Ernst Bernard Heyne’s biography, net worth, fact, career, awards and life story

Ernst Bernard Heyne (15 September 1825 – 16 October 1881) was a German botanist and horticulturist and a pioneer in the early development of agriculture in Australia.

Early life

Heyne was born at Meissen, Saxony, Germany; son of Carl August Heyne, Doctor of Medicine and his wife, Marianne, daughter of Caraline and Johannes Tierof. He was educated at Leipzig University Germany, where he received in 1845 his Diploma of Botany. He was an accomplished linguist and mathematician. E.B. obtained a position at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Dresden.

Career in Australia

In 1854 Heyne was employed at the Melbourne Botanic Gardens as chief plantsman. When Ferdinand von Mueller became director, Heyne was appointed his secretary and went with him on several Victorian expeditions. He helped to classify much of the botanical material collected by von Mueller in the 1850s, and is commemorated by Aster heynei F.Muell. =Olearia xerophila, and Cyperus heynei Boeckel and also by Impatiens scapiflora Heyne & Wall. and Impatiens tenella Heyne ex Hook.f.. Heyne established a nursery at Hackney, near Adelaide, and opened a shop for seeds and plants.

Publications

He contributed regularly to the South Australian Register and the Observer in the 1870s, chiefly on the cultivation of forest trees, forage plants and pasture grasses. In 1871 he published The Fruit, Flower and Vegetable Garden, which was enlarged as The Amateur Gardener in 1881 and ran to four editions. His Rueckblick in German had appeared in the 1850s.

Later life

On December 3, 1870, he married Wilhelmina Laura Hanckel. They had two sons and three daughters. Heyne continued to work until he became ill with asthma and nearly blind. He died at his home in Norwood. Though overshadowed by von Mueller, his botanical and horticultural work greatly contributed to the early development of two colonies.