Hansjörg Eichler (1 April 1916 – 22 June 1992) was a German-born botanist, educated in Europe, who worked in Europe and Australia, and whose greatest contribution was to Australian botany.

Life

Hansjörg Eichler, the son of architect, Gustav Eichler, and painter, Anna Eichler (née Sellin), was born in Ravensburg in 1916. At the Ravensburg school, one of his teachers was Karl Bertsch, a leading

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Würt ...

botanist, who stimulated his interest in botany and took him on private botanical excursions. In 1936, the family moved to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, and Eichler started working at the Botanisches Museum Berlin-Dahlem (as a volunteer) under the tutelage of Friedrich Ludwig E Diels, at the same time having enrolled at the

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...

, to study botany and chemistry. The work at the Botanisches Museum ceased in 1943 when a bombing raid wrecked the museum. In 1944, he was exempted from war service to allow him to both study and work at the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut für Kulturpflanzenforschung (now the Leibniz-Institut für Pflanzengenetik und Kulturpflanzenforschung) in Vienna. After the war (1946–1949), he was able to continue his studies at the

University of Halle-Wittenberg Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university i ...

, and, in 1950, received his Doctorate in Natural Sciences for a thesis on floristic and phyto-oenological investigations into the Hakel. He married Marie-Louise Möhring in 1953, and went to

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...

, and from there to the Nationaal Natuurhistorisch Museum Naturalis in Leiden, to work on

Ranunculaceae Ranunculaceae (buttercup or crowfoot family; Latin "little frog", from "frog") is a family of over 2,000 known species of flowering plants in 43 genera, distributed worldwide. The largest genera are ''Ranunculus'' (600 species), ''Delphinium' ...

. In 1955, he was appointed the first Keeper of the State Herbarium of South Australia (1955–1972), and then curator of the Herbarium Australiense (which later became the

Australian National Herbarium The Australian National Botanic Gardens (ANBG) is a heritage-listed botanical garden located in , Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory, Australia. Established in 1949, the Gardens is administered by the Australian Government's Departme ...

), within the

CSIRO The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentar ...

division of Plant Industry, a position held from 1973 until his retirement in 1981. In Canberra, he founded the journal,

Brunonia ''Brunonia australis'', commonly known as the blue pincushion or native cornflower, is a perennial or annual herb that grows widely across Australia. It is found in woodlands, open forest and sand plains. In Cronquist's classification scheme ...

. In 1993 the

Australian Systematic Botany Society Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

established th
Hansjörg Eichler Research Fund
in his honour, and makes awards for projects contributing to Australian systematic botany. His personal herbarium of over 24, 000 specimens was divided between the State Herbarium of South Australia and the

Work

In addition to his contributions to botany in his roles at the State Herbarium of South Australia and later at the

, he contributed both nationally and internationally via service on many committees: *Committee for Spermatophyta, International Association for Plant Taxonomy (1968–1992) *Committee for Nomina Conservanda, International Association for Plant Taxonomy (1975–1981) *Special committee for Orthography, International Association for Plant Taxonomy (1982–1987) *Editorial committee World Pollen and Spore Flora (1972–1975) *Advisory committee, Australian Journal of Botany (1972–1977) *Editorial committee, Index Holmensis (1974–1992) *Chair, editorial board,

(1977–1982) *Editorial committee, Flora of Australia (1980–1985)

Selected publications

*(1958) Revision der Ranunculaceen Malesiens. Stuttgart
(Trove listing – book)
* – & Black, J.M. (1965) Supplement to J.M. Black's Flora of South Australia. (2nd Edition, 1943–1957). W.L. Hawes. * (1963) Some New Names and New Combinations Relevant to the Australian Flora. ''

Taxon In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular nam ...

'' 12: 295–297. * Benl, G, & – (1982) ''Ptilotus pedleyanus'', a new species of Amaranthaceae from Queensland. ''Brunonia'' 4(2): 199–207.

Published names

APNI gives some 91 published names. IPNI (with duplication) lists 152.

Honours

* In 1979, he was awarded the Willdenow Medal (awarded by the Berlin-Dahlem Herbarium) for his work towards the restoration of Berlin-Dahlem Herbarium.

Some plants named for him

*'' Chionogentias eichleri'' L.G.Adams (

Gentianaceae Gentianaceae is a family of flowering plants of 103 genera and about 1600 species. Etymology The family takes its name from the genus '' Gentiana'', named after the Illyrian king Gentius. Distribution Distribution is cosmopolitan. Characteri ...

) ''Austral. Syst. Bot.'' 8(5): 973 (1995) *'' Picris eichleri'' Lack & S.Holzapfel (

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

) ''Willdenowia'' 23(1–2): 188. (1993) *'' Ptilotus eichlerianus'' Benl (

Amaranthaceae Amaranthaceae is a family of flowering plants commonly known as the amaranth family, in reference to its type genus ''Amaranthus''. It includes the former goosefoot family Chenopodiaceae and contains about 165 genera and 2,040 species, making it ...

) Mitteilungen der Botanischen Staatssammlung München 7: 310. (1970) *'' Ranunculus eichlerianus'' B.G.Briggs (

) Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 84: 313 (1959)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eichler, Hansjörg 20th-century Australian botanists 20th-century German botanists 1916 births 1992 deaths Australian Botanical Liaison Officers