Heinrich Wullschlägel

Who was Heinrich Wullschlägel?

Heinrich Rudolf Wullschlägel was a Russia-born Dutch-German bishop, botanist and translator.

Wullschlägel received his primary education in Niesky, Saxony, his theological instruction in Gnadenfeld, Silesia, spent the years 1844-47 on Antigua, 1847-49 in Jamaica, and 1849-1855 in Paramaribo, Surinam as head of the Mission of the Unitas Fratrum - The Moravian Church.

Wullschlägel made extensive botanical collections and wrote a dictionary of the Creole language there, as well as on a trip to the Mosquito Coast. He entered the directorate of the Moravian Church in Berthelsdorf near Herrnhut in 1855 and became its bishop in 1857.

Wullschlaegelia Reichenbach fil., a genus of two species of leafless orchids bears his name.