German botanist in Ukraine who studied the flora of what was then western Russia. Born in Innsbruck on the Tyrol, Willibald von Besser's parents both died when he was just 13 years old. This meant he was brought up by a relative of his mother's, S.B. Schivereck, who was a professor of botany at the University of Lemberg (now Lvov in western Ukraine). It was from his next of kin, who supported him through school and at Lemberg University, that Besser developed a love of botany. Schivereck took Besser on his first field trips and when he passed away in 1806, left Besser his herbarium to aid his studies. The following year he graduated from the University of Cracow (where he had been taught by the botanist Rev. K. Kluk) as a medic and began to work at the Cracow Clinic, although he never much enjoyed practising medicine.

When in 1808 an opportunity came for him to teach zoology and botany in a school in Volhynia, Besser took the opportunity. The same year his first work was published, his flora of Galicia entitled Primitiae florae Galiciae, which contains the descriptions of 360 plants from the historic region surrounding Cracow. The following year he began to teach at Krzemieniec (Kremenets) College. From his base in the town Besser studied the flora of the region and made extensive collections, becoming an expert on the plants of western Russia. He was also a keen entomologist and amassed an impressive collection of insects from the region as well. In charge of the botanic garden, he developed it, with his collections and exchanges from other botanists, into one of the finest in Russia.

In 1834 Besser was named professor of botany at the University of St. Vladimir in Kiev, although the responsibility of organising the botany department on top of his other work proved too much and he resigned three years later. Remaining in Krzemieniec for the rest of his life, Besser continued his botanical and entomological studies and particularly focused on the Artemisia L., a genus on which he published numerous monographs and became a world authority. Besser was brought up speaking German, but was also competent in Polish and taught in this language while in Krzemieniec, though he had to teach in Latin in Kiev as he could not speak Russian. His most important works include Numerato Plantarum Hucusque in Volhynia, Podloa, Gub. Kiovensis etc. (1822) and Ueber die Flora des Baikals (1834) and the Alliaceae genus Bessera Schult.f. was named for him in 1829.

Sources:
V.C. Asmous, 1943, "Willibald von Bresser (1784-1842)", Nature, 151: 731
W. Szafer, 1969, Concise History of Botany in Cracow Against the Background of Six Centuries of the Jagiellonian University.