Jan (John) Zier (?–1793) – pages from his biography and scientific activity
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4467/2543702XSHS.26.009.22698Keywords:
history of botany, biographies of eighteenth-century botanists, British botany, Linnean Society of London, Poland, University of Vilnius, systematics, cryptogamic plants, eponymsAbstract
Botany in 18th-century Poland faced challenging conditions for development, resulting in only a small number of active botanists in the country at the time. Notable figures included Jacob Theodor Klein (1685−1759) in Gdańsk, Christian Heinrich Erndtel (1676−1734) in Warsaw, and Krzysztof Kluk (1739−1796) in Ciechanowiec. Until now, Jan (John) Zier (?−1793) had been completely unknown in Poland. This article is the first attempt in Polish literature to gather all previously known information about him and present his contribution to the development of botany.
Little is known about Zier’s birth, place of origin, or education. Around 1780, he settled in Hanover, Germany, where he collaborated with the German botanist Jakob F. Ehrhart (1742−1795) in publishing the exsiccata Phytophylacium Ehrhartianum. In 1785, he moved to London, where he worked with James Dickson (1738−1822), the well known owner of a plant-nursery and seed shop, on his work Fasciculus [secundus etc.] plantarum cryptogamicarum Britanniae, focusing on cryptogamic plants of Britain. Zier wrote the diagnoses of species for the first three fascicles of this treatment, which were published between 1785 and 1793, though his contribution is not acknowledged in the text. In London, he also met the apothecary and botanist William Curtis (1746−1799) who was at that time working on Flora londinensis. One source suggests that J. Zier may have assisted in the creation of this opus, though this has not been definitely confirmed.
On 18 March 1788, J. Zier was admitted as a member of the Linnean Society of London, which allowed him to establish connections with prominent British botanists of the time, including Joseph Banks (1743−1820), president of the Royal Society; James E. Smith (1759−1828), founder and president of the Linnean Society; William Hudson (1730−1793), author of Flora anglica; and Jonas C. Dryander (1748−1810), librarian of the Royal Society and vice-president of the Linnean Society. In 1790, J. Zier was set to take up the chair of the natural history at the University of Vilnius in the then Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, but his poor health prevented him from leaving London. Around 1792, he made a will, the content of which has survived to this day. A progressive illness led to his death at a relatively young age in early July 1793.
Jan (John) Zier did not publish any scientific work under his own name. The plant specimens he collected are preserved in various herbaria, including those of Ehrhart in Göttingen (GOET), Moscow (MW), and the Linnean Herbarium in London (LINN), as well as in the Natural History Museum in London (BM), the Komarov Institute of Botany of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg (LE), and in Uppsala (UPS). Jan Zier’s name is commemorated in the generic name Zieria Sm. (Rutaceae) and in the moss name Bryum zieri Dicks. ex Hedw. (Bryaceae). The latter species was subsequently placed in the separate genus Zieria Schimp., but this name, as a younger homonym, was replaced by Plagiobryum Lindb. for formal reasons, though it is still retained in the subgeneric name Bryum subg. Zieria C.Hartm.
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