Dr Marc Appelhans is the new Professor of Integrative Taxonomy of Plants at the University of Jena and? Director of its Botanical Garden. Good requirements to be firmly rooted in Thuringia, one might think. However, Appelhans' scientific focus is primarily on the flora of Southeast Asia and the Pacific region, especially the citrus family, of which there are around 1,600 species worldwide. "Absolute numbers should be treated with caution, as not all species have been scientifically recorded and described," says Marc Appelhans. One of the tasks of the 45-year-old botanist, who has been working as a professor in Jena since March, is to close the research gaps bit by bit.

As a plant systematist, he researches the relationships between plants, but also the evolution of plants and their temporal and spatial distribution. The tools of the trade for his research: above all DNA sequencing and the comparison of genes. In addition to his own collecting trips, he relies primarily on the collections of the Botanical Garden and the "Herbarium Haussknecht" at the University of Jena. With an estimated 3 to 3.5 million dried plants, the herbarium is one of the top 20 in the world and, according to Appelhans, is a real treasure trove, bringing together botanical collections from over 200 years and from all over the world. Through the merger with the "Senckenberg Society", the decentrally organised Herbarium Senckenbergianum with locations in Jena, Frankfurt, G?rlitz, Weimar and Wilhelmshafen is the eighth largest herbarium in the world and the largest herbarium in Germany.

Issuing the "birth certificate" of a new plant

"It's really something special to be the first to describe a plant and give it a name," says Marc Appelhans. He himself has already described five species and established type specimens that could be described as the birth certificate of a species that has not yet been scientifically described. The first description was of the species "Melicope balgooyi", whose name honours the Dutch botanist Max van Balgooy (1932-2021). Although Prof. Appelhans has been on many expeditions, this does not mean that he has discovered the "new" plants. Some of these plants were stored unrecognised in a scientific collection for years. There are rules for the initial descript ion and naming of a species, which are adjusted every seven years during the 欧洲杯投注地址_明升体育-竞彩足球比分推荐 Botanical Congress. For example, the species description, i.e. the description of the plant, has been possible in English onlysince 2011. Latin used to be the standard. Discriminatory names have been allowed to be changed since 2024. Previously, the oldest species name was considered binding.

Revitalising the "Green School" in the Botanic Garden

Marc Appelhans comes from Winterberg in the Sauerland region and studied Biology in Marburg. Although he initially saw his future in a biotech laboratory, his wanderlust and interest in the flora of distant regions awoke during his studies: "I really wanted to visit the tropical rainforest," he says. Field trips to Namibia and Argentina, and later to Cuba, Jamaica, Hawaii, China and Papua New Guinea, for example, cemented his scientific interest in tropical plants. For his doctorate, he went to Leiden in the Netherlands, where there is also a large herbarium. The next stop was the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. (USA). After a year in the USA, Marc Appelhans moved to the University of G?ttingen, where he was in charge of the herbarium, among other things.

As Director of the Botanical Garden in Jena, Prof. Appelhans has set himself the task of making the garden fit for the future, i.e. designing the next ten years. He would like to revitalise the idea of a "green school" and get teachers and pupils excited about the world of plants. He envisages a symbiosis of research centre and place of learning, he says.

Marc Appelhans is married and has a three-year-old daughter. He gardens and does handicrafts with her in his free time and also enjoys working with wood as a balance to his everyday life, building his own guitars or a doll's house for his daughter, for example. Incidentally, his favourite plant is the diptam, also known as the burning bush. One of two citrus plants that grow in Germany.