Swiss botanist and pharmacist at the University of Lausanne. Ernst Wilczek was born at Laupen in western Switzerland. He began studying pharmacy at the polytechnic in Lausanne, but his first passion was always botany. After qualifiying from the University of Zurich he thought he would practice as a pharmacist in the countryside, where he could maintain his interest in botany. However in 1892 he was instead appointed to a position at the University of Lausanne, where he became professor of systematic and pharmaceutical botany in 1902. In 1910 he was entrusted with the direction of the School of Pharmacy. He was also director of the Pont de Nant Alpine Garden until his retirement in 1934, when he was made professor emeritus at the university. During his 42 years at Lausanne he made contributions to the Flore de la Suisse (1909) (with H. Schinz and R. Keller) and led numerous botanical expeditions, gaining a guide's diploma from Alpine Swiss Club so he could make the most difficult journeys into mountain regions. He especially devoted himself to the North African flora in the latter part of his career. His first major expedition outside Europe, however, was to Argentina, where he crossed the Andes in 1897-1898. Later in 1898 he collected in Corsica and the Maritime Alps with Emile Burnat. He made seven trips to Morocco between 1921 and 1936. He also explored other parts of North Africa, for example visiting Algeria in 1923 with J. Braun-Blanquet, D. Dutoit, P.J. Jacard, R. Nordhagen, R. Maire and E. Mantz. Maire was Wilczek's chief collaborator in North African botany, with whom he published most of his findings from these fruitful collecting trips. The fungi genus Wilczekia Meylan is named after him.

Sources:
L. Emberger, 1949, Bulletin de la Soci⟩t⟩ des Sciences Naturelles du Maroc, 29: 28-30
W.B. Turrill, 1920, ✢Botanical Exploration in Chile and Argentina✢, Kew Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information, 2: 63.