Hans Joachim Wiehler (8 July 1930 in Klettendorf – 2003) was a German botanist who specialized in the plant family

Gesneriaceae Gesneriaceae, the gesneriad family, is a family of flowering plants consisting of about 152 genera and ca. 3,540 species in the tropics and subtropics of the Old World (almost all Didymocarpoideae) and the New World (most Gesnerioideae), wi ...

. In 1954 he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from

Goshen College Goshen College is a private Mennonite liberal arts college in Goshen, Indiana. It was founded in 1894 as the Elkhart Institute of Science, Industry and the Arts, and is affiliated with Mennonite Church USA. The college is accredited by the High ...

Goshen, Indiana Goshen ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Elkhart County, Indiana, United States. It is the smaller of the two principal cities of the Elkhart-Goshen Metropolitan Statistical Area, which in turn is part of the South Bend-Elkhart-Mishawaka ...

and a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Goshen Biblical Seminary in 1956. He married in 1958 and remained in the United States for the rest of his life. He obtained a master's degree in botany from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

and in 1979 a PhD in Botany from the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, i ...

. Wiehler was on the staff of the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens from 1973 until 1982, when he left Selby to found the Gesneriad Research Foundation in

Sarasota, Florida Sarasota () is a city in Sarasota County on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The area is renowned for its cultural and environmental amenities, beaches, resorts, and the Sarasota School of Architecture. The city is located in the sou ...

. Wiehler tended to be a taxonomic " splitter" but many of his generic rearrangements have found acceptance: the segregation of ''

Gasteranthus ''Gasteranthus'' is a genus of 35 species of herbs and soft-stemmed subshrubs in the flowering plant family Gesneriaceae. The species occur in Central America and South America, from southernmost Mexico to Bolivia.Weber & Skog (2007) Numerous sp ...

'' from ''

Besleria ''Besleria'' is a genus of ca. 200 species of large herbs and soft-stemmed subshrubs or shrubs in the flowering plant family Gesneriaceae. They occur in Central America, South America, and the West Indies. The closely related genus ''Gastera ...

'', of ''

Alsobia ''Alsobia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Gesneriaceae, native to Mexico, Guatemala, and Costa Rica. It contains four species. The species in the genus are succulent and stoloniferous herb In general use, herbs are a widely di ...

'', '' Chrysothemis'', '' Nautilocalyx'', and '' Paradrymonia'' from ''

Episcia ''Episcia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the African violet family, Gesneriaceae. The ten species it contains are native to the tropical regions of Central and South America. The species are perennial herbaceous plants characterized by a sto ...

'', and of '' Moussonia'' from ''

Kohleria ''Kohleria'' is a New World genus of the flowering plant family Gesneriaceae. The plants are generally tropical herbs or subshrubs with velvety stems and foliage and brightly colored flowers with spots or markings in contrasting colors. They are ...

'', have all withstood the tests of recent

molecular phylogenies Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

. However, most gesneriad specialists have not accepted his segregation of ''Bucinellina'', '' Dalbergaria'', '' Pentadenia'', and '' Trichantha'' from ''

Columnea ''Columnea'' is a genus of around 200 species of epiphytic herbs and shrubs in the family Gesneriaceae, native to the tropics of the Americas and the Caribbean. The tubular or oddly shaped flowers are usually large and brightly colored – u ...

'', and his new genus '' Parakohleria'' has been synonymized under ''

Pearcea ''Pearcea'' is a genus of tropical herbaceous plants in the family Gesneriaceae native to western South America. It is classified in tribe Gloxinieae and is closely related to the genus ''Kohleria ''Kohleria'' is a New World genus of the flow ...

''. His rare instances of taxonomic "lumping" have not been as widely accepted; '' Gloxinia'' ''sensu'' Wiehler is a

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of conver ...

assemblage, recently dismembered, and no other botanists have accepted his synonymy of '' Rhytidophyllum'' and '' Pheidonocarpa'' under ''

Gesneria ''Gesneria'' is a genus of approximately 50 species in the flowering plant family Gesneriaceae. Except for two or three odd South American species, all are native to islands of the Caribbean. The genus is classified in the tribe Gesnerieae alo ...

''. He has named the

nothogenus In botanical nomenclature, a hybrid may be given a hybrid name, which is a special kind of botanical name, but there is no requirement that a hybrid name should be created for plants that are believed to be of hybrid origin. The ''International Co ...

×''Koellikohleria'' Wiehler (family Gesneriaceae) in '' Baileya'', 16: 30 (1968).

References

* Desmon, L. 2005. Hans Wiehler: a Tribute. Selbyana 25(2): 239–244.

External links

Hans Wiehler: Portrait of the Botanist as a Young Man
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wiehler, Hans 20th-century American botanists 20th-century German botanists Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences alumni 1930 births 2003 deaths University of Miami alumni People from Malbork County People from East Prussia German emigrants to the United States