Heinrich Gustav Mühlenbeck, name also given as Henri Gustave Muehlenbeck (2 June 1798, Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines – 21 November 1845, Mulhouse) was an Alsatian physician and botanical collector known for his work with bryophytes.

He studied medicine and surgery in Strasbourg and Paris. In 1822 he became a general practitioner in Gebweiler, and from 1833 onward, lived and worked in Mühlhausen.[1][2] He was a founding member of the Société médicale du Haut-Rhin.[3]

During his career, he collaborated with Jean-Baptiste Mougeot, a botanist known for his investigations of flora native to Vosges. He is remembered for his investigations of Swiss cryptogamic flora; in 1839 he accompanied Philipp Bruch and Wilhelm Philippe Schimper on a botanical excursion to the Alps, and in 1844 journeyed to the canton of Graubünden.[1]

In 1841 the genus Muehlenbeckia was named in his honor by Swiss botanist Carl Meissner.[4] Also, taxa with the specific epithet of muehlenbeckii are named after him; some examples being: Grimmia muehlenbeckii, Dicranum muehlenbeckii and Bryum muehlenbeckii (Muehlenbeck's thread-moss).[5]

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