Georg Ernst Ludwig Hampe

Georg Ernst Ludwig Hampe (5 July 1795 – 23 November 1880) was a German pharmacist, botanist and bryologist who was a native of Fürstenberg.

Picture of Ernst Hampe on the front cover of Flora Hercynica

In 1810 he became an apprentice pharmacist to his uncle in Brakel, and over the next fifteen years worked in several different pharmacies, including one in Halle an der Saale, where he made the acquaintance of botanist Kurt Sprengel (1766-1833). He also worked at the university pharmacy in Göttingen, and at establishments in Allendorf and Braunschweig. In 1825 he became head of a local pharmacy in Blankenburg am Harz, where he remained its director up until 1864.

During his time spent in Blankenburg, Hampe collected and studied flora native to the Harz Mountains. He was particularly interested in mosses, and through his association with bryologist Karl Müller (1818-1899), he became exposed to non-European species from the Americas, Madagascar, New Zealand, Australia, et al. In his collaborative research with Müller, he described numerous new bryological species.

Later in life, Hampe received an honorary professorship from the University of Göttingen. In 1876 he sold his pharmacy in Blankenburg, and moved to Helmstedt, where he went to live with his son. After Hampe's death, his large herbarium was acquired by the British Museum of Natural History.

The plant genus Hampea from the family Malvaceae was named in his honor by Dietrich von Schlechtendal (1794-1866).[1]