Karl Heinz Rechinger

Who was Karl Heinz Rechinger?

Karl Heinz Rechinger was an Austrian botanist and phytogeographer. He was the son of botanist Karl Rechinger.

He studied botany, geography and geology at the University of Vienna, and beginning in 1928, worked as a demonstrator under Richard Wettstein in Vienna's institute of botany. He later served as an assistant in the department of botany at the Naturhistorisches Museum, where from 1961 to 1971, he was the museum's director.

He made important contributions involving flora native to Southwestern Asia and Greece, being recognized for his work on Flora Iranica and as the author of Flora Aegaea. As a taxonomist, he described many species of plants.

Rechinger was also a lecturer of botany at the University of Vienna, and in 1956–57 was a visiting professor in Baghdad, where he founded a herbarium. He was in 1971 elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

The genera Rechingerella, Rechingeria and Rechingeriella are named in his honor. He also collected reptiles on his journeys, including two species that were named after him; Elaphe rechingeri and Eirenis rechingeri.