Tyge W. Böcher

Who was Tyge W. Böcher?

Tyge Wittrock Böcher was a Danish botanist, evolutionary biologist, plant ecologist and phytogeographer.

He was born in Copenhagen to physician Einar Böcher and wife Cathinca née Andersen. Steen B. Böcher, professor of geography, was his brother.

Tyge Böcher was professor of botany at the University of Copenhagen from 1954 to 1979. He was a prolific scientific writer, leaving some 250 scholarly books and articles. His scientific research covered as diverse phylogenetic lineages as vascular plants, bryophytes, lichens and algae and a broad set of disciplines from anatomy, ecology and evolution of plant species to the ecology of plant populations and plant communities. He was particularly interested in chromosomal and ecological races of plant species. He did field work in Greenland, Denmark, various European mountain regions and in Argentina. His investigation of the Greenland flora were particularly ground-breaking.

He was a co-founder of Flora Europaea and he authored the Flora of Greenland.

The genus Boechera Á.Löve & D.Löve is named after him.