Alfred Meebold

Alfred Karl Meebold (Heidenheim an der Brenz, Kingdom of Württemberg, September 29, 1863 – January 6, 1952, Havelock North, New Zealand) was a botanist, writer, and anthroposophist.

Life

Meebold worked at his father's factory, in the Württembergische Cattunmanufactur factory in Heidenheim an der Brenz, which produced indienne printed cottons that imitated Indian patterns.

He travelled to India three times, first in 1904, and to Australia and New Zealand for the first time in 1928.

Botanical Collecting

Meebold was a prolific botanical collector. Outside of Australasia, his specimens are held by the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München and the Botanische Staatssammlung München.

The endemic Australian plant genus Meeboldina is named in his honour, as are the species Darwinia meeboldii, Acacia meeboldii, and Geranium meeboldii.

He was also honoured in 1924, when botanist H.Wolff published a genus of flowering plants from Central Asia, belonging to the family Apiaceae as 'Meeboldia.

Works

Luzie's Testament, short stories (1895–1898) Vox Humana, short stories (1895–1898, Berlin) Sarolta, novel (1904, Berlin) Das Erwachen der Seele, novel (1907, Munich) Indien (1907, Berlin) Der Weg zum Geist, auto-biography (1917 and 1920, Munich) Irrmansdorf, novel (1926–1927, Basel) Hotel Mooswald, novel (1928, Basel) Der botanische Wandersmann, poems (1931, Oedenburg) Zwischen Elf und Engel, poems (1933, Oedenburg) Kurs zur Einführung in die Anthroposophie Rudolf Steiners, 6 lectures in Vienna, 1931. (1936)