Heinrich Moritz Willkomm (29 June 1821, Herwigsdorf – 26 August 1895, Schloss Wartenberg in Wartenberg am Rollberg, Bohemia) was a German academic and botanist. He studied medicine at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

, later being named a professor of natural history in

Tharandt Tharandt () is a municipality in Saxony, Germany, situated on the Weißeritz, 9 miles southwest of Dresden. It has a Protestant Church and the oldest academy of forestry in Germany, founded as the Royal Saxon Academy of Forestry by Heinrich Cott ...

(1855). In 1868 he was appointed professor of botany and director of the

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

at the

University of Dorpat The University of Tartu (UT; et, Tartu Ülikool; la, Universitas Tartuensis) is a university in the city of Tartu in Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is the only classical university in the country, and also its biggest ...

, and from 1874 to 1892, maintained similar roles at the University of Prague.JSTOR Global Plants
biography of Willkomm, Heinrich Moritz (1821-1895) In 1844–45 and 1850–51, he collected plants in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal: :* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...

. His main

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 ...

from these expeditions is kept in

Coimbra Coimbra (, also , , or ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2011 census was 143,397, in an area of . The fourth-largest urban area in Portugal after Lisbon, Porto, and Braga, it is the largest cit ...

and his personal herbarium was taken to

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. Following his tenure at Dorpat, he embarked on a scientific excursion to the Balearic Islands. His book ''Die Wunder des Mikroskops'' ("The Miracles of the Microscope"; 1856, 4th ed. 1878) contributed to the growing movement to popularize science in Germany. The grass genus ''

Willkommia ''Willkommia'' is a genus of plants in the grass family. The genus has a disjunct distribution, with species native to Southern Africa, South America, and the United States. Species ; Accepted species * '' Willkommia annua'' Hack. - Angola, ...

'' (family Poaceae) is named in his honor. He is also honoured in the naming of a

fungi A fungus (plural, : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of Eukaryote, eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and Mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified ...

genus in 1891, ''

Willkommlangea ''Willkommlangea reticulata'' is a slime mold species from the order Physarales and the only species of the genus ''Willkommlangea''. It is common worldwide, but rare in Europe. The tropics are possibly the main area of habitat. Characteris ...

'' (jointly with Johan Lange (1818-1898), who was a prominent

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

born botanist).

Written works

Willkomm's "''Grundzüge der Pflanzenverbreitung auf der Iberischen Halbinsel''" (Outline of plant distribution in the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

) was included in Engler and Drude's "''Die Vegetation der Erde''". Among his numerous written efforts are the following: * ''Zwei Jahre in Spanien und Portugal'' (1847) * Sertum floræ hispanicæ (1852) * ''Wanderungen durch die nordöstlichen und centralen Provinzen Spaniens'' (1852) * ''Die Strand- und Steppengebiete der iberischen Halbinsel und deren Vegetation'' (1852) * ''Die Halbinsel der Pyrenäen'' (1855) * ''Die Wunder des Mikroskops oder die Welt im kleinsten Raum'' (1856, several editions). * Icones et descriptiones plantarum... Europæ austro-occidentalis, præcipue Hispaniæ (two volumes, 168 illustrations, (1852–56). * Prodromus florae hispanicae (1861-1880, supplement 1893), with Johan Lange. * ''Die mikroskopischen Feinde des Waldes'' (1866–67) * ''Mikroskopets under eller en verld i det minsta''; Stockholm : Em. Girons, 1871, with A M Selling.WorldCat Title
Mikroskopets, etc. * ''Forstliche Flora von Deutschland und Oesterreich'' (1875, new edition 1887). * ''Spanien und die Balearen'' (1876) * ''Deutschlands Laubhölzer im Winter'' (third edition, 1880) * Illustrationes floræ Hispaniæ insularumque Balearium (1881–91).

References

* List of written works copied from an equivalent article at the

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, source listed as
Nordisk familjebok (biography)
1821 births 1895 deaths People from Görlitz (district) People from the Kingdom of Saxony Royal Saxon Academy of Forestry faculty 19th-century German botanists Botanical illustrators Leipzig University alumni University of Tartu faculty Charles University faculty {{Germany-botanist-stub