Friedrich Richard Rudolf Schlechter (16 October 1872 – 16 November 1925) was a German

taxonomist In biology, taxonomy () is the science, scientific study of naming, defining (Circumscription (taxonomy), circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxon, taxa (si ...

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 ...

, and author of several works on

orchids Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Orchids are cosmopolitan plants that are found in almost every habitat on Earth ...

. He went on botanical expeditions in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

and

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. His vast herbarium was destroyed during the bombing of

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 ...

in 1945.

Early life

Rudolf Schlechter was born on 16 October 1872 in Berlin, the third of six children; his father Hugo Schlechter was a lithographer. After finishing school at the Friedrich Wilhelm Gymnasium he started a

horticulture Horticulture (from ) is the art and science of growing fruits, vegetables, flowers, trees, shrubs and ornamental plants. Horticulture is commonly associated with the more professional and technical aspects of plant cultivation on a smaller and mo ...

education at a gardening market. He later worked 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 ...

garden. There he worked as an assistant till the autumn of 1891. His brother was Max Schlechter (1874–1960), was a German trader and collector of natural history specimens.

Career

Schlechter began his career of botanical fieldwork by leaving Europe in 1891 to journey to Africa; he later traveled across

and

. Throughout his career he has focused on expanding his research collection of orchids. He was a leader of expeditions in German Africa, investigating the Caoutchouc industry, but continually collecting plant specimens. He also lived extensively in

German New Guinea German New Guinea () consisted of the northeastern part of the island of New Guinea and several nearby island groups, and was part of the German colonial empire. The mainland part of the territory, called , became a German protectorate in 188 ...

in the first decade of the new century. Before

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

he settled in Berlin, marrying his wife Alexandra Schlechter and becoming curator of Berlin's botanical garden in Dahlem. He is estimated to have proposed one thousand new species in the family

Orchidaceae Orchids are plants that belong to the family (biology), family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Orchids are cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan plants that ...

alone. In his 1901-1902 expedition he discovered 230 orchid species, while on his 1907-1910 expedition he discovered 1,100 additional orchid species.

Works

* ''Die Orchideen von Deutsch-Neu-Guinea'', 1914 * ''Die Orchideen, ihre Beschreibung, Kultur und Züchtung'', 1915 * ''Orchideologiae sino-japonicae prodromus'', 1919 * ''Orchidaceae Powellianae Panamenses'', 1922 * ''Die Orchideenflora der südamerikanischen Kordillerenstaaten'' (written with

Rudolf Mansfeld Rudolf Mansfeld (17 January 1901, Berlin – 1960) was a German botanist and agricultural scientist. For more than twenty years, he served as a curator at the Botanical Garden and Botanical Museum in Berlin-Dahlem, where he specialized in th ...

), 1919–1929 * ''Monographie und Iconographie der Orchideen Europas und des Mittelmeergebietes'' (written with G. Keller), 1925–1943 * ''Blütenanalysen neuer Orchideen'' (published by R. Mansfeld), 1930–1934

Honours

Several genera of plants have been named in his honour, '' Schlechterella'' (in the

Apocynaceae Apocynaceae (, from '' Apocynum'', Greek for "dog-away") is a family of flowering plants that includes trees, shrubs, herbs, stem succulents, and vines, commonly known as the dogbane family, because some taxa were used as dog poison. Notable mem ...

family),'' Schlechterina'' (in the Passifloraceae family), and also '' Rudolfiella'' , (in the

family).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schlechter, Rudolf 20th-century German botanists Orchidologists 1872 births 1925 deaths Botanists active in Africa Botanists active in the Pacific Botanists active in Australia Botanists active in South America Botanists active in Central America Botanists with author abbreviations 19th-century German botanists Scientists from Berlin