Edward Frederick Leitner, also Friedrich August Ludwig Leitner (February 4, 1812 – January 15, 1838) was a German botanist, naturalist and physician. He was killed in Florida during the Seminole Wars after volunteering to be a combat medic.
Edward Frederick Leitner | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 4, 1812 |
| Died | January 15, 1838 (aged 25) Near Jupiter Inlet, Florida, United States |
| Alma mater | University of Tübingen Medical University of South Carolina |
| Occupation | Botanist Physician |
| Known for | Researching plant life in South Florida |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Battles / wars | |
Frederick Leitner was born in Stuttgart on February 4, 1812 to Johann Friedrich Leitner and Karoline Friedericke Bühler. His father was a gardener in the royal court of King Frederick I of Württemberg.[1] At the age of four, his family moved to Schorndorf after the death of his father. Following studies of botany at the University of Tübingen, he moved to the United States after receiving a subsidy from the Society of Natural Sciences in Württemberg. In 1831 he began taking classes at the Medical College of South Carolina in Charleston. In 1833 collected botanical and zoological specimens in Florida, eventually reaching the Florida Keys, during which, he paid a visit to the Dry Tortugas.[2]
In 1834, he graduated from medical college with a dissertation on Hippomane mancinella, subsequently working as a lecturer at the South Carolina Medical Society. In 1836 he returned as a naturalist to the Florida Keys, where in Key West, he joined Lieutenant Levin M. Powell's military unit as a guide and surgeon. On 15 January 1838, he was killed by Seminole warriors at the First Battle of the Loxahatchee.[2]
After his death, 800 of his specimens eventually came into the possession of Jean Louis Cabanis, however these were completely destroyed during the Bombing of Berlin in 1943. The genus Leitneria is named in his honor,[3] as is the family Leitneriaceae, the latter taxa being circumscribed by George Bentham.[4][5]
- ^ Bulletin of the History of Medicine. Johns Hopkins University Press. 1972.
- ^ a b JSTOR Global Plants biography
- ^ BHL Taxonomic literature : a selective guide to botanical publications
- ^ JSTOR Global Plants Entry for Leitneria Chapman, family Leitneriaceae
- ^ The families of flowering plants Leitneriaceae Benth.