Sonder, Otto W. (1812 - 1881)

An apothecary in Hamburg, who accumulated an enormous private herbarium from some of the leading botanists and collectors of his day. He wrote the accounts of Epacridaceae, Stylidiaceae and algae in Plantae Preissianae, wrote an algal supplement to Mueller's Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae and a major paper on Australian tropical algae, was co-editor with Harvey of Flora Capensis, wrote a local Flora, Flora Hamburgensis, and was editor and author of several families of Plantae Muellerianae in the journal Linnaea. He loaned his Australian herbarium to Bentham during compilation of Flora Australiensis. Sonder's herbarium was offered for sale during his lifetime, and after lengthy negotiations, the major part of it (perhaps 250 000 specimens) was purchased by MEL in 1883. The collection contained important algal specimens of Sonder, C.A.Agardh and W.H.Harvey, and flowering plant collections by C.F.Ecklon, J.G.C.Lehmann, C.P.Thunberg and C.L.P.Zeyher, as well as others associated with Martius's Flora Brasiliensis. Australian material of particular interest were a suite of Preiss collections, and duplicates received by Sonder from Ferdinand Mueller. Another major part of the Sonder herbarium, relating to African plants, is now at S (Stafleu & Cowan, 1985).

Extracted from: A.E.Orchard (1999) A History of Systematic Botany in Australia, in Flora of Australia Vol.1, 2nd ed., ABRS. [consult for source references]