Klaus Kubitzki

Klaus Kubitzki (3 May 1933 – 5 December 2022) was a German botanist. He was Emeritus professor at the University of Hamburg, at the Herbarium Hamburgense. He is known for his work on the systematics and biogeography of the angiosperms, particularly those of the Neotropics, and also the floristic record of the Tertiary era. His plant systematic work is referred to as the Kubitzki system. He was a member of the American Society of Plant Taxonomists.

Career Kubitzki was born in Niesky, Germany, and studied biology and geology at the University of Innsbruck, the University of Göttingen, and Kiel University. His doctoral work at Kiel was in Quaternary studies (1960). He then became an associate professor at the Universidad Austral de Chile in Valdivia, southern Chile (1961–1963). He pursued further studies at the University of Münster (1968), from where he proceeded to a position as lecturer at LMU Munich till 1973, and then as professor of systematic botany at the University of Hamburg (1973 to 1998).

Death Kubitzki died on 5 December 2022, near Hamburg aged 89.

Work Kubitzki's contributions have included taxonomy, plant geography and geo-ecology. He made a special study of the Guayana Highland. His taxonomic work is contained in The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants (1990-).

Species (Asteraceae) Mikania kubitzkii R.M.King & H.Rob. (Dilleniaceae) Davilla kubitzkii