Wilhelm Christian August Heering (6 September 1876, Altona – 26 May 1916,

Verdun Verdun (, , , ; official name before 1970 ''Verdun-sur-Meuse'') is a large city in the Meuse department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department. Verdun is the biggest city in Meuse, although the capital ...

) 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 ...

. He studied natural sciences at the universities of

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 ...

Halle Halle may refer to: Places Germany * Halle (Saale), also called Halle an der Saale, a city in Saxony-Anhalt ** Halle (region), a former administrative region in Saxony-Anhalt ** Bezirk Halle, a former administrative division of East Germany ** Hall ...

and

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...

, receiving his doctorate in 1899. While a student, he began expansion of a

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 (called ...

that was formerly maintained by apothecary Johann Jacob Meyer from 1812 to 1834. The herbarium is now kept at the botanical institute of the

University of Hamburg The University of Hamburg (german: link=no, Universität Hamburg, also referred to as UHH) is a public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('' Allgemeines Vor ...

.Hamburgische Biografie-Personenlexikon, Volume 2
edited by Franklin Kopitzsch, Dirk Brietzke Beginning in 1899 he focused on studies of freshwater

algae Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular mic ...

, providing information on a wide variety of algae found in the Eppendorfer Moor. In 1902 he began teaching classes at a secondary school in

Ottensen Ottensen () (old name: Ottenhusen) located in Hamburg, Germany in the Altona borough on the right bank of the Elbe river, is a former town. It is a now one of the 104 quarters of Hamburg. History The first record of Ottensen dates from 1310. In ...

, and in 1909 became associated with the

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sch ...

provincial office for nature conservation. From 1911 he worked as a research assistant at the Botanical State Institute in Hamburg, during which time he also conducted lectures at the Colonial Institute. While serving as a deputy officer in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he died on the

Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to: Military frontiers *Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (Russian Empire), a majo ...

in May 1916. As a taxonomist he circumscribed numerous species within the botanical genus '' Baccharis''.

Selected works

* ''Die Algen des Eppendorfer Moores bei Hamburg'', 1904 – Algae of the Eppendorfer Moor near Hamburg. * ''Bäume und Wälder Schleswig-Holsteins. Ein Beitrag zur Natur-und Kulturgeschichte der Provinz'', 1906 – Trees and forests in Schleswig-Holstein: A contribution to the natural and cultural history of the province. * ''Die Süsswasseralgen Schleswig-Holsteins und der angrenzenden Gebiete der Freien und Hansestädte Hamburg und Lübeck'', etc. – The freshwater algae of Schleswig-Holstein and the neighboring areas of the Free and Hanseatic cities of Hamburg and Lübeck. * ''Untersuchungen über die Weideverhältnisse in Deutsch-Südwestafrika : (Futterpflanzen und Bodenproben)'', 1911; with Clemens Grimme – Studies on pasture conditions in

German Southwest Africa German South West Africa (german: Deutsch-Südwestafrika) was a colony of the German Empire from 1884 until 1915, though Germany did not officially recognise its loss of this territory until the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. With a total area of ...

fodder Fodder (), also called provender (), is any agriculture, agricultural foodstuff used specifically to feed domesticated livestock, such as cattle, domestic rabbit, rabbits, sheep, horses, chickens and pigs. "Fodder" refers particularly to food g ...

plants and soil samples. * ''Die Futterpflanzen Deutsch-Südwestafrikas und Analysen von Bodenproben'', 1914; with Clemens Grimme – Forage plants of German Southwest Africa and analysis of soil samples: botanical and chemical analyses. * ''Systematische und pflanzengeographische Studien über die Baccharis-Arten des aussertropischen Südamerikas'', 1915 – Systematic and phytogeographical studies of ''Baccharis''-types from tropical

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

. Also, he made contributions involving the

green algae The green algae (singular: green alga) are a group consisting of the Prasinodermophyta and its unnamed sister which contains the Chlorophyta and Charophyta/Streptophyta. The land plants (Embryophytes) have emerged deep in the Charophyte alga as ...

class

Chlorophyceae The Chlorophyceae are one of the classes of green algae, distinguished mainly on the basis of ultrastructural morphology. They are usually green due to the dominance of pigments chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b. The chloroplast may be discoid, p ...

to the series ''Die süsswasser-flora Deutschlands, Österreichs und der Schweiz''.WorldCat Search
published works.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heering, Wilhelm 1876 births 1916 deaths People from Altona, Hamburg University of Halle alumni University of Kiel alumni Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni German phycologists 20th-century German botanists Scientists from Hamburg German military personnel killed in World War I