Name Carl Blume Role Botanist | Education Leiden University Books Museum Botanicum | |
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Died February 3, 1862, Leiden, Netherlands | ||
Charles Ludwig de Blume or Karl Ludwig von Blume (9 June 1796, Braunschweig – 3 February 1862, Leiden) was a German-Dutch botanist.
He was born at Braunschweig in Germany, but studied at Leiden University and spent his professional life working in the Dutch East Indies and in the Netherlands, where he was Director of the Rijksherbarium (state herbarium) at Leiden. His name is sometimes given in the Dutch language form Karel Lodewijk Blume, but the original German spelling is the one most widely used in botanical texts: even then there is confusion, as he is sometimes referred to as K.L. Blume (from Karl).
He carried out extensive studies of the flora of southern Asia, particularly in Java, then a colony of the Netherlands. From 1823 to 1826 Blume was Deputy Director of Agriculture at the botanic garden in Bogor (Buitenzorg) in Java. In 1827 he became correspondent of the Royal Institute of the Netherlands. In 1855, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
He planned, together with Philipp Franz von Siebold (1796-1866), the foundation of the "Koninklijke Nederlandsche Maatschappij tot aanmoediging van den Tuinbouw". (Royal Dutch Society for the Advancement of Horticulture). This was carried to fruition in 1842.
The botanical journal Blumea is named after him.
He was also an entomologist.