German botanist from Stuttgart Edward Leitner explored the south-eastern United States. The son of a Royal Court gardener, his family moved to Schorndorf at the death of his father when he was just four years old. Attending lectures at the University of Tübingen he never matriculated but studied botany and passed his examinations. In 1831 Leitner received a subsidy from the Württemberg Society for Natural Sciences allowing him to travel to America. Journeying to Pennsylvania he did not settle but instead found the German community in Charleston, South Carolina much more welcoming and became a student at South Carolina College. Leitner was soon given teaching responsibilities at the college, giving lessons in German, botany and classics from 1832, and was out collecting in the field once a week.
Leitner soon found, though, that the Charleston area was quite well explored botanically and he started hatching plans for exploration further afield. Encouraging wealthy Americans with an interest in natural history to sponsor his travels, he promised them plant, animal, insect and shell specimens on his return and by early 1833 was able to leave for Florida. Travelling down the east coast Leitner turned inland and crossed to the west coast, reaching the Florida Keys and visiting the Tortugas. Probably the first colonist to cross the everglades, Leitner unfortunately lost his boat in a storm off Pavillion Key and with it lost some 1,000 plant specimens, 50 bird skins and other specimens. He nevertheless continued his exploration and replaced all of the items he was able to before returning to Charleston in June 1833. The following year Leitner graduated as a medic with a thesis entitled De Hippomane Mancinella and in 1834 became a lecturer at the newly founded South Carolina Medical Society.
Soon on the move again, Leitner returned to the Florida Keys in 1836 and hunted for new specimens. At Key West he became involved with military parties in the area and joined one such group as a guide and surgeon. Conflict was raging between the American military and the local Seminole people and after a fight near Jupiter Inlet Leitner was mortally wounded. His companions were forced to leave him and the body was never found, but later discussions with Seminole people revealed two different stories, neither of which was ever verified. Some said he was found and shot on site, while others claimed he was taken captive in the hope that he might recover and become useful to the group as a surgeon. After being carried some distance inland, an angry member of the community was said to have stabbed him in revenge for the Seminoles who had been killed by the military. After his death some 800 of Leitner's specimens were bought by J.L. Cabanis and they were eventually deposited at Berlin, although these were all destroyed. The rest of his collection was incorporated into the American Herbarium at the New York Botanic Garden, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Boston University and Harvard University, although none have been located. The only family of flowering plants to be found exclusively in the south-eastern United States, the Leitneriaceae, now bears his name.
Sources:
G.E. Gifford, 1972, " Edward Frederick Leitner (1812-1838) physician-botanist", Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 46(6): 568-90.
