Alexander von Bunge

Bunge was born under the name, Alexander Andreevič von Bunge on 6 October [O.S. 24 September] 1803 in Kyiv as second son of a family that belonged to the German minority in Tsarist Russia. HIs father, Andreas Theodor was a pharmacist who had emigrated from East Prussia to Russia with his grandfather in the 18th century and his mother, Elisabeth von Bunge, née Fuhrmann. They moved to Dorvat in 1815 after his father's death in 1814 and attended highschool from 1818 to 1821.[1] He was educated at Dorpat and where he passed through the gymnasium during the period of 1821–1825.[2] Then, he studied medicine and obtained his Doctorate of Medicine from University of Tartu on 1825.[3] At the same place, he also studied Botany under Carl Friedrich von Ledebour and completed his theses titled "De relatione methodi plantarum naturalis in vires vegetabilium medicalis" [4]

At early January, he worked as Head of Metallurgy in Kolyvan-Voskresensker factory under P. K. Frolov and district physician in Barnaul (Tomsk Governorate) which located in Southern Siberia.[1] The same year he went with Ledebour and Carl Anton von Meyer on an important scientific expedition to the Kazakh Steppe and Altai Mountains. They spent five weeks across Russia till Barnaul during summer and collected amounted to 1,600 plant's specimens which formed the basis of the Flora Altaica. This book was published in four volumes between 1829 and 1833.[4][5]

After the expedition, Bunge lived in Kolyvan and transferred to Zmeinogorsk until 1830. Cause of recommendation from Alexander von Humboldt which Bunge met in 1829 when Humboldt visited Altai, Bunge get a scientific mission from Academy of St.Petersburg to Peking. Humboldt was on expedition which was financed by Tsar Nicholas. He was accompanied with Colonel Ladijenski as pristav (escort) and Dr. P .Kirilov as physician. There was also other researcher other than him which consist of Georg Albert von Fuss as astronomer and metereologist and Kovanko as mineralogist. All of them was sent as part of eleventh ecclesiastical mission which was happen regularly and also to pick up the emissary for the tenth ecclesiastical mission. They gone to Peking from border town , Kjachta at the end of O.S August 1830 through Urga in September 1830 and arrived at 17 November 1830 in Peking after crossing Gobi Desert. They spent winter in Peking. Bunge continued his research in March 1831 by going to ruins called Tsagan balgasun located in Khalgan (Zhangjiakou). His research was finally stopped in May 1821 cause he incurred displeasure from Chinese authorities when he stayed at Buddhist Monastery and doesn't get allowed to go out of Peking [6]

They finally return to Russia on 6 July 1831 with the emissary of tenth ecclesiastical mission by going through the west route bypassing Kalgan and Urga.[6] They finally arrived in Russia on early September 1831 and successfully collected 450 plant specimens. Other than plant, Bunge also collected a few beetle which will be described by Franz Faldermann on his book " Coleopterorum ab illustrissimo Bungio in China boreali, Mongolia, et Montibus Altaicis collectorum descriptio".[6]

After the expedition, Bunge lived in the Irkutsk for the rest of winter. He spend his time to describe his collection which will be 1835. Most of the collection was saved in the herbarium of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Saint Petersburg and small part of it was saved in herbarium of University of Halle as part of herbarium exchange and became duplicate for what was saved in St.Petersburg.[1] One of plant which he named is Viburnum fragrans Bunge (later renamed Viburnum farreri Stearn, after William T. Stearn) and also appeared in Enumeratio plantarum quas in China boreali collegit.[4]

In April 1832, Bunge came back to his duties as physician in Barnaul, but not long after that, he continued other expedition under Russian Academy of Sciences to go to Chuya which was located in eastern Altai mountains.[1] He go to St.Petersburg in 1833 and nominated to became a member of Russian Academy of Sciences and also become Professor of Botany in Kazan University.[3] Bunge spent his time in this university for 3 years and during this period, he doing expedition to study plant from Volga steppe and Strachan region before moving back to Dorpat in 1836 to become professor of botany in University of Dorpat and director of the botanical garden.[4] Bunge was replacing Ledebour's position which has been in retirement.[7]

During his proffesorship, Bunge going on a scientific expedition to Khorasan and Afghanistan in 1857–58[4] and another expedition to go to Persia through Herat in 1558-1559 which led by Nikolái Vladímirovich Janykov. From this expedition, Bunge published botanical treatise for Russian Academy of Sciences and became their honorary member in 1975.[6] At the same place, he kept in contact with Diederich Franz Leonhard von Schlechtendal, a botanist at the University of Halle, through correspondence, via articles published in the journal "Linnaea" and through the exchange of herbarium specimens.[1] Bunge was retired as professor in 1967 and replaced by Heinrich Moritz Willkomm.[1] He remained in Dorpat until 1881, spending his later years there conducting investigations of Estonian flora.[2]

He was the father of physiologist Gustav von Bunge (1844–1920) [2] and of Alexander von Bunge (1851–1930), an explorer and zoologist.[8] His older brother, Friedrich Georg von Bunge (1802–1897), was a legal historian.[1] Bunge was died in 18 July [O.S. 6 July] 1890 in Dorpat.[9]

Taxa

• Genus Bungea (family Orobanchaceae, formerly a member of the family Scrophulariaceae).[5][4]
• Pulsatilla bungeana from genus Pulsatilla
• Caragana bungei from genus Caragana
• Chorispora bungeana from genus Chorispora
• Dracocephalum origanoides bungeanum from species Dracocephalum origanoides
• Ferula bungeana from genus Ferula
• Iris bungei from genus Iris
• Lagochilus bungei from genus Lagochilus
• Oxytropis bungei from genus Oxytropis
• Stellaria bungeana from genus Stellaria
• Ziziphora bungeana from genus Ziziphora[1]
• Euonymus bungeanus from genus Euonymus[10]
• Allium bungei from genus Allium.
• Pinus bungeana from genus Pinus.[11]
• Fraxinus bungeana from genus Fraxinus
• Clerodendrum bungei from genus Clerodendrum[12]
• Catalpa bungei from genus Catalpa.[13]
• Girgensohnia bungeana from genus Girgensohnia.[14]

Places

A crater on Mars and a place in New Siberian Island called Bungeland was named after him.[4]

• Flora Altaica; scripsit Carolus Fridericus a Ledebour, adiutoribus Car. Ant. Meyer et Al. a Bunge. Tomus I (1829)[15]
• Flora Altaica; scripsit Carolus Fridericus a Ledebour, adiutoribus Car. Ant. Meyer et Al. a Bunge. Tomus II (1830)[16]
• Flora Altaica; scripsit Carolus Fridericus a Ledebour, adiutoribus Car. Ant. Meyer et Al. a Bunge. Tomus III (1831)[17]
• Flora Altaica; scripsit Carolus Fridericus a Ledebour, adiutoribus Car. Ant. Meyer et Al. a Bunge. Tomus IV (1832)[18]
• Enumeratio plantarum quas in China boreali collegit Dr. Al. Bunge. Anno 1831. (1832)[19]
• Plantarum mongolica-chinensium decas fine. (1835)
• Verzeichniss der im Jahre 1832 im östlichen Theile des Altai-Gebirges gesammelten Pflanzen. Ein Supplement zur Flora Altaica written with Ledebour (1836) [20]
• Anleitung zum Studium der Botanik, oder Grundriss Dieser Wissenschaft  Enthaltend die Organographie, Physiologie, Methodologie, die Pflanzen, Geographie, eine Ubersich der fossilen der pharmaceustischen Botanik und der Geschichte der Botanik written with Alphonse Pyramus de Candolle (1838) [21]
• Alexandri Lehmann reliquiae botanicae; sive, Enumeratio plantarum in itinere per deserta Asiae Mediae ab A. Lehmann annis 1839–1842 collectarum. Scripsit Al. Bunge. (1847)[22]
• Beitrag zur Kenntniss der Flor Russlands und der Steppen Central-Asiens, (1851) – Contribution to the knowledge of flora native to Russia and the steppes of Central Asia.[23]
• Tentamen generis Tamaricum species accuratius definiendi. (1852)[24]
• Plantas Abichianas in itineribus per Caucasum regionesque Transcaucasicas collectas, enumeravit A. Bunge. (1858).[25]
• Generis Astragali species gerontogeae. (1868–1869).[4]
• Die Gattung Acantholimon Boiss. (1872).[26]
• Labiatae persicae, (1873).[27]

• List of Baltic German scientists
• Category:Taxa named by Alexander von Bunge

• Works by Alexander von Bunge at Biodiversity Heritage Library