August Wilhelm Eichler, also known under his Latinized name, Augustus Guilielmus Eichler (22 April 1839 – 2 March 1887), was a German

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

who developed a new system of classification of plants to reflect the concept of

evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

. His author abbreviation in botany is ''Eichler''.

Biography

Born in Neukirchen,

Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...

, Eichler studied at the

University of Marburg The Philipps University of Marburg () is a public research university located in Marburg, Germany. It was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Prote ...

, Germany, and in 1871 became Professor of

Botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

at ''

Technische Hochschule A ''Technische Hochschule'' (, plural: ''Technische Hochschulen'', abbreviated ''TH'') is a type of university focusing on engineering sciences in Germany. Previously, it also existed in Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands (), and Finland (, ) ...

'' (Technical University) of

Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

and director of the botanical garden in that city. In 1872 he received an appointment at the

University of Kiel Kiel University, officially the Christian Albrecht University of Kiel, (, abbreviated CAU, known informally as Christiana Albertina) is a public research university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in 1665 as the ''Academia Holsator ...

, where he remained until 1878 when he became director of the

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant biological specimen, specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sh ...

at the

University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

. He died in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

on March 2, 1887, of

leukaemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

. Eichler made important contributions to the study of the comparative structure of

flower Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...

s (mainly on floral symmetry in his work ''Blütendiagramme''). He wrote extensively on the Coniferae, Cycadaceae and other plant groups of Brazil.

Eichler System

The

Eichler System A system of plant taxonomy, the Eichler system was the first phylogenetic (phyletic) or evolutionary system. It was developed by August W. Eichler (1839–1887), initially in his ''Blüthendiagramme'' (1875–1878) and then in successive editio ...

divided the plant kingdom into non-floral plants ( Cryptogamae) and floral plants ( Phanerogamae). It was the first to accept the concept of

and therefore also the first to be considered

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...

. Moreover, Eichler was the first taxonomist to separate the Phanerogamae into

Angiosperms Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed within a fruit. T ...

and

Gymnosperms The gymnosperms ( ; ) are a group of woody, perennial Seed plant, seed-producing plants, typically lacking the protective outer covering which surrounds the seeds in flowering plants, that include Pinophyta, conifers, cycads, Ginkgo, and gnetoph ...

and the former into Monocotyledonae and Dicotyledonae. The Eichler system was the foundation for Adolf Engler's System and was widely accepted in Europe and other parts of the world.

Works

* *
Volume I: 1875
*
Volume II: 1878
* ''Syllabus der Vorlesungen über Phanerogamenkunde'' Lipsius und Tischer, Kiel 1876. ** Subsequent editions published as ''Syllabus der Vorlesungen über specielle und medicinisch-pharmaceutische Botanik'', 2nd ed. 1880, 3rd ed. 1883, 4th ed. 1886, 5th 1890 *** *** *** *** * ''Flora Brasiliensis'' (Flora of

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

) editor after death of

Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius Carl Friedrich Philipp (Karl Friedrich Philipp) von Martius (17 April 1794 – 13 December 1868) was a German botany, botanist and explorer. Between 1817 and 1820, he travelled 10,000 km through Brazil while collecting botanical specimens. His m ...

in 1868 until 1887, succeeded by

Ignatz Urban Ignatz Urban (7 January 1848 – 7 January 1931) was a German botany, botanist. He is known for his contributions to the flora of the Caribbean and Brazil, and for his work as curator of the Botanical Garden in Berlin, Berlin Botanical Garden. B ...

(Available online a
Botanicus.org Website
* ''Beiträge zur Morphologie und Systematik der Marantaceen'' (1884) * ''Zur Entwickelungsgeschichte der Palmenblätter'' (1885)
''Caroli Frid. Phil. Martii Flora Brasiliensis, sive''

''Flora Brasiliensis, enumeratio plantarum in Brasilia hactenus detectarum :quas suis aliorumque botanicorum studiis descriptas et methodo naturali digestas partim icone illustratas /ediderunt Carolus Fridericus Philippus de Martius et Augustus Guilielmus Eichler ; iisque defunctis successor Ignatius Urban ; with Martius, Karl Friedrich Philipp von, 1794-1868, Endlicher, István László, 1804-1849, Fenzl, Eduard, 1808-1879, Mary, Benj, Oldenburg, R.Urban and Ignaz, 1848- ''

Notes

# # #
Author Details: Eichler, August Wilhelm (1839-1887)

International Plant Names Index The International Plant Names Index (IPNI) describes itself as "a database of the names and associated basic bibliographical details of seed plants, ferns and lycophytes." Coverage of plant names is best at the rank of species and genus. It inclu ...

. #

Bibliography

August Wilhelm Eichler. ''Encyclopædia Britannica''

August Wilhelm Eichler. Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Vol. 23, No. 2 (May, 1887 - May, 1888), pp. 355-356
Obituary
History of Taxonomy: 1875-1926

Annals of Botany 1887
Biography and list of publications *

External links