Biography

Wilhelm Micholitz was a German plant collector for the London nursery firm J. Sander & Sons. His main business concerned orchids, but he also collected herbarium specimens, including cryptogams (especially mosses), and insects.

Micholitz worked in the Philippines in 1884-1885 and in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea from 1891-1908. Descriptions of his orchids were published in Botanische Jahrbücher (1893 and 1910), in Gartenflora (1894) and Oesterreichische Botanische Zeitschrift (1894-1985). Several orchids were named after him.

Despite his success as a collector, Micholitz died in poverty due to the economic situation in Germany following the First World War.

Sources:
Anon, 1932, Gardeners' Chronicle, 3rd ser, 92: 487
G. Sayre, 1975, "Cryptogamae Exsiccatae: an annotated bibliography of exsiccatae of algae, lichens, hepaticae, and musci. V. Unpublished Exsiccatae: I. Collectors", Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden, 19(3): 369-370
M.J. van Steenis Kruseman, "Cyclopedia of Collectors", Flora Malesiana, online edn:
www.nationaalherbarium.nl/FMCollectors/M/MicholitzW.htm, accessed 20 July 2012.