Kölreuter, Joseph Gottlieb

Kölreuter or Koelreuter, Joseph Gottlieb

(both: yō`zĕf gôt`lēp köl`roi'tər), 1733–1806, German botanist. In 1764 he became professor of natural history and director of the botanical gardens at Karlsruhe. He experimented with hybridization of plants, studied their fertilization and development, and pointed out the importance of insects and of wind in the pollination of flowers. The golden rain tree genus (Koelreuteria) is named for him.