Ernst Hugo Heinrich Pfitzer (26 March 1846 – 3 December 1906) was a Germanbotanist who specialised in thetaxonomy of the Orchidaceae (orchids).
Pfitzer was born inKönigsberg. He studiedchemistry and botany atBerlin and Königsberg, receiving his PhD in 1867. Afterwards he worked as assistant toWilhelm Hofmeister inHeidelberg and underJohannes von Hanstein at theUniversity of Bonn, where he obtained his habilitation in 1869.[1] From 1872 to 1906 he was a professor and director of thebotanical garden at Heidelberg.[2]
In the first edition ofDie Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien, a work byAdolf Engler andCarl Prantl, he collaborated about orchids (published in 1889).
In addition to his work involving orchids, he conducted important research ofdiatoms, publishing the treatise "Untersuchungen über Bau und Entwicklung der Bacillariaceen (Diatomaceen)" (1871) as a result.[1]
On October 1, 1888, Pfitzer was granted theworld’s first patent for maintaining the natural flexibility and appearance of cut flowers and leaves by replacing the water in the plant tissue with pure alcohol mixed with sulphurous acid, and subsequently impregnating the plants with a solution of alcohol, castor oil, and turpentine, enhanced with an aniline dye. This two-step preservation innovation laid the foundation for the modern flower preservation industry, which today generates revenues of hundreds of billions of USD worldwide.[3]
He died inHeidelberg, aged 60.
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