Wilhelm Gerhard Walpers (26 December 1816 in

Mühlhausen Mühlhausen () is a town in the north-west of Thuringia, Germany, north of Niederdorla, the country's Central Germany (geography)#Geographical centre, geographical centre, north-west of Erfurt, east of Kassel and south-east of Göttingen ...

– 18 June 1853 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 ...

) 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 ...

. This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation Walp. when citing a

botanical name A botanical name is a formal scientific name conforming to the ''International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (ICN) and, if it concerns a plant cultigen, the additional cultivar or cultivar group, Group epithets must conform t ...

. He received his education at the Universities of

Greifswald Greifswald (), officially the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald (, Low German: ''Griepswoold'') is the fourth-largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rostock, Schwerin and Neubrandenburg. In 2021 it surpa ...

and Breslau, earning his habilitation in 1848 at Berlin. He died on 18 June 1853 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The plant genus ''Walpersia'' (synonym '' Phyllota'') is named after him.GRIN Taxonomy for Plants
Walpersia Harv.

Selected publications

* ''Repertorium botanices systematicæ'' (six volumes, 1842–1847). *

References

Botanists with author abbreviations 19th-century German botanists 1816 births 1853 deaths People from Mühlhausen University of Breslau alumni University of Greifswald alumni Members of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina 1850s suicides Suicides by firearm in Germany {{germany-botanist-stub