Johannes Paulus Lotsy

Johannes Paulus Lotsy or Jan Paulus Lotsy (11 April 1867 – 17 November 1931) was a Dutch botanist, specializing in evolution and heredity. He promoted the idea of evolution being driven by hybridization.

Career Lotsy was born into a wealthy family in Dordrecht and went to study at the Wageningen Agricultural College where his teachers included Martinus Beijerinck and then at the Göttingen University (1886-1890) where he studied lichens for his doctorate. He then went to Johns Hopkins University (1891–1895), as a lecturer and also served as director of the herbarium. From 1896 to 1900 he was sent to Java to work on cinchona research. He returned after suffering from malaria and then taught at Leiden University (1904-1909), as a lecturer in Systematic Botany. He became director of the State Herbarium (Rijksherbarium) 1906–1909, then Secretary of the Hollandsche Maatschappij van Wetenschappen.

Lotsy founded the Association internationale des Botanistes and was editor of the Botanisches Centralblatt and the Progressus rei botanicae. He proposed a system of plant classification, based on phylogenetics. Lotsy argued for a major role of hybridization in evolution, including claims for human evolution.

Lotsy died at Voorburg following a surgery.

Travels

India (1895–1900), the United States (1922), Australia and New Zealand (1925), South Africa (1926–27), and Egypt (1930). He also studied the flora of Italy and Switzerland. Publications

1928. Voyages of exploration to judge of the bearing of hybridization upon evolution (Genetica : nederlandsch tijdschrift voor erfelijheids- en afstammingsleer). Ed. M. Nijhoff 1922a. Van den Atlantischen Oceaan naar de Stille Zuidzee 1922b. A popular account of evolution. The Cawthron institute, Nelson, Nueva Zelanda. Cawthron lecture. Ed. R.W. Stiles & Co. 22 pp. 1915. Het Tegenwoordige Standpunt der Evolutie-leer 1911. Série IIIA. Sciences exactes. 1–4. Rédigées par J. P. Lotsy 1906a. Résultats scientifiques du Congrès international de botanique, Vienne, 1905. Wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse des Internationalen botanischen Kongresses, Wien, 1905 ... Redigiert von J. P. Lotsy ... Mit ... 1 Karte, etc 1906b. Vorlesungen über Deszendenztheorien, mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der botanischen Seite der Frage, gehalten an der Reichsuniversität zu Leiden, etc. 1899. Rhopalocnemis Phalloides Jungh: A morphological-systematical study. Ed. E.J. Brill 1898. Contributions to the life-history of the genus Gnetum. Ed. E.J. Brill 1894. A contribution to the investigation of the assimilation of free atmospheric nitrogen by white and black mustard. Bulletin / U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Experiment Stations. G.P.O. 19 pp.

Books

2008. Evolution By Means Of Hybridization. Reeditado Maudsley Press. 176 pp. 1928. A Popular Account of Evolution 1925. Evolution considered in the light of Hybridization. Ed. Canterbury College by Andrews, Baty & Co. 66 pp. 1916. Evolution by Means of Hybridization. The Hague, Martinus Nijhoff, 166 pp. 1907–1911. Vorträge über botanische Stammesgeschichte gehalten an der Reichsuniversität zu Leiden. Ein Lehrbuch der Pflanzensystematik. In drei Bände. Jena, Verlag von Gustav Fischer. With illustrations. I. Algen und Pilze (Thallophyta) Jena: Gustav Fischer, 1907. II. Cormophyta Zoidogamia Jena: Gustav Fischer, 1909. III.

System

Lotsy argued that the monocotyledons were diphyletic, with the Spadiciflorae being derived from the dicotyledons (specifically Piperales) and the remainder from a hypothetical ancestor, the Proranales. Hutchinson, who argued for a monophyletic origin, considered this improbable.

Synopsis

Vorträge über botanische Stammesgeschichte Volume 3: Cormophyta Siphonogamia Part 1 Monocotyledons vol 3(1) p. 514–564, 625–864 Spadiciflorae p. 514–564 Araceae Lemnaceae Cyclanthaceae Palmaceae Pandanaceae Sparganiaceae Typhaceae Alismataceae Butomaceae Hydrocharitaceae Scheuchzeriaceae Zosteraceae Posidoniaceae Aponogetonaceae Potamogetonaceae Najadaceae Altheniaceae Cymodoceaceae Triuridaceae Enantioblastae p. 693-714 Commelinaceae Mayacaceae Xyridaceae Eriocaulaceae Centrolepidaceae Restionaceae Pontederiaceae Liliifloren p. 715–766, 792–834 Liliaceae 714 Melanthiaceae 717 Asphodelaceae 722 Aloinaceae 725 Eriospermaceae 730 Johnsoniaceae 731 Agapanthaceae 732 Alliaceae Gilliesiaceae 734 Tulipaceae 735 Scillaceae 741 Asparagaceae 743 Dracaenaceae 749 Smilaceae 759 Luzuriagaceae 760 Ophiopogonaceae Lomandraceae 761 Dasypogonaceae 763 Calectasiaceae 764 Juncaceae Flagellariaceae 765 Stemonaceae (Roxburghiaceae) 792 Cyanastraceae 793 Iridaceae 794 Crocoideae Iridoideae 796 Ixioideae 799 Haemodoraceae 800 Amaryllidaceae 801, 811 Hypoxidaceae Vellosiaceae 802 Agavaceae 806 Bromeliaceae 814 Dioscoreaceae 823 Taccaceae 826 Burmanniaceen 829 Glumifloren p. 767–791 Cyperaceae Graminaceae Scitamineae p. 835–864 Musaceae Cannaceae Zingiberaceae Marantaceae Orchidaceae Index p. 952