Reinhardt Biographical Record
SCANNED
Biographical Record
Otto Reinhardt
Born 29 July 1827 · Died 9 April 1875
Occupation: Botanist
Cause of Death: Lost in a sandstorm two days out from water. He was found eleven weeks later, alongside his press buckled shut, half-buried, and containing forty-one specimens in flawless condition — each labelled, each dated, the last one dated the day he died.
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Otto Reinhardt loved plants that refused to die. The desert flora of the south-west African coast is a masterclass in stubbornness — some live two thousand years with no moisture aside from fog, some go dormant for a decade and flower in an afternoon, some look like stones until it rains — and Reinhardt regarded them with a personal admiration that bordered on obsession. He was a heavy, slow-moving, entirely unromantic Prussian who spoke about a Welwitschia the way other men spoke about their children. He was also a genius of preservation, which is the least celebrated skill in botany and the one on which all the rest depends.
ARCHIVE NOTE:The press is secured. The forty-one specimens are held, each intact, labelled, and identifiable. The Archive is not sentimental, but it notes that a man may choose what outlives him, and that Herr Reinhardt chose well.