
Carl Friedrich von Ledebour (8 July 1786,
Stralsund
Stralsund (; Swedish: ''Strålsund''), officially the Hanseatic City of Stralsund (German: ''Hansestadt Stralsund''), is the fifth-largest city in the northeastern German federal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rostock, Schwerin, Neub ...
– 4 July 1851,
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
;
[NDB/ADB Deutsche Biographie]
also Karl Friedrich von Ledebour) was a
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
-
Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
n
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 ...
.
Between 1811 and 1836, he was professor of science in the
University of Tartu, Estonia.
His most important works were ''Flora Altaica'', the first
Flora
Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''.
E ...
of the
Altay Mountains, published in 1833, and ''Flora Rossica'', published in four volumes between 1841–1853, the first complete flora of the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
.
New species he described for the first time in the ''Flora Altaica'' include ''
Malus sieversii
''Malus sieversii'' is a wild apple native to the mountains of Central Asia in southern Kazakhstan. It has recently been shown to be the primary ancestor of most cultivars of the domesticated apple (''Malus domestica''). It was first described as ...
'' (as ''Pyrus sieversii''), the wild ancestor of the
apple
An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...
, and the
Siberian Larch (''Larix sibirica'').
The plant genera ''
Ledebouria
''Ledebouria'' is a genus of African bulbous perennial herbs in the Asparagus family, Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae. Most members were previously part of the genus ''Scilla''. A number of species are grown by cacti and succulent enthusiasts ...
'' (in the Asparagus family,
Asparagaceae
Asparagaceae, known as the asparagus family, is a family of flowering plants, placed in the order Asparagales of the monocots. The family name is based on the edible garden asparagus, ''Asparagus officinalis''. Those who live in the temperate c ...
), and ''
Ledebouriella'' (from the family
Apiaceae) are named in his honor.
Personal life
Ledebour was the son of the Swedish military Johann Ledebour and his mother was Anna Maria Hagemann.
See also
* List of Baltic German scientists
External links
Vascular Plant Flora of Estonia Summary
Includes biographical details.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ledebour, Carl Friedrich von
19th-century German botanists
Corresponding members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences
1786 births
1851 deaths
People from Stralsund
University of Tartu faculty
German people of Swedish descent