Karl Ludwig Phillip Zeyher, a botanical and insect collector, was born on 2 August 1799 in Dillenburg, Hesse in Germany, and came to South Africa in 1822 to collect specimens. Zeyher had been apprenticed to his uncle in 1816, and later formed a partnership with Frans Sieber, to collect and sell natural history specimens- a growing industry at the time.

Zeyher and Sieber sailed together to Mauritius in August 1822, but Zeyher was left at the Cape while Sieber went on to Mauritius and Australia. Zeyher later gave what he had collected to Sieber when he returned in 1824, but no payment ever materialised.

Zeyher then decided to stay in South Africa, and went east to Uitenhage in 1825 and north beyond Clanwilliam in 1828. He sent what he had collected from these trips to his uncle, who was the head gardener at the ducal gardens of Schwetzingen.

Zeyher also wrote Enumeratio Plantarum Africae Australis (1835-7) with Christian Frederich Ecklon, and together they travelled extensively throughout South African collecting plants. Unfortunately, many of their specimens were lost at sea and destroyed in a warehouse fire, although some were sold.

Zeyher passed away on 13 December 1858 in Cape Town, and his personal herbarium can be seen at the South African Museum.

References:

1. Karl Ludwig Phillipp Zeyher [online] Available at: www.wikipedia.org [Accessed 28 July 2010]
2. Wallis, F. (2000) Nuusdagboek: feite en fratse oor 1000 jaar, Kaapstad: Human & Rousseau