Franz Carl Mertens (3 April 1764 – 19 June 1831) was a German botanist who was a native of Bielefeld. He specialized in the field of phycology.
Franz Carl Mertens | |
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| Born | April 3, 1764 |
| Died | June 19, 1831 (aged 67) |
| Alma mater | University of Halle |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Botany |
Mertens studied theology and languages at the University of Halle, and after graduation taught classes at Bremen Polytechnic College. In his spare time he studied botany, and through a mutual friend met German botanist Albrecht Wilhelm Roth (1757–1834). With Roth, he took scientific expeditions throughout Europe, including Scandinavia.
From these trips, Mertens described a number of species of algae. He also performed illustrative work on Volume 3 of Roth's Catalecta botanica. With Erlangen professor Wilhelm Daniel Joseph Koch (1771–1849), he published the third edition of Johann Christoph Röhling's Deutschlands flora, a five volume treatise on German flora. With Friedrich Heinrich Wilhelm Frölich and Johannes Nicolaus von Suhr he issued the exsiccata-like series Hydrophytorum tam indigenorum quam exoticorum collectio, Sammlung von einheimischen und auswärtigen Hydrophyten (1829).[1] The plant genus Mertensia from the family Boraginaceae is named after him, while the ctenophore genus Mertensia is named after his son Karl Heinrich Mertens (1796-1830).
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Hydrophytorum tam indigenorum quam exoticorum collectio, Sammlung von einheimischen und auswärtigen Hydrophyten: IndExs ExsiccataID=545242368". IndExs – Index of Exsiccatae. Botanische Staatssammlung München. Retrieved 25 August 2024.
- ^ International Plant Names Index. Mert.
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