The botanical expeditions of Prof. Kurt Krause (1883-1963)
in Turkey and his publications

Asuman Baytop

Prof.Dr. Kurt Krause (1883-1963) was professor of botany and director of the Botanical Department of the High Institute of Agriculture (Yüksek Ziraat Enstitüsü) at Ankara for 6 years, between 1933 and 1939. He travelled in Turkey, collected plant specimens and founded in his department a herbarium he called Herbarium Turcicum. He published his researches and wrote books. He was a German botanist who came from Berlin. Before being appointed in Turkey, he visited in 1912 the mount Ararat. Then he gathered in 1914 from West and Central Anatolia and from the Cilician Taurus. He came at least seven times to Turkey between 1914 and 1932 and continued his expeditions while he was in charge at Ankara. He deposited most of his material, ca. 5600 specimens, in the Botanical Museum of the University of Berlin. His Berlin collection has been destroyed in the Second World War during a bombardment in March 1943. His collection in Ankara is kept in the Herbarium of the Faculty of Sciences of Ankara University (ANK) and comprises nearly 5000 specimens. Krause travelled mainly in Central, West, South and Northeast Anatolia. He has much collected from Ankara and Istanbul. He has published 33 articles related to Turkish flora between 1913 and 1946, mainly in German and in German periodicals, and five books between 1934 and 1939 at Ankara. Five specific epithets bear his name. With his botanical collections and publications, he has been at Ankara, in the early years of the young Republic of Turkey, an appreciated pioneer in the field of floristic investigations, a keen researcher and a much esteemed professor.

Keywords: Flora of Turkey, botanical excursions, floristic publications, collectors, Kurt Krause, history of botany. Anahtar kelimeler: Türkiye florası, bitki toplamaları, floristic yayınlar, toplayıcılar, Kurt Krause, botanik tarihi.