Józef Warszewicz Ritter von Rawicz (September 8 (?) 1812, Vilnius

Vilnius

Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...

  - December 29, 1866, Cracow) was a Polish

Poles

thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...

 botanist, plant and animal collector, and gardener.

Life

Born into an impoverished Polish family of lower nobility, he grew up in Wilno, Lithuania, and became a gardener at the botanical garden of the Wilno University. While at the university there, he joined the November Uprising

November Uprising

The November Uprising , Polish–Russian War 1830–31 also known as the Cadet Revolution, was an armed rebellion in the heartland of partitioned Poland against the Russian Empire. The uprising began on 29 November 1830 in Warsaw when the young Polish officers from the local Army of the Congress...

 which was quickly and brutally suppressed, whereupon, with the remnants of the Polish army, he fled to Germany. In the years 1840-1844 he worked as assistant gardener in the Botanical Garden at Berlin.

In 1844, upon recommendation of Alexander von Humboldt

Alexander von Humboldt

Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander Freiherr von Humboldt was a German naturalist and explorer, and the younger brother of the Prussian minister, philosopher and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt...

, he was sent by Messrs. Van Houtte, a horticulturalist of Ghent, to join a Belgian colony in Guatemala, where he soon became an independent collector and wholesale supplier of plants to European horticulturalists and botanical gardens.

Warszewicz was especially interested in orchids, of which he imported enormous quantities, many of which were described by H.G. Reichenbach

Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach

Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach was an ornithologist, botanist and the foremost German orchidologist of the 19th century...

. He traveled and collected extensively throughout Central America, discovering a wealth of new plant species in Guatemala, Costa Rica and Panama, where he climbed the 16,000-foot Chiriqui Volcano.

Suffering from the consequences of yellow fever, Warszewicz returned to Germany in 1850. He spent some time working with Reichenbach in Berlin, but at the begin of 1851 he left for South America . At the end of that year he was robbed of all his possessions in Guayaquil

Guayaquil

Guayaquil , officially Santiago de Guayaquil , is the largest and the most populous city in Ecuador,with about 2.3 million inhabitants in the city and nearly 3.1 million in the metropolitan area, as well as that nation's main port...

. Undaunted, he traveled throughout Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru, collecting and discovering many new plant species. He also collected animals and cultural artifacts. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/84218232&referer=brief_results

A recurrence of yellow fever in 1853 compelled Warszewicz to return to Cracow where he became supervisor of the Botanical Gardens. He retained this position it until his death.
His exsicates were bequeathed to the Berlin Botanic Garden.

Selected taxa

Warczewiczella Rchb.f., Warszewiczia

Warszewiczia

Warszewiczia is a genus of flowering plants in the Rubiaceae family. It are primarily tropical Central and South American trees and shrubs. Perhaps the most famous member of the genus is W...

and Warscaea Szlach. (a synonym of Cyclopogon) were named after him as well as many species, e.g.

• Gymnogramma warscewiczii Mett. (Adiantaceae)
• Hippeastrum warscewiczianum A.Dietr. (Amaryllidaceae)
• Anthurium warscewiczii K.Koch (Araceae)
• Nunnezharria warscewicziana Kuntze (Arecaceae )
• Callaeolepium warscewiczii H.Karst. (Asclepiadaceae )
• Begonia warscewiczii Neuman (Begoniaceae)
• Lamproconus warscewiczii Lem. (Bromeliaceae)
• Lobelia warscewiczii Vatke (Campanulaceae)
• Anguria warscewiczii Hook. (Cucurbitaceae)
• Columnea warscewicziana Klotzsch & Hanst. (Gesneriaceae)
• Calathea warscewiczii Körn. (Marantaceae )
• Ugni warscewiczii O.Berg (Myrtaceae)
• Cattleya warscewiczii Rchb.f. (Orchidaceae )
• Fernandezia warscewiczii Schltr. (Orchidaceae )
• Miltonia warscewiczii Rchb.f. (Orchidaceae )
• Odontoglossum warscewiczianum Hemsl. (Orchidaceae )
• Phragmipedium warscewiczianum (Rchb.f.) Garay (Orchidaceae )
• Esenbeckia warscewiczii Engl. (Rutaceae)
• Alonsoa warscewiczii Regel (Scrophulariaceae)
• Iochroma warscewiczii Regel (Solanaceae)
• Tropaeolum warscewiczii Buchenau (Tropaeolaceae)

Publications

• Books by and about Warszewicz on WorldCat