Ludwig Riedel

Ludwig Riedel at age 56, 1846

Ludwig Riedel, born 2 March 1790, Berlin, Germany – died 6 August 1861, Rio de Janeiro,[1] Brazil, was a German botanist. Riedel described relatively few species himself, but collected hundreds of new species, many named after him. The genus Riedelia (Ericaceae) was named for him by Meisner.[2]

Biography

Riedel came to Brazil in 1811, invited to participate in the expedition organized by the German-Russian physician, naturalist, ethnographer and explorer Baron von Langsdorff. From 1820 to 1830 and from 1831 to 1836, Riedel worked in Brazil collecting plants for the Botanical Garden of Saint Petersburg. In 1836 he accepted a permanent position in the National Museum of Rio de Janeiro, being the first foreigner with a permanent post in the museum. He founded and directed the department of botany and the Botanical Garden attached to it (Horto Florestal) until 1858.

Legacy

Ludwig Riedel's name is well known in Rio de Janeiro, once he was director of the Public Park, the National Museum and head of the Botanical Garden at the time of the empire.[1]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Frederico Carlos Hoehne, Moysés Kuhlmann, Oswaldo Handro (1941). O Jardim Botânico de São Paulo: precedido de prólogo histórico e notas bio-bibliográficas de naturalistas botânicos que trabalharam para o progresso do conhecimento da flora do Brasil, especialmente no Estado de São Paulo. Departamento de Botânica do Estado. pp. 174–175.
  2. ↑ Index Nominum Genericorum database Riedelia
  3. ↑ "Author Query for 'Riedel'". International Plant Names Index.