August Wilhelm Eichler, also known under his

Latinized name Latinisation (or Latinization) of names, also known as onomastic Latinisation, is the practice of rendering a ''non''-Latin name in a Latin style. It is commonly found with historical proper names, including personal names and toponyms, and in t ...

, Augustus Guilielmus Eichler (22 April 1839 – 2 March 1887), was a German botanist who developed a new system of classification of plants to reflect the concept 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 ...

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

Biography

Born in Neukirchen,

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Da ...

, Eichler studied at the

University of Marburg The Philipps University of Marburg (german: Philipps-Universität Marburg) was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Protestant university in the worl ...

, Germany, and in 1871 became Professor of

Botany Botany, also called plant science (or plant sciences), 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 "bot ...

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 (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popu ...

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, (german: link=no, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, abbreviated CAU, known informally as Christiana Albertina) is a public research university in the city of Kiel, G ...

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

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant 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 sheet of paper (calle ...

at the

University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (german: link=no, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick Will ...

. He died in

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

on March 2, 1887, of

leukaemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in 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 A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism ...

s (mainly on

floral symmetry Floral symmetry describes whether, and how, a flower, in particular its perianth, can be divided into two or more identical or mirror-image parts. Uncommonly, flowers may have no axis of symmetry at all, typically because their parts are spiral ...

in his work ''Blütendiagramme''). He wrote extensively on the Coniferae,

Cycadaceae ''Cycas'' is a genus of plants belonging to a very ancient lineage, the Cycadophyta, which are not closely related to palms, ferns, trees or any other modern group of plants. They are evergreen perennials which achieved their maximum diversity in ...

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 Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclude ...

into non-floral plants (

Cryptogamae A cryptogam (scientific name Cryptogamae) is a plant (in the wide sense of the word) or a plant-like organism that reproduces by spores, without flowers or seeds. The name ''Cryptogamae'' () means "hidden reproduction", referring to the fact ...

) 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 (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

. 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 (), commonly called angiosperms. They include all forbs (flowering plants without a woody stem), grasses and grass-like plants, a vast majority of br ...

and

Gymnosperms The gymnosperms ( lit. revealed seeds) are a group of seed-producing plants that includes conifers, cycads, '' Ginkgo'', and gnetophytes, forming the clade Gymnospermae. The term ''gymnosperm'' comes from the composite word in el, γυμν� ...

and the former into Monocotyledonae and

Dicotyledonae The dicotyledons, also known as dicots (or, more rarely, dicotyls), are one of the two groups into which all the flowering plants (angiosperms) were formerly divided. The name refers to one of the typical characteristics of the group: namely, t ...

. 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 ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

) 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 botanist and explorer. Life Martius was born at Erlangen Erlangen (; East Franconian: ''Erlang'', Bavarian: ''Erlanga'') is a Mid ...

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. ...

(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 inc ...

. #

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