Pritzel, Ernst George (1875 - 1946)

Born in Germany on 15 May 1875, died, probably in Berlin, Germany, on 6 April 1946.

Accompanied Diels on his collecting expedition to Australia in 1900-1902. Some of his collections remain in B, others can be found in A, AD, B, BM, BR, C, DBN, E, F, GH, HBG, K, L, LAU, M, MEL, MICH, MO, NSW, NY, P, PERTH, PH, PR, S, US, VT, W, WRSL, Z.

Of the life and career of Ernst Pritzel, we have few details. No obituary or biography has been located. He was born in Germany on 15 May 1875 and died, probably in Berlin, on 6 April 1946, so that his life span was similar to Diels’. He was a noted phytogeographer and taxonomist, his best-known contributions being Lycopodiaceae and Psilotaceae in Engler & Prantl’s Die Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien in 1901 and Pittosporaceae in 1930. According to Hall (1978) he collected at Coolgardie in 1907, implying a second visit to Western Australia, but this is thought to be a mistake for 1901. Pritzel’s specimens in the W A Herbarium are all dated 1900-01. The genus Pritzeliella P C Hennings was named after him in 1903, and he was specially honoured by his colleagues at a celebration of his 60th birthday in 1935. No portrait-photograph of him is known to be available, but it is possible that he is shown as the scaleobject in the photograph Plate XXXIV of the book of Diels (1906).

Extracted from: A.E.Orchard (1999) A History of Systematic Botany in Australia, in Flora of Australia Vol.1, 2nd ed., ABRS. [consult for source references]
The Botanists Diels and Pritzel in Western Australia: A Centenary. J S Beard (2001) Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia, 84:143-148

See this paper on Diels and Pritzel by J.S. Beard in 2001 [PDF]