Richard Wettstein

Who was Richard Wettstein?

Richard Wettstein was an Austrian botanist. He introduced the phylogenetic system into botany.

Wettstein studied in Vienna, where he was a disciple of Anton Kerner von Marilaun and married his daughter Adele. He was a professor at the University of Prague from 1892, and at the University of Vienna from 1899. He newly laid out the Botanical Garden of the University of Vienna.

In 1901 he became president of the Vienna Zoological-Botanical Society, and during the same year took part in a scientific expedition to Brazil. In 1919 he was appointed vice-president of the Vienna Academy of Sciences. During his later years, he traveled with his son, Friedrich, to eastern and southern Africa.

The mycological genus Wettsteinina is named in his honor. In 1905, he was co-president of the International Botanical Congress, held in Vienna.