Friedrich Georg Christoph Alefeld (21 October 1820 – 28 April 1872) was a

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 ...

, author, and medical practitioner. Born in Weiterstadt-Gräfenhausen,

Grand Duchy of Hesse The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine () was a grand duchy in western Germany that existed from 1806 to 1918. The grand duchy originally formed from the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1806 as the Grand Duchy of Hesse (). It assumed the name ...

; he described a number of plant species in his published works, taking a particular interest in

legumes Legumes are plants in the pea family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seeds of such plants. When used as a dry grain for human consumption, the seeds are also called pulses. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consu ...

and

Malvaceae Malvaceae (), or the mallows, is a family of flowering plants estimated to contain 244 genera with 4225 known species. Well-known members of economic importance include Theobroma cacao, cacao, Cola (plant), cola, cotton, okra, Hibiscus sabdariffa, ...

. He attempted to give a systematic treatment of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

crops in one work, in addition to writing treatises on herbal baths and cultivated plants of potential usefulness. A number of his essays appeared in the botanical literature of the day. His works include: * Articles in ''Oesterreichische Botanische Zeitschrift'' (Oesterr. Bot. Z.) The Austrian Botanical Magazine. * ''Landwirthschaftliche flora: oder Die nutzbaren kultivirten Garten- und Feldgewächse Mitteleuropa's in allen ihren wilden und Kulturvarietäten für Landwirthe, Gärtner, Gartenfreunde und Botaniker insbesondere für landwirthschaftliche Lehranstalten''. Berlin, Wiegandt & Hempel, 1866.Landwirthschaftliche flora
/ref> * ''Grundzüge der Phytobalneologie; oder, Der Lehre von den Kräuter-Bädern''. Neuwied, Heuser, 1863. ("Outline of phytobalneology or the theory of herbal baths"). * ''Die Bienen-Flora Deutschlands und der Schweiz''. Neuwied, Heuser, 1863. ("The bee-flora in Germany and Switzerland"); A work that describes the plants of the region that are pollinated by

honey bee A honey bee (also spelled honeybee) is a eusocial flying insect within the genus ''Apis'' of the bee clade, all native to mainland Afro-Eurasia. After bees spread naturally throughout Africa and Eurasia, humans became responsible for the ...

IPNI 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 in ...

gives over 300 plants names with Alefeld as the author of the accepted descriptions. Many of these remain current. He died at

Ober-Ramstadt Ober-Ramstadt (, , in contrast to ":de:Nieder-Ramstadt, Lower Ramstadt") is a town in the Darmstadt-Dieburg district, in Hessen, Germany. It is situated 9 km southeast of Darmstadt. As of 2020, its population was 15,127. Geography Locatio ...

References

* Article "Alefeld, Friedrich":ADB, Volume 1, p 333
ADB (German Language)
*

External links

* 1820 births 1872 deaths People from Darmstadt-Dieburg Botanists with author abbreviations German botanical writers People from the Grand Duchy of Hesse {{Germany-botanist-stub