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Heinrich Gustav Adolf Engler (25 March 1844 – 10 October 1930) was a German botanist. He is notable for his work on plant taxonomy and phytogeography, such as Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien ( The Natural Plant Families), edited with Karl A. E. von Prantl.
Even now, his system of plant classification, the Engler system, is still used by many Herbarium and is followed by writers of many manuals and floras. It is still the only system that treats all 'plants' (in the wider sense, algae to ) in such depth.
Engler published a prodigious number of taxonomic works. He used various artists to illustrate his books, notably Joseph Pohl (1864–1939), an illustrator who had served an apprenticeship as a wood-engraver. Pohl's skill drew Engler's attention, starting a collaboration of some 40 years. Pohl produced more than 33 000 drawings in 6 000 plates for Die naturlichen Pflanzenfamilien. He also illustrated Das Pflanzenreich (1900–1953), Die Pflanzenwelt Afrikas (1908–1910), Monographien afrikanischer Pflanzenfamilien (1898–1904) and the journals Engler's botanische Jahrbücher.
He studied and obtained a PhD from the University of Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland) in 1866. After some years of teaching, he became, in 1871, custodian of botanical collections of the Botanische Institute der Ludwig Maximilian University München (Botanical Institute of Munich), remaining there until 1878, when he accepted a professorship at the University of Kiel, where he stayed until 1884, teaching systematic botany. Also in 1878, Engler was elected into Leopoldina, German Academy of Natural History. He went back to Breslau in 1884, as director of the Botanical Garden, succeeding Goeppert, and appointed professor of botany at the University of Breslau. From 1889 to 1921, Engler was a professor at University of Berlin, and director of the Berlin-Dahlem Botanical Garden, transforming it into one of the greatest botanical gardens of the world.
He visited several regions of the world, enlarging the knowledge of floristic distribution, especially of Africa.
Adolf Engler collaborated with several other great botanists, including Alphonse de Candolle on the Monographiae Phanerogamarum ( Monographs of Flowering Plants), and C.F.P. von Martius on the monumental work Flora Brasiliensis ( Flora of Brazil).
He founded the journal Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie ( Botanical Yearbook for Systematics, Plant Phylogeny and Phytogeography, ISSN 0006-8152), published in Leipzig, Germany, which has continued in publication from 1881 to the present. In 2010, this publication changed its name to Plant Diversity and Evolution: Phylogeny, Biogeography, Structure and Function, ISSN 1869-6155.
Engler was elected an International Member of the American Philosophical Society in 1906. He was elected a foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1920. In 1925, he was elected an International Member of the United States National Academy of Science.
The journal Englera (ISSN 0170-4818) published by the Berlin-Dahlem Botanical Garden, Germany, is also named after him. Many genera (in various 'plant' groups) are named in his honour, such as Englerarum, Englerastrum (now a synonym of Coleus), Englerella (now a synonym of Pouteria Aubl.), Engleria, Englerina, Englerocharis, Englerodaphne, Englerodendron and Englerophytum.Lotte Burkhardt (2026). 9783946292265, Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum, Freie Universität Berlin. . ISBN 9783946292265 He is also honoured with Engleromyces, (2026). 9780851998268, CAB International. ISBN 9780851998268 and Englerodothis (2 genera of fungi).
Engler is commemorated in the specific epithet adolphi.
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