Estonian-born surgeon in the Russian navy. Michael Albrecht studied medicine at Dorpat from 1843-1949. Joining the navy, he served at Kronstadt before being appointed physician to the new Russian consulate at Hakodate, Japan. He departed for Japan in 1858 and spent the next five years at Hakodate, where he gathered a fine collection of botanical specimens in 1862-1863. These are now preserved in St Petersburg at the Botanical Garden. Carl Maximowicz described a number of new species from Albrecht’s collections, such as Cardamine yezoensis Maxim. and Juglans cordiformis Maxim. Rhododendron albrechtii Maxim was named in his honour.

Sources:
J.H. Barnhart, 1965, Biographical Notes Upon Botanists, 1: 30
E. Bretschneider, 1898, History of European Botanical Discoveries In China: 622.