Amalie Dietrich

Dietrich was born on 26 May 1821 in Siebenlehn in the Kingdom of Saxony (now in Germany). Her parents were Gottlieb Nelle, a leather-worker, and his wife Cordelia. She attended the local village school in Siebenlehn. Around 1846, at about age 25, she married Wilhelm August Salomo Dietrich, a chemist and pharmacist who earned a living by collecting botanical and other natural history specimens for sale to collectors and institutions. In March 1848 their daughter, Charitas Concordia Sophie Dietrich, was born in Siebenlehn. ==Australia==

Dietrich was one of a number of influential German-speaking residents such as Ludwig Becker, Hermann Beckler, William Blandowski, Wilhelm Haacke, Diedrich Henne, Gerard Krefft, Johann Luehmann, Johann Menge, Carl Mücke (a.k.a. Muecke), Ludwig Preiss, Carl Ludwig Christian Rümker (a.k.a. Ruemker), Moritz Richard Schomburgk, Richard Wolfgang Semon, Karl Theodor Staiger, George Ulrich, Eugene von Guérard, Robert von Lendenfeld, Ferdinand von Mueller, Georg von Neumayer, and Carl Wilhelmi who brought their "epistemic traditions" to Australia, and not only became "deeply entangled with the Australian colonial project", but also were "intricately involved in imagining, knowing and shaping colonial Australia" (Barrett, et al., 2018, p. 2). Controversy Whilst in Queensland, Australia, Dietrich "actively sought fresh Aboriginal skeletons for her European clients”. While this is most likely part of a local legend that presents Dietrich as the 'Angel of Black Death, it is accepted that she did send the human remains of several Indigenous Australians to Hamburg. Her contribution to colonialism – pertaining to both the anthropological as well as the botanical aspect – are the subject of recent academic debates. ==Career==

Amalie Dietrich was born in Siebenlehn, Saxony, German Confederation. In 1846, she married Wilhelm August Salomo Dietrich, a doctor. With no formal training she learnt all she could from him about collecting and they planned careers working as naturalists. Between 1845 and 1862 they made a precarious living collecting Alpine specimens to sell to chemists for medicines and to museums for their natural history collections. Some of the delicate alpine flowers she collected in this period can be seen on display in the Natural History Museum in Freiburg. Biography A published biography of Amalie Dietrich was written by the author and biographer H. J. Kaeser, a German Jewess who in 1934 fled Nazi Germany to France, Denmark, and finally Sweden. Kaeser became a Swedish citizen and began writing in Swedish. ==Species==

'' She collected the type specimens of many species, and in a number of cases the author of the description honoured her in the species epithet (dietrichiae, dietrichiana, amaliae, etc.). Species whose type specimens she collected include: Aongstroemia dietrichiae Müll.Hal. (1868) – Dicranella dietrichiae (Müll.Hal.) A.JaegerLaxmannia illicebrosa Rchb.f. (1871) – a synonym of Laxmannia gracilis R.Br.Marsdenia hemiptera Rchb. (1871)Fissidens dietrichiae Müll.Hal. (1872)Macromitrium sordidevirens Müll.Hal. (1872) – Macromitrium aurescens HampeSargassum aciculare Grunow (1874) – Sargassum filifolium var. aciculare (Grunow) GrunowSargassum amaliae Grunow (1874) – accepted Sargassum godeffroyi Grunow (1874) – accepted Schoenus elatus Boeck. (1875) – Schoenus falcatus R.Br. Scirpus dietrichiae Boeck. (1875) – Lipocarpha microcephala (R.Br.) Kunth Scleria dietrichiae Boeck. (1875) – Scleria levis Retz. Scleria novae-hollandiae Boeck. (1875) – Scleria laxa R.Br. Carex dietrichiae Boeck. (1875) – Carex indica L. Cyperus luerssenii Boeck. (1875) – Cyperus subulatus R.Br. Acacia dietrichiana F.Muell. (1882) Barbula subcalycina Mull.Hal. (1882) – (not listed in IPNI, APNI, nor Plants of the world online; listed in AusMoss) Frullania dietrichana Steph. (1910) – Frullania seriata Gottsche ex Steph. Indigofera amaliae Domin (1915) – Indigofera polygaloides M.B.Scott Acacia penninervis var. longiracemosa Domin (1926) Cryptocarya multicostata Domin (1926) –Cryptocarya hypospodia F.Muell. Cryptocarya triplinervis var. euryphylla Domin (1926) – Cryptocarya triplinervis R.Br. Psoralea dietrichiae Domin (1926) – Cullen australasicum (Schltdl.) J.W.Grimes Swainsona luteola var. dietrichiae Domin (1926) – Swainsona luteola F.Muell. Tetrastigma nitens var. amaliae Domin (1927) – Tetrastigma nitens (F.Muell.) Planch. Plectronia coprosmoides var. spathulata O.Swartz (1927) – Cyclophyllum coprosmoides var. spathulatum (O.Schwarz) S.T.Reynolds & R.J.F.Hend. Premna benthamiana Domin (1928) – Premna serratifolia L. Hibiscus amaliae Domin (1930) – Hibiscus heterophyllus Vent. (1805) Mallotus claoxyloides f. grossedentata Domin (1930) – Mallotus ficifolius (Baill.) Pax & K.Hoffm. Mallotus claoxyloides var. glabratus Domin (1930) – Mallotus claoxyloides (F.Muell.) Müll.Arg. Pagetia dietrichiae Domin (1930) – Bosistoa medicinalis (F.Muell.) T.G.Hartley Persoonia amaliae Domin (1930) Cyperus pumilus var. nervulosus Kuk. (1936) – Cyperus nervulosus (Kük.) S.T.Blake Helichrysum eriocephalum J.H.Willis (1952) Nortonia amaliae (a wasp) Drosera dietrichiana Rchb.f. (1871) – a synonym of Drosera burmanni Vahl (1794) Current names, synonymy etc based on searches of the Australian Plant Name Index and Plants of the World online. Where no alternative name is given above, the species name is that accepted by either or both of these sources with the exception of the seaweeds.) ==Collections==

Her collections formed the basis of Zur Flora von Queensland ("On Queensland's Flora", 1875) by Christian Luerssen. While in Australia, she visited Ferdinand von Mueller, and in 1881 Mueller acquired a set of her specimens from Luerssen. (The National Herbarium of Victoria (MEL) holds 2790 of her specimens.) She published nothing in her name. However, her collections continue to be an important resource in herbaria around the world (MEL, B, BM, BRSL, HBG, JE, K, L, MO, P, US, W). ==Dietrich Place==

Dietrich Place in the Canberra suburb of Chisholm is named in recognition of her work in Australia. ==See also==