Carl Ludwig Blume

Who was Carl Ludwig Blume?

Charles Ludwig de Blume or Karl Ludwig von Blume 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 at Leiden. His name is sometimes given in the Dutch language form Karel Lodewijk Blume, but the original Germanic spelling is the one most widely used in botanical texts, but even then there is confusion as he is sometimes referred to as K.L..

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 in Java. In 1855, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

He planned, together with Philipp Franz von Siebold, the foundation of the "Koninklijke Nederlandsche Maatschappij tot aanmoediging van den Tuinbouw".. This was executed in 1842.

The botanical journal Blumea is named after him.