Heinrich Wawra Ritter von Fernsee (born Jindřich Blažej Vávra; 2 February 1831 – 24 May 1887) was a Czech-Austrian ship surgeon, botanist and explorer.

Biography

Heinrich Wawra von Fernsee was born on 2 February 1831 in Brno, Moravia. The youngest of five sons of a miller, he studied medicine and botany at the University of Vienna from 1849 to 1855. Upon graduating he joined the Austro-Hungarian Imperial Navy on 6 December 1855. The commander of the fleet at this time was the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian. Wawra von Fernsee retired from the navy in 1878 to work on his extensive collections. He died on 24 May 1887 in Baden, at the age of 56. The plant genus Fernseea was named after him.

Expeditions

Collections

Herb. Vienna [W]. Duplicates at Herb. Berlin [B], Herb. Decand. [G]); Herb. Bot. Gard. St Petersburg [LE]). Wood samples at Franzens Museum in Brno.

Major publications