View source for Biography:Carl Ludwig Willdenow

{{Short description|German botanist (1765–1812)}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name             = Carl Ludwig Willdenow
|image = Karl Ludwig Willdenow.jpg
| birth_date        = {{birth date|1765|08|22|df=y}}
| birth_place       = [[Place:Berlin|Berlin]], [[History:Kingdom of Prussia|Kingdom of Prussia]], [[Religion:Holy Roman Empire|Holy Roman Empire]]
| death_date       = {{death date and age |1812|07|10|1765|08|22|df=y}}
|death_place =  [[Place:Berlin|Berlin]], [[History:Kingdom of Prussia|Kingdom of Prussia]]
| nationality      = German
| fields            =[[Biology:Botany|botany]]<br>[[Chemistry:Pharmacy|pharmacy]]<br>[[Biology:Taxonomy|taxonomy]]
| workplaces        =  Humboldt University of Berlin
| alma_mater        = University of Halle 
}}

'''Carl Ludwig Willdenow''' (22 August 1765 &ndash; 10 July 1812) was a German botanist, [[Medicine:Pharmacist|pharmacist]], and plant [[Biology:Taxonomy|taxonomist]].  He is considered one of the founders of [[Biology:Phytogeography|phytogeography]], the study of the geographic distribution of plants.  Willdenow was also a mentor of [[Biography:Alexander von Humboldt|Alexander von Humboldt]], one of the earliest and best known phytogeographers. He also influenced Christian Konrad Sprengel, who pioneered the study of plant pollination and floral biology.

==Biography==
Willdenow was born in [[Place:Berlin|Berlin]] and studied [[Medicine:Medicine|medicine]] and [[Biology:Botany|botany]] at the University of Halle. After studying pharmaceutics at Wieglieb College, Langensalza and in medicine at Halle, he returned to Berlin to work at his father's pharmacy located in the Unter den Linden. His early interest in botany was kindled by his uncle J. G. Gleditsch and he started a herbarium collection in his teenage years. In 1794 he became a member of the Berlin Academy of Sciences. He was a director of the [[Biology:Botanical garden|Botanical garden]] of [[Place:Berlin|Berlin]] from 1801 until his death. In 1807 Alexander von Humboldt helped to expand the garden. There he studied many [[Earth:South America|South America]]n plants, brought back by Humboldt. He was interested in the adaptation of plants to climate, showing that the same climate had plants having common characteristics. His [[Biology:Herbarium|herbarium]], containing more than 20,000 species, is still preserved in the Botanical Garden in Berlin. Some of the specimens include those collected by Humboldt.

Humboldt notes that as a young man he was unable to identify plants using Willdenow's ''Flora Berolinensis''. He subsequently visited Willdenow without an appointment and found him to be a kindred soul only four years older and in three weeks he became an enthusiastic botanist.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1127/0006-8152/2006/0126-0509|title=Humboldt, his botanical mentor Willdenow, and the fate of the collections of Humboldt & Bonpland|journal=Botanische Jahrbücher|volume=126|issue=4|pages=509–516|year=2006|last1=Hiepko|first1=Paul}}</ref>

In his 1792 book, ''Grundriss der Kräuterkunde'' or ''Geschichte der Pflanzen'' Willdenow came up with an idea to explain restricted plant distributions. Willdenow suggested that it was based on past history with mountains surrounded by seas with different sets of plants initially restricted to the peaks which  then spread downward and out with receding sea levels. This would fit with the Biblical notion of floods. This was contrary to earlier assertions by Eberhard August Wilhelm von Zimmermann that plants were distributed as they had been in the past and that there had been no changes.<ref>{{cite book|page=25|title=Evolutionary Biogeography: An Integrative Approach with Case Studies|first=Juan| last=Morrone| publisher=Columbia University Press| year=2009}}</ref>

{{botanist|Willd.|border=0}}

==Works==
*''[http://bibdigital.rjb.csic.es/ing/Libro.php?Libro=3538 Florae Berolinensis prodromus] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170807193504/http://bibdigital.rjb.csic.es/ing/Libro.php?Libro=3538 |date=2017-08-07 }}'' (1787)
*''Grundriß der Kräuterkunde'' (1792)
*''Linnaei species plantarum'' (1798–1826, 6 volumes) [http://www.botanicus.org/title/b1206998x Botanicus]
*''Anleitung zum Selbststudium der Botanik'' (1804)
*''[http://bibdigital.rjb.csic.es/ing/Libro.php?Libro=5802 Historia Amaranthorum] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161108233857/http://bibdigital.rjb.csic.es/ing/Libro.php?Libro=5802 |date=2016-11-08 }}'' (1790)
*''[http://bibdigital.rjb.csic.es/ing/Libro.php?Libro=6074 Phytographia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161108234312/http://bibdigital.rjb.csic.es/ing/Libro.php?Libro=6074 |date=2016-11-08 }}'' (1794)
*''[http://bibdigital.rjb.csic.es/ing/Libro.php?Libro=1684 Enumeratio plantarum horti regii botanici Berolinensis] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161108225903/http://bibdigital.rjb.csic.es/ing/Libro.php?Libro=1684 |date=2016-11-08 }}'' (1809)
*''[http://digital.slub-dresden.de/id414237234 Berlinische Baumzucht]'' (1811)
*''Abbildung der deutschen Holzarten für Forstmänner und Liebhaber der Botanik'' (1815-1820, Band 1-2) [http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:hbz:061:2-16551 Digital edition] by the University and State Library Düsseldorf
*''[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/37657#/summary Hortus Berolinensis]'' (1816)

==See also==
*[[Biology:Willdenowia (plant)|''Willdenowia'' (plant)]], in the family Restionaceae
*''[[Biology:Selaginella willdenowii|Selaginella willdenowii]]'', Willdenow's spikemoss
*''Willdenowia'' (journal), Annals of the Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin, named to honour Willdenow

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://archive.org/details/mobot31753000554185 {{lang|de|Grundriss der Kräuterkunde zu Vorlesungen}} (1792)]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120324093218/http://www.deutsche-biographie.de/xsfz69147.html {{lang|de|Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie}}]


{{DEFAULTSORT:Willdenow, Carl Ludwig}}
[[Category:Pteridologists]]

{{Sourceattribution|Carl Ludwig Willdenow}}