Species Schmidelia rubifolia

For Casimir Christoph Schmidel (1718–1792), German physician, naturalist and professor. He studied medicine at the universities of Jena and Halle, and also botany and geology in Saxony, Holland and Switzerland. In 1742, he was appointed professor of pharmacology at Freidrichs-Akademie in Bayreuth, where he also opened a private practice. When the university was moved from Bayreuth to Erlangen in 1744, he became professor of medicine and later dean of the medical faculty. His interest in geology resulted in him publishing Erz Stuffen und Berg Arten (1753), which was a comprehensive, wellillustrated book to help miners and prospectors recognise different ore minerals. Because he did not get on well with colleagues, he resigned from the university in 1763 and thereafter served as physician ordinary to Carl Alexander, margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, who made him a privy councillor and president of the board of health. He was awarded an honorary MD at the University of Erlangen in 1783.