Biography

German Consul to the Republic of Colombia at Popayán, naturalist and conservationist. Lehmann collected extensively in Colombia and elsewhere in South and Central America and many taxa, based on these collections, are named after him for example Masdevallia lehmanni Rchb. f. Almost half of his collections at BM are orchids, a family in which Lehmann specialised; he also collected birds and made observations on other animal groups. Lehmann drowned crossing Río Timbique near Popayán on a collecting trip but there is some controversy whether this was an accident or not. Often confused with the Colombian ornithologist Federico Carlos Lehmann.