Melchior Treub

Who was Melchior Treub?

Melchior Treub was a Dutch botanist born in Voorschoten.

In 1873 he graduated in Biology from the University of Leiden, and afterwards remained in Leiden as a botanical assistant. From 1880 until 1909 he was a botanist in the Dutch East Indies.

Treub is remembered for his botanical work with tropical flora on the island of Java. He is especially recognized for his organization of the botanical gardens at Buitenzorg as a world-renowned scientific institution of botany. He worked for nearly 30 years at the botanical gardens, returning to the Netherlands a year prior to his death in 1910.

In 1903 he established the Buitenzorg Landbouw Hogeschool, a school that later evolved into the Bogor Agricultural Institute. In 1905 he became director of the newly established Department of Agriculture in the Dutch East Indies. In 1907 Treub was the recipient of the Linnean Medal. The Dutch "Society for the Promotion of the Physical Exploration of the Dutch Colonies" is sometimes referred to as the Treub Maatschappij.

As a botanical collector, he traveled widely throughout the Malayan Archipelago. He was interested in plant morphology and physiology, and published treatises on the morphology of Balanophoraceae, Loranthaceae and Lycopodiaceae. He is credited for coining the term "protocorm" to describe the early stages in the germination of lycopods.