Erik Leonard Ekman

Erik Leonard Ekman ( born October 14, 1883 in Stockholm, † January 15, 1931 in Santiago de los Caballeros ) was a Swedish botanist. Its official botanical author abbreviation is " Ekman ".

Ekman grew up in the central Swedish city of Jönköping and made 1907 his bachelor's degree at the University of Lund, where he also completed his doctoral thesis in 1914.

On the way to Brazil he was commissioned by Ignaz Urban and Carl Lindman collect plants in Cuba and Hispaniola, but then remained instead of the scheduled 20 months for 17 years in the Caribbean. From Ekman about 36,000 herbarium specimens are known; based on these collections made about 2000 species have been described as new. Also, some geographical discoveries go back to him, he discovered the highest mountain in the Caribbean, Pico Duarte. He died in 1931 in Santiago de los Caballeros from the effects of pneumonia, malaria and other diseases.

In honor of the genera Ekmania, Ekmaniocharis and Ekmanianthe were named.