A. F. W. Schimper
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Name
Andreas F. W. Schimper
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Dates
1856 - 1901
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Specialities
Algae, Bryophytes, Spermatophytes
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Roles
Author, Collector
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Movement Details
Dominica, Martinique
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Notes
Original collections: GRA, STU; German botanist whose Pflanzentogeographie (1898) was one of the first and finest mapping of the floral regions of the continents. He coined (1885) the term chloroplasts (the organelles in plant cells that conduct photosynthesis), and distinguished them from chromatophores (pigment-containing cells found in many marine animals). In 1880, he proved that starch is the source of stored energy for plants. His explorations included Florida, the West Indies, South America, and Indonesia. On the Valdivia expedition (1898) he studied the oceanic plankton of numerous oceanic islands and coastal Africa. His father, Wilhelm Philipp Schimper was an expert on mosses and whose cousin Karl Friedrich Schimper studied plant morphology.
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Collections