Abstracts, XIV OPTIMA Meeting, Palermo (Italy) , 9-15

XIV OPTIMA Meeting, Palermo (Italy), 9-15 September 2013
Josif Pančić and the New Flora of Serbia
VASIĆ O.
Natural History Museum, Belgrade, Serbia. E-mail: oljav@nhmbeo.rs
When back in the mid 19th century, fascinated by lectures by famous József Sadler, Josif Pančić
(1814–1888) decided to become a botanist, he still could not know that this path would take him to
Serbia where he would become the first and the most famous botanist and one of the great names of
Serbian science. At that time only about 200 species were known from Serbia, and August Grisebach
even stated that Serbia has little to promise to botanists. In his two most important works, Flora of the
Principality of Serbia (1874) and Supplement (1884), Pančić disproved that statement by proving that
flora of Serbia is rich in species and deserving the attention of botanists. The complex picture of composition,
structure and diversity of flora was based on these two books for almost a century, while taxonomic
and phytogeographic studies were neglected in Serbia for quite a long time as they were considered
“outdone and unfashionable”. Although these books were published in late 19th century, the
flow of time has not diminished their validity and authenticity at all. The data collected by Pančić were
not only the starting point but also the solid foundation for preparing the eight-volume edition Flora of
SR Serbia in just six years (1970–1976), and the first volume was published 96 years after the Flora of
the Principality of Serbia. This sudden drive in floristic studies soon resulted in two volumes of supplements
(1977, 1986), while the fundamental studies on flora, in function of acknowledging biodiversity
and providing nature conservation, found their deserved position during the next decades.
Consequently, just about two decades after the first volume of Flora of SR Serbia was published, the
Serbian botanists gathered again in order to prepare the second edition, and Pančić participated also
through his literature titles. This was not caused by mere sentimentality or historical reasons, but by
genuine eternal value of his work. This is confirmed by the presence of 2422 species in Pančić’s Flora
and Supplement, which is about 68% of species known in present-day Serbia that has a much greater
territory than in Pančić’s time. Spring of 2014 will mark 200 years since Pančić’s birth and 168 years
since his arrival to Serbia, whose flora he devoted more than forty years of his life.
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