Guilandinus, Melchior

, a Prussian botanist, whose proper name was Wieland, was born at Koenigsberg, and after several extensive journeys into Palestine, Egypt, Africa, and Greece, was carried prisoner into Barbary; but being redeemed by the celebrated Fallopius, afterwards succeeded him in the botanical chair at Padua, and | died in 1587 or 1589. Haller characterizes him as a learned but desultory writer, an acrimonious critic, even of the excellent Conrad Gesner, but especially of Matthiolus, whom he violently hated. He had little or no merit as a practical botanist, nor did he scarcely attempt to describe or define any plants. He published a learned essay on the “Papyrus,” in quarto, at Venice, in 1572, and various controversial epistles. His “Synonyma Piantarum,” one of the earliest works of its kind, appeared long after his death, in 1608, at Franc fort, in octavo. ¹