Otto Luyken
Encyclopedia
Cherry laurel
Prunus laurocerasus, with common names cherry laurel and sometimes called English laurel in North America, is a species in the genus Prunus, native to regions bordering the Black Sea in southwestern Asia and southeastern Europe, from Albania and Bulgaria east through Turkey to the Caucasus...
variety named after him.
Life
Luyken was born in SiegenSiegen
Siegen is a city in Germany, in the south Westphalian part of North Rhine-Westphalia.It is located in the district of Siegen-Wittgenstein in the Arnsberg region...
. His parents were Emil Luyken (1845-1906) and Johanna Hesse (1848-1934). He went to school in Siegen and then began an apprenticeship as gardener in Belgium and England. After participating in World War I he started working at the "Hesse Tree Nurseries" in Weener which were owned by his mother's parents and became later the director. Under his management the establishment won a high prestige. During World War II he was draughted again to military service for a long time and came back sick. He suffered from a dilated lung, and died in Weener
Weener
Weener is a town in the district of Leer, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated near the border with the Netherlands, on the river Ems, approx. 10 km southwest of Leer, and 25 km southeast of Emden...
. After his death the tree nurseries could not be kept in family's ownership.
The "Baumschulen Hesse" were founded 1879 by Hermann A. Hesse (1852-1937). The "Otto Luyken" cherry laurel was selected by the nursery in 1940 and introduced to trade in 1953 (Otto's death year).