Wilhelm Christian August Heering (6 September 1876, Altona – 26 May 1916, Verdun) was a German botanist.

He studied natural sciences at the universities of Munich, Halle and Kiel, receiving his doctorate in 1899. While a student, he began expansion of a herbarium that was formerly maintained by apothecary Johann Jacob Meyer from 1812 to 1834. The herbarium is now kept at the botanical institute of the University of Hamburg.[1]

Beginning in 1899 he focused on studies of freshwater algae, providing information on a wide variety of algae found in the Eppendorfer Moor. In 1902 he began teaching classes at a secondary school in Ottensen, and in 1909 became associated with the Schleswig-Holstein provincial office for nature conservation. From 1911 he worked as a research assistant at the Botanical State Institute in Hamburg, during which time he also conducted lectures at the Colonial Institute. While serving as a deputy officer in World War I, he died on the Western Front in May 1916.[1]

As a taxonomist he circumscribed numerous species within the botanical genus Baccharis.[2]

Selected works

• Die Algen des Eppendorfer Moores bei Hamburg, 1904 – Algae of the Eppendorfer Moor near Hamburg.
• Bäume und Wälder Schleswig-Holsteins. Ein Beitrag zur Natur-und Kulturgeschichte der Provinz, 1906 – Trees and forests in Schleswig-Holstein: A contribution to the natural and cultural history of the province.
• Die Süsswasseralgen Schleswig-Holsteins und der angrenzenden Gebiete der Freien und Hansestädte Hamburg und Lübeck, etc. – The freshwater algae of Schleswig-Holstein and the neighboring areas of the Free and Hanseatic cities of Hamburg and Lübeck.
• Untersuchungen über die Weideverhältnisse in Deutsch-Südwestafrika : (Futterpflanzen und Bodenproben), 1911; with Clemens Grimme – Studies on pasture conditions in German Southwest Africa: fodder plants and soil samples.
• Die Futterpflanzen Deutsch-Südwestafrikas und Analysen von Bodenproben, 1914; with Clemens Grimme – Forage plants of German Southwest Africa and analysis of soil samples: botanical and chemical analyses.
• Systematische und pflanzengeographische Studien über die Baccharis-Arten des aussertropischen Südamerikas, 1915 – Systematic and phytogeographical studies of Baccharis-types from tropical South America.

Also, he made contributions involving the green algae class Chlorophyceae to the series Die süsswasser-flora Deutschlands, Österreichs und der Schweiz.[3]

References