hoppe/gruendung.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140606230202/http://www.bibliothek.uni-regensburg.de/hoppe/gruendung.htm |archive-date=2014-06-06 |website=University of Regensburg Library |publisher=University of Regensburg |access-date=6 October 2022}}</ref><ref name="RegensburgBotSoc - history">{{cite web |title=History |url=http://rbg1790.de/verein.html#geschichte |website=Regensburg Botanical Society |access-date=6 October 2022}}</ref>
thumb|The ''Schutzfelsen'' (Protective rock) where the first meeting of the Regensburg Botanical Society took place.
A commemorative plaque in French was installed in 1792<ref name="RegensburgBotSoc - history" /> and has been restored, translated and extended in 1890 and 1975. It states:
{{Blockquote |David Heinrich Hoppe, during one of his botanical excursions, surprised by a violent thunderstorm, took shelter under these rocks, which he called protective rocks (Schutzfelsen).<br /> The Botanical Society of Regensburg, which he founded in May 1790, gave him credit and consecrated this area favored by flora.<br /> F. G. De Bray and C. Duval }}
thumb|Plaque about founding of the Regensburg Botanical Society.
==History of the society== The ruler of the Principality of Regensburg, Prince-Archbishop Karl Theodor von Dalberg supported the society in its early years. He gave it the garden of Saint Emmeram's Abbey, which had had a long tradition of scientific enquiry. From 1803 until 1855 the society maintained a botanical garden there.<ref name="Bauer2014">{{cite book |last1=Bauer |first1=Karl |title=Regensburg Kunst-, Kultur- und Alltagsgeschichte |date=2014 |publisher=MZ-Buchverlag in H. Gietl Verlag & Publikationsservice GmbH |isbn=978-3-86646-300-4 |pages=S. 29 ff}}</ref> The society also started a herbarium focusing on plants found in Germany. By the 1820s it contained 3,265 specimens along with some from other parts of the world.<ref name="RegBotSoc herbarium">{{cite web |title=Herbarium |url=http://rbg1790.de/einrichtungen.html |website=Regensburg Botanical Society}}</ref> The most substantial donation of additional material to the herbarium, 20,000 specimens, was from the estate of Baron Franz Ludwig von Welden, an Austrian army officer who travelled widely.<ref name="GlobalPlants - Herbarium Weldenianum" /> In addition the society began to form a specialist library, which by 1805 contained 216 titles.<ref name="RegensburgBotSoc - history" />
In the early 1900s, as nature conservation began to be appreciated the society's chair, Heinrich Karl August Fürnrohr, led the society to purchase several areas of land for conservation value. These included in 1905 Drabafelsen near Etterzhausen, in 1906 the Schutzfelsen where the society was founded and in 1911 the Sippenauer Moor.<ref name="Sippenauer Moor">{{cite web |title=Naturschutz – Sippenauer Moor |url=http://www.regensburgische-botanische-gesellschaft.de/sippenauermoor.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071010122004/http://www.regensburgische-botanische-gesellschaft.de/sippenauermoor.html |archive-date=2007-10-10 |website=Internet Archive – Regensbury Botanical Society}}</ref><ref name="RegensburgBotSoc - protected areas">{{cite web |title=Protected areas |url=http://rbg1790.de/schutzgebiete.html |website=Regensburg Botanical Society |access-date=6 October 2022}}</ref> The society disposed of some of the herbarium and library during the early-twentieth century.<ref name="RegensburgBotSoc - history" /> From the 1950s the society developed a new journal (''Hoppea''), increased activity related to conservation and new connections with other regional scientific societies. In 1974 the society became part of the University of Regensburg and the books (in 1974), herbarium (in 1977) and society's archives (in 1984) were added to the university's collections as permanent loans.<ref name="RegBotSoc founding 1790" /> Conservation work has been undertaken on the documents and herbarium specimens, and the herbarium is now housed in modern facilities. The change in the society's fortunes has been reflected in an increase in the number of members which has been around 600 since 1999.<ref name="RegensburgBotSoc - history" />
==Publications== The society has published several scientific journals over the years: * Botanical Pocket Book for Beginners of this Science and the Art of Pharmacy, (''Botanisches Taschenbuch für die Anfänger dieser Wissenschaft und der Apothekerkunst'') published from 1790 (renamed New Botanical Pocket Book for Beginners of Science and the Art of Pharmacy (''Neues Botanisches Taschenbuch für die Anfänger dieser Wissenschaft und der Apothekerkunst'') in 1805), which was the first botanical journal to be published in Germany * Memoranda of the Regensburg Botanical Society (''Denkschriften der Regensburgischen Botanischen Gesellschaft'') renamed ''Hoppea'' from 1971.<ref name="ISSN">{{cite web |title=Key-title Hoppea |url=https://portal.issn.org/resource/ISSN/0340-4196 |website=International Standard Serial Number International Centre |access-date=6 October 2022}}</ref> This was published intermittently from 1792 onwards. In 1861 a volume about the Bavarian lichen flora by August von Krempelhuber appeared.<ref name="RegensburgBotSoc - history" /> * The Botanical Newspaper (''Botanische Zeitung'') was published from 1807 until 1817. * Flora was started in 1818 by Hoppe and Christian Friedrich Hornschuch as a successor to the Botanical Newspaper<ref name="RegensburgBotSoc - history" /> and was published by the society until 1888.<ref name="RegensburgBotSoc - history" /> It was then taken on by other publishers and is still in existence.<ref name="Flora - Science Direct">{{cite web |title=Flora |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/flora |website=Science Direct |access-date=6 October 2022}}</ref> * Flora Exsiccata Bavarica, a series of numbered collections of the dried plants of Bavaria was produced from 1898 until 1930 and distributed as exsiccata work.<ref name="RegensburgBotSoc - history" /><ref>{{cite web |title=Flora exsiccata Bavarica: IndExs ExsiccataID=655503104 |website=IndExs – Index of Exsiccatae |publisher=Botanische Staatssammlung München |url=https://www.botanischestaatssammlung.de/DatabaseClients/IndExs/Exsiccatae_IndExs_Details.jsp?ExsiccataID=655503104 |access-date=20 February 2025}}</ref> * Regensburg Mycological Writings (''Regensburger Mykologische Schriften'') is about all aspects of fungi, especially in Bavaria. This has been published since 1993 with Andreas Bresinsky and Helmut Besl as the first editors, followed by Peter Poschlod.<ref name="Zobodat2022">{{cite web |title=Regensburger Mykologische Schriften |url=https://www.zobodat.at/publikation_series.php?id=21103 |website=ZOBODAT |access-date=6 October 2022}}</ref>
==Awards== The society has made several awards over the years: * An award for outstanding botanical work has been made at irregular intervals. * The Anton de Bary prize for outstanding achievements in the fields of plant systematics and mycology was established in 1993.<ref name="RegensburgBotSoc - history" />
==Presidents and significant members of the society== The presidents of the society were:<ref name="RegensburgBotSoc - history" /> * 1790 – Johann Jakob Kohlhaas * 1811 – 1832 Francois Gabriel Graf von Bray * 1840 – 1868 Carl Friedrich Philipp v. Martius No-one took the role of president after 1868.
Chairs of the society have included:<ref name="RegensburgBotSoc - history" /> * 1812 – 1846 David Heinrich Hoppe * 1846 – 1861 August Emanuel Fürnrohr * 1891 – 1900 Ottmar Hofmann * 1900 – 1916 Heinrich Karl August Fürnrohr * 1916 – 1956 Sebastian Killermann * 1956 – 1974 Otto Mergenthaler * 1974 – 1999 Andreas Bresinsky * 2007 – ? Peter Poschlod * Hanno Schaefer – First Chairman of the Regensburgischen Botanischen Gesellschaft of 1790 e.V.<ref name="RBG2025">{{cite web |title=Board |url=https://rbg1790.de/verein.html#vorstand |website=Regensburgishche Botanische Gesellshaft |access-date=28 August 2025}}</ref> * Josef Simmel – Second Chairman of the Regensburgischen Botanischen Gesellschaft of 1790 e.V.<ref name="RBG2025" />
Significant members of the society have included:<ref name="RegensburgBotSoc - history" /> * Johann Wolfgang von Goethe * Alexander von Humboldt * Justus von Liebig * Adelbert von Chamisso, botanist and poet * Carl Wilhelm von Gümbel, geologist
Honorary membership of the society has been awarded to significant scientists including: * Josef Poelt<ref name="IAL2022">{{cite web |title=Acharius Medallists Josef Poelt |url=http://www.lichenology.org/Awards/Acharius_Poelt.html |website=International Association for Lichenology |access-date=2022-10-07 |archive-date=2007-03-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311001302/http://www.lichenology.org/Awards/Acharius_Poelt.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
The society had 516 members in 1841. Membership then declined gradually so that there were 89 in 1898 and only 40 by 1954. However, by the twenty-first century the society's membership had increased substantially to around 600.<ref name="RegensburgBotSoc - history" />
==References==
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Category:Biology societies Category:1790 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire Category:Scientific societies based in Germany Category:Learned societies of Germany