13 



when he changed his profession. He was a man of many ideas and 

 in great favour with the leading statesmen; he therefore succeeded in 

 inducing the king to pay the expenses of the pubhcation of a work 

 in folio which was to contain artistic pictures and descriptions of all 

 wild plants in Denmark and its dominions. It was Oeder's plan that 

 corresponding works should be published at the same time in all 

 other civilized countries, but only Russia and Austria agreed to this 

 scheme, and their interest soon flagged; only Denmark continued, and 

 the work started by Oeder in 1763 under the name of "Flora Danica" 

 was continued from that time up to 1883. It now contains pictures of 

 all Danish vascular plants and a great many lower cryptogames. The 



publication of this great work grew to be of 

 very considerable importance in the botani* 

 cal investigation of Denmark by supplying 

 the various editors with pecuniary means 

 and making it obligatory on them to travel 

 in the country in order to collect material. 

 The editor was accompanied by an artist who 

 was able to make a sketch of the plants in 

 their localities. As all the first four editors 

 of the "Flor.a Danic,\" were more or less 

 interested in fungi they caused a number to 

 be sketched; as far as concerns the larger 

 fungi the pictures are generally good, but 

 it was rather a mistake to have the small or 

 quite microscopic ones reproduced in this 

 manner. Oeder was the editor of "Flora 

 Danica" from 1763 to 1770, O. F. Muller from 1771 to 1782, M. Vahl 

 1787-99, J. W. Hornemann 1804-40, F. M. Liebmann 1843-1853 and 

 JoH. Lange 1858—1883. Of the figures of fungi in the "Flora 

 Danica" Oeder published 30, Muller 78, Vahl 93 and Hornemann 

 563. It must, however, be noticed that the figures of fungi pub* 

 lished by the latter almost all originate either from Vahl (149) or 

 from Schumacher (414). In 1840 it was resolved that the portrayal 

 of the fungi should cease a very wise resolution indeed as, with the 

 materials of that time, it was impossible to give a recognizable picture 

 of the small fungi, and, in fact, there are many figures of fungi in 

 the "Flora Danica" which are quite undeterminable. Rostrup has 

 made great efforts to find the right names of as many of them as 

 possible (see Joh. Lange; Nomenclator Florae Danicae, 1887, concern 

 ning Flora Danica see also Viborg: Historisk Udsigt over det Konge^ 

 lige Vaerk Flora Danica, Skand. Lit. Selsk. Skrifter II 1806; Hornet 

 mann: Nomenclatura Florae Danicae emendata cum indice systematico 



G. C. E. VON Oeder. 



From an engraving in Halcm : 

 .\ndenken an Oedcr. 



