Christian Frederick Ecklon from Åbenrå

The year 1795 in Åbenrå in what then was Denmark (but today is Schleswig-Holstein), Christian Frederick Ecklon was born. He studied to apothecary, but changed career to botanist and collector, and became one of the most prolific collectors of South African flora, from 1829 together with C.L.P. Zeyher. Here at S we have many thousands of their specimens (many looking similar to this one), and more than 1500 are types… This one shows Ecklon’s easily recognised handwriting on the label to the right, starting with “C. parviflora” and continuing: “Auf Bergen der 4.e Höhe bei Gideon Jouberts Landgut im Kannaland district Zwellendam und am Zwarteberg bei Caledon, [illegible] Novemb”.

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