Ernst Heinrich Friedrich Meyer (1 January 1791 – 7 August 1858) was a German
botanist
Botany, also called , 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 "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...
and botanical historian. Born in
Hanover, he lectured in
Göttingen and in 1826 became a professor of botany at the
University of Königsberg, as well as Director of the Botanical Garden. His botanical specialty was the
Juncaceae, or family of rushes. His major work was the four-volume ''Geschichte der Botanik'' (“History of Botany,” 1854–57). His history covered ancient authorities such as
Aristotle and
Theophrastus, explored the beginnings of modern botany in the context of
15th- and 16th-century intellectual practice, and offered a wealth of biographical data on
early modern botanists.
Julius von Sachs pronounced him “no great botanist” but admitted that he “possessed a clever and cultivated intellect.”
He died in
Königsberg,
East Prussia
East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label=Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 187 ...
.
In 1828, he was honoured by Swiss botanist
Augustin Pyramus de Candolle who named a genus of plants from tropical South America after him, ''
Ernestia''.
This botanist is denoted by the
author abbreviation E.Mey. when
citing a
botanical name.
References
German taxonomists
1791 births
1858 deaths
Botanists with author abbreviations
Scientists from Hanover
19th-century German botanists
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