Biography

German botanist and agriculturalist from Braunschweig, usually referred to as Albrecht Zimmermann, who was educated at Leipzig. He was first employed as a lecturer at Leipzig and became a professor at Tübingen, later based at Berlin. Zimmermann moved to Indonesia (1896-1902) as resident botanist at Buitenzorg (Bogor) where he specialised in applied botany, particularly the cultivation of coffee, and made mainly mycological collections. With the establishment of the German colony of Tanganyika and development of plantations, he moved to Africa (1902) and joined the newly established research station Kaiserliche Biologisch-Landwirtschaftliche Institut Amani in East Usambara, part of the Eastern Arc Mountains. The station was started in 1902 but not officially opened until 1904 and Zimmermann was later appointed director of the institute (1911-1920). Most of his phanerogam collections are from this period. After the First World War, Tanganyika came under British control (1918) and Zimmerman returned to Germany (1920), joining the Biologische Reichsanstalt in Berlin-Dahlem until his retirement in 1925. Brummitt and Powell (1992) refer to two botanical authorites 'Zimm.' and 'A. Zimm.', both referable to the same individual.

Zimmerman published on the cultivation of coffee and a review of the German period of administration of the Amani research station. His original collections and types at B were largely destroyed during the Second World War and Tanzanian material deposited at Amani was transferred to Nairobi (EA) in 1948. Taxa named in his honour include the orchid Oberonia zimmermanniana J.J. Sm. from Java, and many taxa from Tanzania including Allophylus zimmermannianus Gilg ex Engl. and Streptocarpus zimmermannii Engl.