Philipp Franz von Siebold

Physician, botanist, and traveler who brought Japanese Knotweed to Europe

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Dutch personnel and Japanese women watching an incoming towed Dutch sailing ship at Dejima - Painting showing  Philipp Franz von Siebold   with a telescope ( teresukoppu ), Dutch personnel and Siebolds Japanese wife Kusumoto Otaki with their baby-daughter   Kusumoto Ine   watching an incoming Dutch sailing ship at Dejima. The ship is towed by many stringed rowing boats. c.1811   - 1842, years of Kawahara Keiga's employment for Dejima.    Image taken from  MIT Visualizing Cultures .

Philipp Franz Balthasar von Siebold (17 February 1796 – 18 October 1866) was a German physician, botanist, and traveler. He achieved prominence by his studies of Japanese flora and fauna and the introduction of Western medicine in Japan. Of German origin, he made his career working for the Dutch. He was the father of the first female Japanese doctor, Kusumoto Ine.

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FIGURE 1. Engraving from De Vriese (1849) of Siebold's plant from History of Japanese Knotweed - Philipp Franz von Siebold

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Polygonum cuspidatum Siebold & Zucc. “Mexican bamboo” - Curtis, W., Curtis's botanical magazine, vol. 106: t. 6503 (1880-1948)

With: Philipp Franz von Siebold

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