Friedrich Kasimir Medikus (or Friedrich Casimir Medicus; 6 January 1738 – 8 July 1808) was a German physician and

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 ...

. He was born at

Grumbach Grumbach is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Kusel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Lauterecken-Wolfstein. ...

and became director of the

University of Mannheim The University of Mannheim (German: ''Universität Mannheim''), abbreviated UMA, is a public research university in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1967, the university has its origins in the ''Palatine Academy of Sciences'', ...

(Theodoro Palatinae Mannheim) and curator of the botanical garden at

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's 2 ...

. He encouraged the cultivation of locust trees (''

Robinia ''Robinia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae, tribe Robinieae, native to North America. Commonly known as locusts, they are deciduous trees and shrubs growing tall. The leaves are pinnate with 7–21 oval leaflets. The flo ...

'') in Europe. The genus ''Medicusia'' was named after him by

Conrad Moench Conrad Moench (sometimes written Konrad Mönch; 15 August 1744 – 6 January 1805) was a German botanist, professor of botany at Marburg University from 1786 until his death. He wrote 'Methodus Plantas horti botanici et agri Marburgensis' in 1 ...

(now considered synonymous with ''

Picris ''Picris'' (oxtongues) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae described as a genus by Linnaeus in 1753. ''Picris'' species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species, such as the grass moth '' Diasemia ret ...

'').

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Medikus, Friedrich Kasimir 18th-century German botanists 1738 births 1808 deaths People from Kusel (district)