A member of an old noble
House of Waldstein, he was born in
Vienna, the third son of Count Emanuel Philibert von Waldstein-Wartenberg (1731–1775) and his wife, Princess Maria Anna Theresia von
Liechtenstein (1738-1814). His younger brother Count
Ferdinand Ernst Gabriel von Waldstein (1762–1823) became known as patron of
Ludwig van Beethoven. Waldstein married Karolina Ferdinandi (1777–1844). As a soldier he took part in
Habsburg campaigns against the
Ottoman Empire and
Russia. From 1789, he studied the botany of Hungary with
Pál Kitaibel. His
herbarium is archived in
Prague. Together with Kitaibel he wrote
Descriptiones et icones plantarum rariorum Hungariae ("descriptions and pictures of the rare plants of Hungary"; M. A. Schmidt, Vienna, three volumes, 1802–1812). In 1814, Waldstein was appointed member of the
Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities. He died at his manor in
Litvínov (),
Bohemia. The genus
Waldsteinia (
Rosaceae) was named after him by
Carl Ludwig von Willdenow, as well as a
Campanula (bellflower) species (
Campanula waldsteiniana) by
Josef August Schultes. == References ==