Diederich von Schlechtendal (27 November 1794 - 12 October 1866) was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 botanist born in Xanten

Xanten

Xanten is a historic town in the North Rhine-Westphalia state of Germany, located in the district of Wesel.Xanten is known for the Archaeological Park or archaeological open air museum , its medieval picturesque city centre with Xanten Cathedral and many museums, its large man-made lake for...

. He was Professor of Botany

Botany

Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...

 and Director of the Botanical Gardens at the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg from 1833 until his death in 1866, and Editor of the botanical journal Linnaea.

His most important work was in describing the then largely unknown Flora of Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, carried out in conjunction with Adelbert von Chamisso

Adelbert von Chamisso

Adelbert von Chamisso was a German poet and botanist.- Life :He was born Louis Charles Adélaïde de Chamissot at the château of Boncourt at Ante, in Champagne, France, the ancestral seat of his family...

, and based on specimens collected by Christian Julius Wilhelm Schiede

Christian Julius Wilhelm Schiede

Christian Julius Wilhelm Schiede was a German physician and botanist who was born in Kassel. He studied natural sciences and medicine in Berlin and Göttingen, where he earned his doctorate in 1825...

 and Ferdinand Deppe

Ferdinand Deppe

Ferdinand Deppe was a German naturalist, explorer and painter. He was the younger brother of Wilhelm Deppe.Deppe travelled to Mexico in 1824. He collected natural history specimens for the Berlin Museum with Count von Sack and William Bullock...

between 1824-1829.

The standard botanical abbreviation Schltdl. is applied to species he described.