Species Gleichenia umbraculifera

For Wilhelm Friedrich Freiherr von Gleichen-Russwurm (sometimes recorded as Wilhelm Friedrich von Gleichen) (1717–1783), German lieutenant-colonel, botanist and amateur naturalist. He resigned from the military and court service in 1756 and devoted himself to microscopic examinations. One of his works, New Discoveries in the Vegetable Kingdom from Microscopical Observations, reflects the growing interest in microscopy as a tool of investigation and a means of categorising the natural world. Among his books (abbreviated titles) were The Latest from the Kingdom of Plants, and Microscopic Studies and Observations (1764), History of the Common House Fly (1764), Microscopic Observations of the Seeds of Animals and Different Infusions (1778) and Exquisite Microscopic Discoveries in Plants, Flowers and Insects (1777).