Schweinitz, Lewis David Von, Phd

Schweinitz, Lewis David von, Ph.D., an American clergyman and botanist, was born in Bethlehem, Pa., Feb. 13, 1780. He went to Germany in 1793, where he finished his education and remained till 1812, when he returned to America, and settled at Salem, N.C., as clergyman and superintendent of the financial affairs of the Moravian Church, South. He returned in 1821 to his native place — Bethlehem — and resided there until his death, Feb. 8, 1834. He was an enthusiastic scientist, making botany his special study. By his own researches he added more than 1400 new species to the catalogues of the American flora, the greater part being fungi, which had been previously but little studied. His principal botanical works are the following: Conspectus Fungorum Lusatioe (Leips. 1805): — Synopsis Fungorum Carolinoe Superioris (edited by Dr. Schwergichen, 1818): — Specimen Floroe Americoe Septentrionalis Cryptogamicoe (1821): — Monograph of the Genus Viola (1821): — Catalogue of Plants Collected in the Northwest Territory by Say (1824): — Monograph upon the American Species of the Genus Carex (1825): — and Synopsis Fungorum in America Boreali Media Degentium (1832).