Johann Friedrich Rücker (or Ruecker) was a German pharmacist and plant collector who served with the Dutch East India Company for five years before 1696 and then settled as a pharmacist and herbalist in Berlin. He brought seeds, bulbs, and plant drawings from the Cape which were presented to Christian Mentzel (1622-1701), who had published his Index nominum plantarum universalis multilinguia... in 1682. When this work was republished in 1696 (and in 1715) as Lexicon plantarum polyglotton universale... Mentzel included two pages and two plates dealing with plants collected by Rücker at the Cape, including a drawing of Kniphofia uvaria. The genus Ruckeria (family Compositae) was named after him, but the name is no longer in use.

List of sources:

The Eponym Dictionary of Southern African Plants: Plant Names P - S. Retrieved from http://www.calflora.net/southafrica/1P-S.html on 24 July 2020.

Gunn, M. & Codd, L.E. Botanical exploration of southern Africa. Cape Town: Balkema, 1981.

Hutchinson, J. A botanist in southern Africa (p. 557). London: Gawthorn, 1946.

South African bibliography to the year 1925. London: Mansell, 1979.

Compiled by: C. Plug

Last updated: 2020-07-24 11:10:20