# Hansjörg Eichler

Hansjörg Eichler (1 April 1916 – 22 June 1992) was a German-born botanist, educated in Europe, who worked in Europe and Australia, and whose greatest contribution was to Australian botany.
The standard author abbreviation H.Eichler is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.

## Life

Hansjörg Eichler, the son of architect, Gustav Eichler, and painter, Anna Eichler (née Sellin), was born in Ravensburg in 1916. At the Ravensburg school, one of his teachers was Karl Bertsch, a leading Württemberg botanist, who stimulated his interest in botany and took him on private botanical excursions. In 1936, the family moved to Berlin, and Eichler started working at the Botanisches Museum Berlin-Dahlem (as a volunteer) under the tutelage of Friedrich Ludwig E Diels, at the same time having enrolled at the University of Berlin, to study botany and chemistry. The work at the Botanisches Museum ceased in 1943 when a bombing raid wrecked the museum. In 1944, he was exempted from war service to allow him to both study and work at the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut für Kulturpflanzenforschung (now the Leibniz-Institut für Pflanzengenetik und Kulturpflanzenforschung) in Vienna.
After the war (1946–1949), he was able to continue his studies at the University of Halle-Wittenberg, and, in 1950, received his Doctorate in Natural Sciences for a thesis on floristic and phyto-oenological investigations into the Hakel. He married Marie-Louise Möhring in 1953, and went to Parma, and from there to the Nationaal Natuurhistorisch Museum Naturalis in Leiden, to work on Ranunculaceae.
In 1955, he was appointed the first Keeper of the State Herbarium of South Australia (1955–1972), and then curator of the Herbarium Australiense (which later became the Australian National Herbarium), within the CSIRO division of Plant Industry, a position held from 1973 until his retirement in 1981. In Canberra, he founded the journal, Brunonia.
In 1993 the Australian Systematic Botany Society established the Hansjörg Eichler Research Fund in his honour, and makes awards for projects contributing to Australian systematic botany. His personal herbarium of over 24, 000 specimens was divided between the State Herbarium of South Australia and the Australian National Herbarium.

## Work

In addition to his contributions to botany in his roles at the State Herbarium of South Australia and later at the Australian National Herbarium, he contributed both nationally and internationally via service on many committees:
* Committee for Spermatophyta, International Association for Plant Taxonomy (1968–1992)
* Committee for Nomina Conservanda, International Association for Plant Taxonomy (1975–1981)
* Special committee for Orthography, International Association for Plant Taxonomy (1982–1987)
* Editorial committee World Pollen and Spore Flora (1972–1975)
* Advisory committee, Australian Journal of Botany (1972–1977)
* Editorial committee, Index Holmensis (1974–1992)
* Chair, editorial board, Brunonia (1977–1982)
* Editorial committee, Flora of Australia (1980–1985)

### Selected publications

* (1958) Revision der Ranunculaceen Malesiens. Stuttgart. (Trove listing – book)
* – & Black, J.M. (1965) Supplement to J.M. Black's Flora of South Australia. (2nd Edition, 1943–1957). W.L. Hawes.
* (1963) Some New Names and New Combinations Relevant to the Australian Flora. Taxon 12: 295–297. doi:10.2307/1216578
* Benl, G, & – (1982) Ptilotus pedleyanus, a new species of Amaranthaceae from Queensland. Brunonia 4(2): 199–207. doi:10.1071/BRU9810199

### Published names

APNI gives some 91 published names. IPNI (with duplication) lists 152.
Published names given by APNI (Australian Plant Name Index) :
Actinobole uliginosum (A.Gray) H.EichlerAgrostis spicatus H.Eichler, orth. var.Amyema miraculosa var. boormanii (Blakely) H.EichlerAmyema miraculosa (Miq.) Tiegh. var. miraculosaAristida contorta var. hirsuta (Henrard) H.EichlerAsparagus medeloides H.Eichler, orth. var.Atriplex acutibracta H.Eichler, orth. var.Atriplex acutibracta subsp. acutibracta H.Eichler, orth. var.Atriplex acutibracta subsp. karonensis H.Eichler, orth. var.Atriplex cinerea var. adscendens (Nees) H.EichlerAtriplex leptocarpa f. inermis H.Eichler, nom. inval., nom. nud.Atriplex macropterocarpa (Aellen) H.EichlerBulbinopsis semibarbata var. depilata (J.M.Black) H.EichlerCalandrinia neesiana H.EichlerCallistemon macropunctatus var. laevifolius (F.Muell. ex Miq.) H.EichlerCentaurium littoralis H.Eichler, orth. var.Clematis leptophylla (F.Muell. ex Benth.) H.EichlerDatura meteleoides H.Eichler, orth. var.Diplotaxis muralis var. caulescens H.Eichler, orth. var.Eucalyptus brachycalyx var. protrusa (J.M.Black) H.EichlerEucalyptus clelandii H.Eichler, orth. var.Evax pygmea H.Eichler, orth. var.Exocarpos strictus var. syrticolus H.Eichler, orth. var.Filago pygmea H.Eichler, orth. var.Gasoul aitonis (Jacq.) H.EichlerGlochidion hirtellus (F.Muell.) H.EichlerGlochidion rhytidospermum (Müll.Arg.) H.EichlerGlochidion rigens (F.Muell.) H.EichlerGlochidion thesioides H.EichlerGlochidion trachyspermum (F.Muell.) H.EichlerGnephosis foliata (Sond.) H.EichlerHannafordia bissellii H.Eichler, orth. var.Helichrysum lindleyi H.EichlerHelichrysum monochaetum (F.Muell.) H.EichlerHelixia H.Eichler orth. var.Helixia setifolia H.Eichler, orth. var.Homalosciadium homalocarpum (F.Muell.) H.EichlerHydrocotyle coorowensis H.Eichler MSHydrocotyle coraginaensis H.Eichler MSHydrocotyle crassipes H.Eichler MSHydrocotyle decipiens H.Eichler MSHydrocotyle foveolata H.EichlerHydrocotyle hamelinensis H.Eichler MSHydrocotyle sp. Harts Range (A.C.Beauglehole 44720) H.EichlerHydrocotyle hexaptera H.Eichler MSHydrocotyle puberula H.Eichler MSHydrocotyle vigintimilia H.Eichler MSHydrocotyle sp. Watarrka (A.C.Beauglehole 20471) H.EichlerIndigofera dominii H.Eichler, nom. illeg., nom. superfl.Lilaeopsis polyantha (Gand.) H.EichlerLuzula rhadiana H.Eichler, orth. var.Lysiana exocarpi (Behr) Tiegh. f. exocarpiLysiana exocarpi f. flavescens (F.Muell. ex Miq.) H.EichlerMachaerina rubiginosa (Spreng.) H.Eichler, isonymMachaerina tetragona H.Eichler, nom. inval.Nymphoides crenatum H.Eichler, orth. var.Nymphoides exiliflorum H.Eichler, orth. var.Nymphoides geminatum H.Eichler, orth. var.Nymphoides stygia (J.M.Black) H.EichlerNymphoides stygium H.Eichler, orth. var.Pectinellia H.Eichler, orth. var.Pectinellia griffithii H.Eichler, orth. var.Phyllanthus hirtellus var. parviflorus (J.M.Black) H.EichlerPlatysace heterophylla var. tepperi (J.M.Black) H.EichlerPlatysace rupestris H.Eichler MSPsychrophila phylloptera (A.W.Hill) H.EichlerPtilotus helipteroides var. minor (J.M.Black) H.EichlerRanunculus hamatosetosus H.EichlerRanunculus lourteigiae H.EichlerRanunculus pentandrus var. platycarpus (F.Muell.) H.EichlerSalicornia australasica (Moq.) H.EichlerSarojusticia kempeana (F.Muell.) Bremek. ex H.EichlerSarojusticia kempeana (F.Muell.) Bremek. ex H.Eichler subsp. kempeanaSolanum symonii H.EichlerSwainsona sericea (A.T.Lee) J.M.Black ex H.EichlerTetragonia amplexicoma H.Eichler, orth. var.Trachymene ornata var. semilanata (J.M.Black) H.EichlerTrianthema chrystallina H.Eichler, orth. var.Trianthema triquetra var. clavata H.Eichler, orth. var.Trianthema triquetrum var. clavatum (J.M.Black) H.EichlerTribulopis affinis (W.Fitzg.) H.EichlerTribulopis sessilis (Domin) H.EichlerWahlenbergia fluminale E.Wimm. ex H.Eichler, orth. var.Wahlenbergia fluminalis (J.M.Black) E.Wimm. ex H.EichlerZaleya galericulata (Melville) H.EichlerZygophyllum angustifolium H.EichlerZygophyllum aurantiacum var. eremaeum (Diels) H.EichlerZygophyllum confluens H.EichlerZygophyllum emarginatum H.EichlerZygophyllum simile H.EichlerZygophyllum sonderi H.Eichler :

## Honours

* In 1979, he was awarded the Willdenow Medal (awarded by the Berlin-Dahlem Herbarium) for his work towards the restoration of Berlin-Dahlem Herbarium.

### Some plants named for him

* Chionogentias eichleri L.G.Adams (Gentianaceae) Austral. Syst. Bot. 8(5): 973 (1995)
* Picris eichleri Lack & S.Holzapfel (Asteraceae) Willdenowia 23(1–2): 188. (1993)
* Ptilotus eichlerianus Benl (Amaranthaceae) Mitteilungen der Botanischen Staatssammlung München 7: 310. (1970)
* Ranunculus eichlerianus B.G.Briggs (Ranunculaceae) Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 84: 313 (1959)