The memorial plaque of Filip Maximilian Opiz (1787-1858), an important botanist of the first half of the 19th century, commemorates him as a native of Čáslav. Opiz was the first in Europe to found the so-called Institute for the Exchange of Nature Products in 1819 and created an extensive herbarium collection of plants. He became a leading figure in floristic research in Bohemia with the aim of creating a botanical nomenclature.

Philip Maximilian Opiz (Phillip Maximilian Opiz in German) carried out botanical activities alongside his profession as a commercial clerk. He was self-taught in the field of botany and only after moving to Prague started to attend botanical lectures at the Polytechnic and also in the Prague Canal Garden. His activity in the field of botany was enormous. In his research on the Bohemian flora, Opiz and his collaborators built on the work of the Presl brothers, Flora Čechica (1819). In the Czech lands he was a pioneer in the study of lower plants and in his works he concentrated to a large extent on cryptogamic research (concerning cryptogams, or spore plants). He organized botanical excursions to the Prague surroundings and also founded the Prague herbarium. In order to organise collectors of natural plants and to enable them to exchange them, he founded the Naturalientauschschanstalt (Institute for the Exchange of Nature Products) in 1819, which initially focused on botany and entomology, but later the botanical focus of the institute prevailed and the name Pflanzentauschanstalt (Institute for the Exchange of Plants) was adopted.

The plants that were acquired in exchange became the basis of Opiz`s herbarium, which eventually numbered 30-35,000 items. Plants intended for exchange were offered in the Naturalientausch (Natural Products Exchange) magazine until 1830, and Opiz also published his comments on individual collections there. Opiz`s publishing activity was also remarkable. He published around 500 articles in important botanical journals, e.g. in the Regensburg journal Flora, in Ch. C. André`s famous Moravian journal Hesperus, L. Oken`s Isis and the Prague natural science journal Lotus.

Philip Maximilian Opiz also tried to classify the botanical material he collected and from 1820 he worked on botanical nomenclature. However, only the first volume of his work was published, and the rest of his writings are preserved only in manuscript. Opiz`s most important work, Botanische Topographie Böheims (Botanical Topography of Bohemia), which has more than 1,000 pages (completed in 1835), is also only available in manuscript. In this work, Opiz documented the sites and associated taxa. Interestingly, Opiz also discussed in detail the direction of floristic research and suggested a methodology for the possible systematization of botany. He recommended the establishment of a European botanical documentation centre to take care of standardisation of collections, nomenclature or training of researchers. Opiz was a member of a number of important European natural history societies and his association with botanical research in Bohemia was so extensive and intense that in the context of the first half of the 19th century many talk of the “Opiz period”.

The commemorative plaque was unveiled on the house where Opiz was born in Čáslav on the initiative of the archaeological association the Čáslav Bee on 10 June 1883, with the participation of representatives of all Čáslav associations, members of the town council and prominent scientific personalities. The ceremonial speech on this occasion was delivered by the university professor, geologist Jan Krejčí.

Connected places: Canal Garden

Kanálská zahrada; Pamětní deska Karla Bořivoje Presla; Pamětní deska Christiana Carla Andrého v Brně; Pomník Jana Svatopluka Presla

Keywords: botany; Institute for the Exchange of Nature Products, cryptogams, botany nomenclature, herbarium

Commemorative Plaque to Filip Maximilián Opiz in Čáslav