Swiss botanist from Berne. Carl Friedrich Meisner (or Meissner) studied in Yverdon and Vervey, learning French and German, and his father was professor of natural history at Berne. Later he attended the universities of Vienna, Paris and Gottingen where he studied both natural sciences and medicine. He received the title of doctor of medicine in 1824. In Geneva in 1825 he was taught by A.P. de Candolle and, under the direction of this teacher and using his famous collection, Meisner produced his work on the systematics of the Polygonum L. genus. Appointed chair of physiology and pathology at the University of Basel in 1828 this same year A. P. De Candolle named the genus Meisneria after him. Covering for J. Roeper as botanist and director of the botanic gardens at the university, four years later Meisner took over permanently from him as professor of botany. Following De Candolle's arrangement of the botanic gardens of Geneva, Meisner made important changes to the lay out of the garden in Basel. Always faithful to his master, Meisner became a regarded systematist of the time, studying the Polygonaceae, Lauraceae, Thymelaeaceae and the Proteaceae. Between 1844 and 1855 he described over 190 new Proteaceae species, most of which were from Drummond and Priess' collections from Australia; although many of these are now synonyms. Between 1836 and 1843 he published Plantarum Vascularium Genera, containing all the plant genera accepted at the time. A regular correspondent of the Linnaean Society in London he was also a member of the Basel Natural Sciences Society and his rich herbarium was acquired by Columbia College, New York.

Sources:
J. Briquet, 1940, "Biographies des Botanistes a Genève", Bulletin de la Société Botanique Suisse, 50a: 311-315
J.W. Wrigley, 1989, Banksias, waratahs and grevilleas and all other plants in the Australian Proteaceae family.