Diederich Franz Leonhard von Schlechtendal (27 November 1794,

Xanten Xanten (, Low Rhenish: ''Santen'') is a town in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the district of Wesel. Xanten is known for the Archaeological Park, one of the largest archaeological open air museums in the wo ...

– 12 October 1866,

Halle Halle may refer to: Places Germany * Halle (Saale), also called Halle an der Saale, a city in Saxony-Anhalt ** Halle (region), a former administrative region in Saxony-Anhalt ** Bezirk Halle, a former administrative division of East Germany ** Hal ...

) was a German

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

. He studied in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

, in 1819 becoming

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

of the Royal Herbarium. He was a professor of

botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

and director of the Botanical Gardens at the

Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university in ...

from 1833 until his death in 1866. The genus '' Schlechtendalia'' (Asteraceae), from Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina, was named in his honor. He was editor of the botanical journal ''Linnaea'' (from 1826), and with

Hugo von Mohl Hugo von Mohl FFRS HFRSE (8 April 1805 – 1 April 1872) was a German botanist from Stuttgart. He was the first person to use the word "protoplasm". Life He was a son of the Württemberg statesman Benjamin Ferdinand von Mohl (1766–1845), ...

(1805-1872), was publisher of the ''Botanischen Zeitung'' (from 1843). He conducted important investigations of the then largely unknown

flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring ( indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

, carried out in conjunction with

Adelbert von Chamisso Adelbert von Chamisso (; 30 January 178121 August 1838) was a German poet and botanist, author of ''Peter Schlemihl'', a famous story about a man who sold his shadow. He was commonly known in French as Adelbert de Chamisso (or Chamissot) de Bonc ...

(1781-1838), and based on specimens collected by Christian Julius Wilhelm Schiede (1798-1836) and Ferdinand Deppe (1794-1861). Schlechtendal was a critic of

Darwinism Darwinism is a theory of biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and others, stating that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of small, inherited variations tha ...

but accepted a limited form of

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

. He advocated a form

common descent Common descent is a concept in evolutionary biology applicable when one species is the ancestor of two or more species later in time. All living beings are in fact descendants of a unique ancestor commonly referred to as the last universal com ...

of "some groups of very similar species, which also inhabit a limited area".Glick, Thomas F. (1988). ''The Comparative Reception of Darwinism''. University of Chicago Press. p. 86, p. 92.

Written works

* ''Animadversiones botanicae in Ranunculaceas'', Berlin 1819–1820. * ''Flora berolinensis'', Berlin 1823–1824. * ''Adumbrationes plantarum'', 1825–1832. * ''Flora von Deutschland'',

Jena Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a po ...

1840–1873 (with Christian Eduard Langethal and Ernst Schenk; fifth edition by

Ernst Hallier Ernst Hallier (15 November 1831, in Hamburg – 19 December 1904, in Dachau) was a German botanist and mycologist. As a young man he was trained as a gardener, later studying botany at the universities of Berlin, Jena and Göttingen. From 1858 he ...

1880–1887). * ''Hortus halensis'', Halle 1841–1853.

References

External links

Biography
@

Meyers Konversations-Lexikon ' or ' was a major encyclopedia in the German language that existed in various editions, and by several titles, from 1839 to 1984, when it merged with the '. Joseph Meyer (1796–1856), who had founded the publishing house in 1826, intended t ...

19th-century German botanists German mycologists Pteridologists 1794 births 1866 deaths Botanists active in North America Botanists with author abbreviations Non-Darwinian evolution People from Xanten People from the Duchy of Cleves Adelbert von Chamisso {{Mycologist-stub