Otto Stapf

Who was Otto Stapf?

Otto Stapf FRS was an Austrian born botanist and taxonomist, the son of Joseph Stapf.

Stapf trained in Vienna, moving to Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in 1890. He was keeper of the Herbarium from 1909 to 1920. He was awarded the Linnean Medal in 1927.

Stapf wrote on the Graminae in William Turner Thiselton Dyer's edition of the Flora capensis.

In May 1908 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. His candidacy citation read: Principal Assistant, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. He is at home in all branches of Scientific Botany, and is well known for the thoroughness of his work. His numerous publications have been chiefly in the field of Systematic Botany. Before coming to England, he spent nine months on a botanical exploration of Persia. His most important publications are: - 'Botan Ergebnisse der Polak'schen Expedition nach Persien'; 'Beitrage zur Flora v Lycien, Carien u Mesopotamien'; 'Die Arten der Gattung Ephedra'; 'Pedaliaceae and Martyniaceae'; 'Flora of Mount Kinabalu in North Borneo'; 'Melocanna bambusoides'; 'Structure of 'Sararanga sinuosa'; 'Dicellandra and Phaeoneuron'; 'Monograph of the Indian Aconites'. In Hooker's Icones plantarum, about 100 plates with text, 1891-1905; Part of Gramineae; 'Apocynaceae; Gramineae; Lentibulariaceae; Pedaliaceae.