Nicolai Anders von Hartwiss

Nicolai Anhorn von Hartwiss , also known as Nikolai Andreyevich Gatvis (; 1793–1860) was a Russian botanist, plant explorer and plant breeder of Baltic German descent.

His education at the Imperial University of Dorpat was interrupted by the Napoleonic Wars of 1812–1818 as he served in the Imperial Russian Army. Afterwards he worked on his father's estate, and by 1824, he was living in Riga and had a collection of 500 varieties of fruit trees and roses. He was then appointed to the Russian Imperial Botanical Garden at Nikita, Crimea, where he served as a director for the rest of his career. He is remembered for his plant collection explorations of Georgia and the Crimea, and for the breeding of roses.

Life Von Hartwiss was born Ritter (esquire) Nikolaus Ernst Bartholomäus Anhorn von Hartwiss (Hartwiß) in 1793 at his father's estate at Kokenhof, near Wolmar, Livonia (now Valmiera, Latvia).

The family Anhorn von Hartwiss (double name) comes from Switzerland. His grandfather, Silvester Samuel (1708–1782), descended from Swiss Protestant pastors and emigrated to Russia. His father, Heinrich Ernst, was a registered member of the Livonian nobility (reg. 1769). He married his first cousin Christina Louisa. Nikolaus was their tenth child. By that time, Livonia (present-day Latvia and Estonia) had been absorbed into the Russian Empire as the Governorate of Livonia, but the nobility still retained its ancient Baltic German forms and spoke Low German.

Hartwiss was educated at the German-speaking Imperial University of Dorpat (1809–1812), where his studies were interrupted by the Napoleonic Wars. He was an officer in the Imperial Russian Army from 1812 to 1818; he was discharged as a result of his wounds. called Artek near Bear Mountain (Ayu-Dag) in Crimea. After the death of his first wife in 1855, he married a young girl from Riga, Leontine Werther, in Simferopol on 2 February 1858. However, she died at the end of the same year giving birth to a daughter.

Exploration Quercus hartwissiana, named after von Hartwiss by Steven, first director of the Nikita Gardens. Von Hartwiss collected plants in Georgia and the Crimea. Some species were named by him, some named after him. (Cupressaceae) Juniperus hartwissiana Steven ex Koeppen Strandzha oak (Fagaceae) Quercus hartwissiana Steven (Paeoniaceae) Paeonia hartwissiana hort. ex Trautv.

Plant breeding

Von Hartwiss imported many plants for the Botanic Garden, including roses. In 1827 he began to breed roses. These were partly for the Garden itself, but also for the Alupka Palace of Count (later Prince) Michael Vorontsov. Some thirty of his roses were sold from the Alupka Palace nursery.

Roses bred Von Hartwiss bred more than 100 varieties of roses at the Nikita Garden. Hartwiss's hand-written 1834 catalogue of roses at Nikita lists scores of roses bred there identified only by description.

Sortable selection of Hartwiss-bred roses