Сава Петровић : (1839-1889)

Abstract

Dr Sava Petrović was born in 1839, in Sabac, where he received elementary and lower gymnasium education. He finished higher gym nasium and Lycaeum in Belgrade, and studies of medicine in Paris. He worked in Kruševac and Belgrade as physician, chief of medical corps and personal physician of King Milan Obrenovi6. He died in Belgrade in 1889. His scientific contribution is significant in the area of phyto-pharmacology, medicine and botany. In the area of medicine he was dealing with the problems of nostalgia (behavior of young soldiers in the Serbian, Army) and tuberculosis (highly dangerous and, at that time, incurable disease). But, he is more recognized and has achieved greater results in phyto-pharmacology and botany. He wrote the first Serbian Pharmecopeia "Medicinal Herb's of Serbia", describing about 450 medical plants. Yet, his exceptional results were in botany. He wrote two voluminous works "Flora of Nis Region" (Flora Agri Nyssani) and "Supplement to Flora of Niš Region", and monograph on endemic ramonda, two of them were found in the region of Niš, Ramonda serbica Pančić and R. nathaliae Pa/166 et Petrović, and noted about 1600 plant species and its diffusion and ecology. He also described a number of new taxa for the science of botany, for example: Genista nissana, Nonnea pallens, Orobaonche serbica (with Beck), Ramonda nathaliae (with Panei6), Stachys milanii, Crocus hybridus (Crocus chrysanthus x adami), Edraianthus serbicus, Hypochaeris maculata ssp. pelivanovia, Hieracium praecox ssp. pljackovicense, Primula acaulis f. alba and Centaurea napulifera ssp. nyssana. Also, he discovered over 80 new species of Serbian flora, many of them being endemic and relict plants. Working together with Josif Pančić he helped to better exploration and study of newly liberated southern parts of Serbia from the Turks.