Life of Guangzhou - Lecture by Dr. Schneckenburger "Goethe and the Plant World"

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe war more than a poet. He was especially interested in science. Goethe's interest in the plant world was amazing and it was awakened by Carl von Linné. He studied the "metamorphosis of plants" intensively, i.e. the "transformation" of the organs, in consideration of their various functions: "Everything is leaf" is how he once summarized his thinking in a letter. His interest in botany was often connected to his professional duties as a government official in Weimar.
In addition to his thoughts about botany, he also focused on climatology, optics (especially the theory of colors) and zoology.

The most well-known "Goethe plant" is indisputably the ginkgo tree (Ginkgo biloba L.). Even if one associates this plant with the name Goethe, the ginkgo tree was not especially important to him. Ginkgo biloba L. is native to China and came to northern China and Japan already during the 11th century. The name of the plant probably came from the designation that was used in Japan, "silver apricot" (gin - silver, kyo - apricot), because its seeds are reminiscent of apricots. The replacement of the letter "y" by the letter "g" is seen to have been caused by a reading or typesetting error when it was first printed. Due to the successful vegetative reproduction by the gardeners of Weimar, one could buy ginkgo trees in Jena already around the year 1800. Because of the substances of content, preparations using ginkgo leaves were used medically with success against circulatory disorders. The ginkgo leaf did not become important to Goethe until the year 1815, when he built a relationship with Marianne von Willemer, the wife of the Frankfurt banker and patron Johann Jakob von Willemer. As a symbol of friendship, the gave her a leaf from a 23 year old ginkgo tree from the garden of a pharmacist, which was located on the left bank of the river Main. Later he sent her the poem of the same name, which was included in the cycle of poems entitled "From the West-Eastern Divan" and it was incorporated in the book "Suleika", which was dedicated to love.

Dr. Stefan Schneckenburger is a great admirer of Goethe, who for 20 years has dealt with the strengths and weknesses of the poet laureate and his enduring ideas about the gestalt of plants. "Insights are always welcome" was the motto of Goethe, the poet and the scientist, who also during his many years in Weimar never forgot his home city of Frankfurt, for "it befits the Free City of Frankfurt to shine from all sides and to be active in all directions".