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Biography
Friedrich August Georg Bitter (13 August 1873 – 30 July 1927) was a German botanist and lichenologist.
Born in Bremen, he studied at the Universities of Jena, Munich and Kiel, earning his doctorate at the latter institution in 1896. Afterwards he performed assignments in Berlin. In his studies he was influenced by instructors such as Simon Schwendener (1829–1919), Friedrich Wilhelm Zopf (1846–1909) and Johannes Reinke (1849–1931). In 1905 he was named director of the botanical garden in Bremen. During the later part of his career he served as director of the botanical garden in Göttingen.
He specialized in the botanical genus Solanum, as evidenced by his Solana Africana, a four-part monograph in which he provided descriptions of all known African Solanum species. In the field of lichenology, he conducted anatomical and developmental studies on the thallus of lichens. He performed significant research involving the lichen genus Parmelia (Hypogymnia).
Selected works
- Zur Morphologie und Systematik von Parmelia, untergattung Hypogymnia, 1901 - Morphology and systematics of Parmelia, subgenus Hypogymnia (now regarded as a genus).
- Die Gattung Acaena, Vorstudien zu einer Monographie, 1911 - The genus Acaena.
- Solana Africana, 1913-1923 (in four parts).
- Solanum morelliforme : eine baumbewohnende Verwandte der Kartoffel : nebst allgemeinen Bemerkungen über die Sektion Tuberarium, 1914.