Johanna A. Witasek

Johanna Amalia Witasek (13 August 1865 – 5 July 1910) was an Austrian botanist noted for her work on taxonomy, geographic distribution, and nomenclature. Witasek studied at the Botanical Museum in Vienna, working on material brought back from expeditions to Brazil and Samoa. Over eleven years, she published a number of papers on Solanaceae, Campanula, and Callianthemum.

Life Witasek was born on 13 August 1865 in Vienna. Her father was a railway engineer. She initially worked as a school teacher in public schools in Vienna, and later in a school for girls. She published a monograph in 1908 on Solanaceae in Brazil, using material from the Austrian Academy of Science expedition in 1901, led by Richard Wettstein. Rechinger's work of Botanical and Zoological Results, submitted to the Academy of Sciences in July 1909, was reprinted in 1910, including Witasek's contributions. The work was published in the same year.

Witasek died on 5 July 1910 in Vienna, aged forty-four years, by suicide. Her botanical collection was donated to the Botanical Museum after her death.

Written works