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Father Franz Xaver Freiherr von Wulfen, SJ
(1728-1805)
Botanist

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Scott 766  
AUSTRIA
, 1966, Scott 766 and its special cancel

 Personalized stamp
ALBANIA,
1987, Wulfenia baldaci Dege, Scott 2248

AUSTRIA, 2007, stamp personalized by the Wulfenia Stamp Club from Hermagor, Austria.
Wulfen discovered wulfenia on Gartnerkogel, a mountain southwest of Hermagor.
The painting is by Max Gangl, a native of that village.

Scott 2944
ALBANIA, 2007, two images of Wulfenia baldaccii from Albania with labels, Scott 2844

Father Franz Xaver Freiherr von Wulfen was born in Belgrade, son of the Austrian lieutenant field-marshal, Christian Friedrich von Wulfen. After studies at Kaschau, Hungary, he joined Jesuits in 1745, studied and taught at the Theresianum in Vienna, at Graz, Neusohl, Gorz, Lailbach, and from 1764, when the Jesuits were suppressed, until his death in 1805, at Klagenfurt. He was a distinguished scholar and botanist especially of the Eastern Alps. Many plants bear the species or subspecies name "wulfenii" in his honor. Two species of the genus Wulfenia are represented philatelically: Wulfenia carinthiaca from Austria, and Wulfenia baldaccii from Albania.

In addition to wulfenia, other botanical items are named for him, among them yellow houseleek (Sempervivum wulfenii) and mediterranean spurge, a spectacular winter flowering garden plant, the largest variety of the Euphorbia family, very popular with landscapers (Euphorbia wulfenii).


AUSTRIA,
2013, a personalized stamp commissioned by Rudolf Gallers, a member of the St. Gabriel Society, a renown Christian philatelic association.
who also raises wulfenia in his herbarium. The angel in the upper right is the logo of the St. Gabriel Society.

 
AUSTRIA, 1979, special cancel, 200th anniversary of discovery of wulfenia


 
AUSTRIA
, 1980, special cancel, the 175th anniversary of the death of Fr. Franz Wulfen, SJ
showing a mineral named for him, wulfenite
THE UNITED STATES, 1995, special show cancel also showing the mineral

In 1775, Fr. Wulfen had supplied the first detailed description of the mineral lead molybdenum complete with colored illustrations showing crystals. He had discovered it in Austrian mines near Bleiberg and Carinthia. The mineralogist Heidinger named the ore wulfenite in 1845 to honor Fr. Wulfen's mineralogical research. Other stamps and souvenir sheets below illustrate the mineral wulfenite.

 Scott 839 Scott 934c Scott 788B  
CHAD, 2000 dated 1999, Scott 839
CHAD, 1998, from a souvenir sheet of six stamps, Scott 788B
CHAD, 2001, lower left, Scott 934c

Scott 933 
COMOROS,
1998, on the right, Scott 933
COMOROS, 2011, quartz and wulfenite from a mini-sheet of 5 mineral stamps

Scott 2882 
GRENADA GRENADINES, 2014 stamp 2884a (upper left) is example of wulfenite, Scott 2884

 
GUINEA,
2014 and 2015

  
GUINEA-BISSAU,
2004, upper left
GUINEA-BISSAU, 2008

Scott 952 Scott 649 Scott 1605
MALI
, 1997, the top center has been identified as barite or wulfenite, Scott 949, 952
MOROCCO
, 1987, Scott 649 
MOZAMBIQUE, 2002, showing Nelson Mandela with wulfenite on lower left, Scott 1605

   
Scott 687  
NAMIBIA,
1991, Scott 687
NAMIBIA,
1995 postal card, both stamp and vignette are wulfenite.

Wulfenite on a Niger stamp wulfenite
NIGER, 2015 wulfenite appears on the top stamp and on the selvage. Also available imperf.
NIGER, 2015 wulfenite appears on the top left stamp as a reddish mineral.

Scott 2406 
ST. THOMAS AND PRINCE,
2011, in the upper right of the souvenir sheet selvage is a mix of wulfenite, mimetite, and willemite, Scott 2406

Scott 286  
SLOVENIA,
1997, Scott 286 & its FDI cancel

 
SOLOMON ISLANDS, 2012, at the top center of this volcanoes and minerals issue
The black at the top of the souvenir sheet is background, not part of the sheet.

Scott 637 
SOUTH WEST AFRICA,
1989, Scott 637



UGANDA,
2013, a stamp on stamp souvenir sheet including the Namibia issue.

Scott 2703 Scott 1501
THE UNITED STATES,
1992, Scott 2703   
YUGOSLAVIA,
1980, Scott 1501

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