Georg August Zenker
Georg August Zenker (11 June 1855, in Leipzig – 6 February 1922, in Bipindi) was a German gardener and naturalist.
He worked as a gardener at the botanical gardens in Leipzig and Naples, and in 1886, on behalf of the Italian government, traveled as a researcher to Africa. Subsequently, he was put in charge of the Sibange Farm, located near Libreville (Gabon), and later on, he worked as a preparator at Yaoundé Station in Kamerun. In 1895 he quit the colonial service and returned to Germany, but soon afterwards, he went back to Kamerun as a private citizen and established a plantation at Bipindi, where he grew coffee, cacao and rubber.[1]
During his many years spent in Kamerun, he amassed an enormous collection of botanical, zoological and ethnographic items. Between 1912 and 1914 he edited the exsiccata Plantae Kamerunenses.[2] Unfortunately, his botanical specimens sent to Berlin were for the most part destroyed during World War II.[1] His name is associated with numerous plant and animal taxa; a few examples being:
- Zenkerella (family Fabaceae): a plant genus circumscribed by Paul Hermann Wilhelm Taubert.[3]
- Zenker's fruit bat, Scotonycteris zenkeri, circumscribed by Paul Matschie.
- Zenker's honeyguide, Melignomon zenkeri, circumscribed by Anton Reichenow.
- Zenker's worm snake, Letheobia zenkeri, circumscribed by Richard Sternfeld.[4][5]
References[edit]
- ^ a b Zenker, Georg August (1855-1922) JSTOR Global Plants
- ^ "Plantae Kamerunenses: IndExs ExsiccataID=1402645119". IndExs – Index of Exsiccatae. Botanische Staatssammlung München. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
- ^ CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names: Common Names, Scientific Names, Eponyms ... by Umberto Quattrocchi
- ^ The Eponym Dictionary of Mammals by Bo Beolens, Michael Watkins, Michael Grayson
- ^ The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles by Bo Beolens, Michael Watkins, Michael Grayson
- ^ International Plant Names Index. G.Zenker.
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