Koch, Max (1854 - 1925)

Born in Berlin, Germany, on 17 July 1854, died in Pemberton, Western Australia, on 1 April 1925.

Emigrated to Australia in 1878, and worked for many years (c. 1888-1901) on a sheep station at Mount Lyndhurst, South Australia. Moved to Western Australia in 1904, where he was employed in saw milling work. A prolific collector in his spare time, he amassed large numbers of collections from the mid-north of South Australia and from Western Australia. Ten sets of the Mount Lyndhurst specimens were sent to Maiden at NSW who used them as exchange with other herbaria. Seven sets from Mount Lyndhurst and 100 Western Australian plants were sent to AD. About 200-300 sheets of Western Australian collections were bought by MEL in about 1896. Audas (1929) credits him with discovering nine new species in South Australia, and 33 species plus 14 varieties from Western Australia. His main collections are at AD, MEL and NSW, with smaller sets at many herbaria including A, B, BP, BREM, BRI, CANB, DBN, E, G, GH, HBG, HO, K, L, M, MIN, MO, P, PERTH and VT. See Audas (1929) for an exhaustive list of institutions receiving specimens.

Extracted from: A.E.Orchard (1999) A History of Systematic Botany in Australia, in Flora of Australia Vol.1, 2nd ed., ABRS. [consult for source references]