Alfred Karl Meebold was a botanist, writer, and anthroposophist

Anthroposophy

Anthroposophy, a philosophy founded by Rudolf Steiner, postulates the existence of an objective, intellectually comprehensible spiritual world accessible to direct experience through inner development...

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Life

Meebold worked at his father's factory, in the Württembergische Cattunmanufactur.

He travelled to India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 three times, first in 1904, and to New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 for the first time in 1928.
Meebold became a personal student of Rudolf Steiner

Rudolf Steiner

Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner was an Austrian philosopher, social reformer, architect, and esotericist. He gained initial recognition as a literary critic and cultural philosopher...

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Between 1928 and 1938 he spent many months in Budapest

Budapest

Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...

, Hungary

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

, where he worked at the first non-German-language Waldorf school in the world. Its founder was Nagy Emilné Göllner Mária (later, in Switzerland known as Maria von Nagy).

Meebold left Europe in 1938, intending to relocate to New Zealand. He was detained in Hawaii because of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, and was not able to leave Honolulu until after 1945.

The Australian plant species Darwinia meeboldii

Darwinia meeboldii

Darwinia meeboldii is a shrub which is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It has an erect and straggly habit, growing to between 0.5 and 3 metres high. The bracts around the flowers form a pendent "bell" which is usually white with red tips. A group of 8 small flowers are concealed...

is named in his honour, as are Acacia meeboldii, Geranium meeboldii and the genus Meeboldina.

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, München)
• Indien (1907, Berlin)
• Der Weg zum Geist, auto-biography (1917 and 1920, München)
• 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)

External links

• Meebold biography at Australian National Herbarium site
• Meebold biography at Forschungsstelle Kulturimpuls