Vladislav E. Niedzwiecki Explained

Vladislav E. Niedzwiecki (also spelled Niedzwetsky[1] and Niedzwetzky) (1855–1918) was a Russian lawyer and amateur naturalist.

Born in Mogilev Province, Niedzwiecki graduated from the University of Kazan and settled in (one source states 'exiled to'[2]) Vernoe (now Almaty, Kazakhstan) in 1884, initially working as a lawyer before becoming the Acting Secretary of the Statistics Committee, Semirechensk. A keen amateur naturalist, he sent many specimens of flora and fauna to research bodies in Moscow and St Petersburg, and in 1901 became Custodian and Trustee of the Semerichye Vernoe Museum.[3] He also sent seeds to Georg Dieck at the Zöschen Arboretum, Germany, notably of the red-fleshed apple, Malus niedzwetzkyana and the Siberian Elm Ulmus pumila.[4]

Niedzwiecki died in 1918, rumoured to have been shot in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution.[3]

Eponymy

Niedzwiecki is commemorated by the apple Malus niedzwetzkyana, and also by the perennial flower Niedzwedzkia semiretschenskia.

Notes and References

  1. http://kiki.huh.harvard.edu/databases/botanist_search.php?mode=details&id=100492 Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries: Index of Botanists
  2. Hansen, N. How to produce that $1000 premium apple, in Minnesota State Hort. Soc. (1900). Trees, fruits & flowers of Minnesota. Vol. 28. 470-1. Forgotten Books, London, 2013.
  3. Nazarov, A. (2014). The origins of the names of the famous citizens of Vernoe: Niedzwiecki (in Russian) http://alnaz.ru/almaty/familii-nedzvetskij.html
  4. Dieck, G. (1894). Neuheiten-Offerten des National-Arboretums zu Zöschen bei Merseburg, 1894/95.