Welw.

Friedrich Martin Josef Welwitsch (5 February 1806 – 20 October 1872) was an Austrian explorer and botanist who in Angola discovered the plant Welwitschia mirabilis. His report received wide attention among the botanists and general public, comparable only to the discovery of two other plants in the 19th century, namely Victoria amazonica and Rafflesia arnoldii.

In Angola, Welwitsch also discovered Rhipsalis baccifera, the only cactus species naturally occurring outside the New World. It was found a few years later in Sri Lanka too, which reignited the now already one and a half century old debate on the origin of cacti in Africa and Asia. At the time, the debate concluded with the conviction of numerous authors that they were introduced and spread by migratory birds.

Among the botanists, Welwitsch is also known after his descriptions of numerous other plants, for example Cyphostemma macropus, Tavaresia angolense, Dorstenia psilurus, Sarcocaulon mossamedense, Acanthosicyos horridus, Pachypodium namaquanum and Pachypodium lealii. The earthstar fungus Geastrum welwitschii, a species he collected in Spain, is named in his honor.

Friedrich Welwitsch was born at Maria Saal (Slovene: Gospa Sveta), Duchy of Carinthia, Austrian Empire, to the wealthy family of Joseph Anton Welwich, a local judicial officer and town councillor of Salzburg, and Genovefa Mayr. The family name, which in today's Slovene spelling would be Velbič, points at Slovene ethnicity. It is known that Welwitsch's mother was a German, while his father's family was probably of Slovene origin. However, this has not been definitely proven. It is not known whether Welwitsch spoke Slovene although he worked as a physician in a Slovene-speaking environment for two years. This was in Postojna, where he continued to develop his interest in cryptogamic flora.

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