Stapf Bridge

Otto Stapf (1857-1933) – a Bad Ischl-born botanist with international reputation

The small bridge in Sisi-Park garden was erected on the occasion of the Upper Austrian State Garden Show in 2015.

Otto Stapf was born on 23 March 1857 at 2am at "Berneck 43" (recte "Perneck"). From 1864 until the school year 1866/67, Otto attended elementary school in Hallstatt. When on hikes, his father taught him to love nature. Stapf then attended grammar schools in Salzburg, Linz and finally in Vienna, where he graduated with honors in 1875. He studied at the University of Vienna and worked on his doctoral dissertation under Professor Julius Wiesner. He earned his PhD in 1882 with his thesis on "The Crystalloids of Plants".

In 1885, Stapf undertook an expedition to Persia.  The Ischler Wochenblatt newspaper reports in detail on a "lecture by Stapf" entitled Land and People in the Highlands of Persia (“Land und Leute im Hochlande von Persien”), which he held in Bad Ischl on 3 January 1886. In the same year, Otto Stapf's only publication related to the Salzkammergut, The Plant Remains of the Hallstatt Heathen’s Rock (“Die Pflanzenreste ds Hallstätter Heidengebirges”), was published in the Austrian Botanical Newspaper (Österreichische Botanische Zeitschrift).

In January 1891, Otto Stapf entered British service as an Assistant for India. In 1909, he was appointed Keeper of the Royal Herbarium and Library at Kew (London, England). He held this honorary position until his retirement in 1922.

Stapf's scientific and editorial work have been honored with numerous decorations. In 1931, he was awarded the Veitch Memorial Medal for his services to horticultural culture. Stapf was also a member of the Horticultural Society in Vienna, an honorary member of the German Botanical Society, and in 1927 he was awarded the Linnean Medal. Stapf enjoyed great respect that among his colleagues which led to eight plant genera and 124 plant species being named after him!

The great scientist passed away on 3 August 1933 in Innsbruck.

You can find more details about Stapf in Dr. Harald Lobitzer’s article in the Mitteilungen (No. 33) bulletin of the Cultural Heritage Society of Bad Ischl (Ischler Heimatverein).