# Franz Stephani

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{{Short description|German bryologist (1842–1927)}}
{{redirect|Steph.|other uses|Steph}}
'''Franz Stephani''' (15 April 1842 – 23 February 1927) was a German [bryologist](/source/bryology) specializing in [liverworts](/source/Marchantiophyta). This botanist is denoted by the [author abbreviation](/source/List_of_botanists_by_author_abbreviation) '''<span class="vcard"><span class="fn n"><span class="nickname">Steph.</span></span></span>''' when [citing](/source/Author_citation_(botany)) a [botanical name](/source/botanical_name).<ref>{{cite book|last=Brummitt|first=R. K.|author2=C. E. Powell|title=Authors of Plant Names |publisher = [Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew](/source/Royal_Botanic_Gardens%2C_Kew)|year=1992|isbn=1-84246-085-4}}</ref>

Stephani was born in [Berlin](/source/Berlin), [Province of Brandenburg](/source/Province_of_Brandenburg), in 1842.  He attended and graduated from the Königliches Gymnasium, whereupon he began training to be a businessman in the [wool](/source/wool)-spinning industry.  He worked both in a toy shop, and in a publishing house. In 1869, he married Marie Kell, daughter of the [novelist](/source/novelist) [Julius Kell](/source/Julius_Kell) and had two children.  By the age of 34, Stephani began publishing papers on the subject of liverworts.  He never attended university, and it is not known how his interest in bryology was sparked.<ref name="Gradstein"/>

Stephani is most remembered for his ''Species Hepaticarum'', a six-volume attempt to catalog all of the world's species of liverworts and [hornwort](/source/hornwort)s. In 1894 Stephani met with M. W. Barbey-Boissier, son-in-law of [Edmond Boissier](/source/Edmond_Boissier) and owner of the Barbey-Boissier Herbarium in Geneva. In 1897 the Herbarium concluded an agreement with Stephani, by which they would publish ''Species Hepaticarum''. Stephani in turn bequeathed them his herbarium, drawings, library, notes and scientific correspondence. The first editions of the work appeared in 1898, in the ''Bulletin de l'Herbier Boissier'', and the final volume 27 years later, in 1925.

This is the only work that has ever attempted such a broad treatment of those groups,<ref name="Gradstein">{{cite journal|last=Gradstein|first=S. R.|year=2006|title=Stephani's ''Species Hepaticarum'' revisited|journal=Willdenowia|volume=36|issue=Special Issue|pages=557–563|url=https://www.bioone.org/doi/pdf/10.3372/wi.36.36152|format=PDF|doi=10.3372/wi.36.36152|s2cid=84035703|doi-access=free}}</ref> and saw the first publication of many new names.  Almost 10,000 species are included, with more than 4,000 new ones described by Stephani. Unfortunately, the work is "often much condemned"<ref name="Schuster I"/> for being of very poor quality, and "holds the reputation of being one of the most notorious publications in bryology."<ref name="Gradstein"/>

{{cquote|In the first decades of this [20th] century, [systematic](/source/systematics) work in hepaticology received a lasting shock, in consequence of the publication by Stephani of his six-volume ''Species Hepaticarum'' (1898–1924). Although originally a conscientious, if not critical, hepaticologist, Stephani was eventually overwhelmed by the endless stream of exotic material sent to him for study. As a result, the last volumes of his work exhibit so much irresponsibility that a tremendous burden is now thrown on the shoulders of other workers, present and future.<ref name="Schuster I"/>}}

Stephani created many new names for species that already had published names, and later researchers were left to sort out the nomenclature problems his work created.<ref name="Schofield 1985">{{cite book|last=Schofield|first=W. B.|year=1985|title=Introduction to Bryology|pages=261–262|location=New York|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=0-02-949660-8}}</ref> It is estimated perhaps only 25 to 35% of his species will prove to be valid upon investigation.<ref name="Schuster I"/> A more precise figure cannot be made because "taxonomists are still busy clearing the mess."<ref name="Gradstein"/>

The poor quality of Stephani's work in his later years may have been the result of a progressive brain disease that affected work on the final three volumes,<ref name="Schuster I">{{cite book|last=Schuster|first=Rudolf M.|year=1966|title=The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America|volume=1|pages=133–134, 321, 361|location=New York|publisher = Columbia University Press}}</ref> and the remnants of his life's work were published posthumously by Bonner in 1953.

==Selected publications==
*Stephani, F. (1898–1924). ''Species Hepaticarum'', vols. I–VI. Geneva.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stephani, Franz}}
Category:Botanists with author abbreviations
Category:1842 births
Category:1927 deaths
Category:19th-century German botanists
Category:Scientists from Berlin
Category:Scientists from the Province of Brandenburg
Category:Botanists from the Kingdom of Prussia
Category:German bryologists

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Franz Stephani](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Stephani) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Stephani?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.