Carl Ludwig Blume

Carl Ludwig Blume
Born9 June 1796
Died3 February 1862 (1862-02-04) (aged 65)
Other namesKarl Ludwig von Blume, Karel Lodewijk Blume
AwardsForeign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Scientific career
FieldsBotany, Entomology
InstitutionsBogor Botanical Gardens, Java; Rijksherbarium, Leiden
Author abbrev. (botany)Blume

Charles Ludwig de Blume or Karl Ludwig von Blume (9 June 1796 – 3 February 1862) was a German-Dutch botanist and entomologist who spent most of his professional life in the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies. As deputy director of agriculture at the Bogor Botanical Gardens in Java (1823–1826) and later director of the Rijksherbarium in Leiden, he conducted extensive studies of Southeast Asian flora, publishing numerous influential works including Bijdragen tot de flora van Nederlandsch Indië (1825–1827) and Rumphia (1835–1849). Together with Philipp Franz von Siebold, Blume co-founded the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Horticulture in the Netherlands in 1842, helping to revitalise the country's reputation as a centre for botanical study and exotic plant cultivation. His scientific contributions were recognised with his election as a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1855, and his legacy is commemorated in the botanical journal Blumea, which bears his name.