Rasbach, Helga

• Helga Rasbach

German botanist and pteridologist, wife of Dr. Kurt Rasbach.

Helga was also an outstanding botanical illustrator – from cytology (e.g., of ferns) to the overall habitat (e.g., in her husband's early orchid volume).

Longtime collaborator with her husband Dr. Kurt Rasbach. Members of the Baden State Association for Natural History and Nature Conservation for over 60 years.

[Translated from German via Google,
Helga Rasbach was a biologist who specialized in the taxonomy of ferns. Her specialty was the discovery of unusual species. Numerous new discoveries of fern species in Central and Southern Europe can be traced back to her. At the same time, Helga Rasbach possessed the systematic knowledge to identify and thoroughly investigate doubtful cases in the field, particularly to examine them cytologically with regard to the chromosome numbers of individual ferns. Based on this, she was able to describe new hybrids, cytotypes, and subspecies of ferns and to identify hybrids. She also contributed many anonymously, for example, her work on the identification key for ferns in Oberdorfer's Excursion Flora.

Supported, among other things, by his early membership in the Baden State Association for Natural History and Nature Conservation, the Rasbachs maintained diverse contacts within the natural science community in Tübingen, Freiburg, and Karlsruhe. Especially in geobotanical work, they supported projects by young scientists at the diploma thesis level, many of whom later became professors. Here, too, the Rasbach couple proved themselves to be a perfect team: Helga Rasbach meticulously prepared the thematic requirements for photographic documentation of the relevant questions and results. Over the weekend, they both worked through the assigned tasks – and on Sunday night, the results were produced together in their own darkroom.

The series of publications on the most important nature reserves of the former LfU Karlsruhe would be virtually inconceivable without the Rasbach couple. For the first editions of the volume "Kaiserstuhl," they were both responsible for the editorial work. The "Feldberg" book from the same series was also edited by them and received all the photographic material from them.

Both played a prominent role in the major species conservation works of the State Institute.

The eight-volume vascular plant flora, the moss flora, and the lichen flora contain many hundreds of illustrations by Helga and Kurt Rasbach.

The last major project they jointly undertook was the design of the 4th edition of the
Kaiserstuhl book – published in 2009. Helga and Kurt Rasbach did not complete the transition from
analog to digital photography, which was almost finished at that time, although they had a
lively interest and continually critically examined the new possibilities.

For Helga and Kurt Rasbach, illustrations were not merely an accessory or illustration, but rather,
in the field of natural history, a first-rate source that describes more about the nature and structure of an organism than would be possible in text form. They both left behind many
plans for future publications and an image archive of approximately 400,000 black-and-white negatives and colour slides, which is currently being prepared for further use.

Created: April 2026, C.Kemnitz

• English

• Latin

Wikispecies (2013). Helga Rasbach. [online] Wikimedia.org. Available at: https://species.wikimedia.org/wiki/Helga_Rasbach

Thomas Coch, Albert Reif (2022): In memoriam Helga und Kurt Rasbach – Mitteilungen des Badischen Landesvereins für Naturkunde und Naturschutz e.V. Freiburg i. Br. – NF_25: 226 - 230. https://www.zobodat.at/pdf/Mitt-Bad-Landesver-Natkde-Natschutz-Freiburg_NF_25_0226-0230.pdf [German]