Carl Ludwig Willdenow was a German botanist, pharmacist, and taxonomist. He is considered one of the fathers of phytogeography, the study of distribution of plants across Earth. He was a mentor of Alexander von Humboldt, one of the earliest and best known phytogeographers.
He was born in Berlin, studying botany and medicine at the University of Halle. He was a director at the Botanical garden in Berlin from 1801 until his death, where he studied South American plants brought to him by Alexander von Humboldt. He was interested in how plants adapted to climate. His herbarium, which contains more than 20,000 species, is still preserved in Berlin.
He is most famous for his synthesis of European plant geography, and his mountains origins theories.
In 1801, he was elected to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences as a foreign member.
When citing a botanical name, Carl Ludwig Willdenow is abbreviated as Willd.