Biography

Dutch physician who made South American botanical collections in Suriname during two expeditions (1903-1904 and 1904-1905). He was later appointed Medical Officer to the army of the Dutch East India Company and collected in Dutch New Guinea (Irian Jaya) during the first Lorentz Expedition in 1907, and again on the third Dutch scientififc expedition in 1912-1913. On the second expedition he was primarily responsible for zoological collections but also made some botanical collections during the ascent of Mt Wilhelmina in February 1913. Lorentz retired from the army in 1922 and was appointed Chief Goverment Physician to the Civil Health Department of the Dutch East Indies, with specific responsibility for plague control. He returned to the Netherlands in 1936 and settled in Delft. The genus Versteegia Valeton in the Rubiaceae and the aroid Cryptocoryne versteegii Engl. were named in his honour.