Genus Christella

For Konrad Hermann Heinrich Christ (1833–1933), Swiss jurist, pteridologist, naturalist, botanist and paleobotanist. He studied law at Basel University and Humboldt University of Berlin, obtaining his doctorate in 1856, and graduated as a notary a year later. He served as lawyer and notary from 1869 to 1908 in Basel. Besides his legal and political work, he supported missionary work in Africa and became an activist against the mistreatment of people in the Congo region, forming the Swiss League for the Protection of the Natives of the Congo State. He had a special interest in systematics, plant geography, the history of botany and ferns. Some 60 species were named in his honour. He authored at least four books, three in German, and Ferns of the Maritime Alps (1900) in English. In 1912 he was elected a foreign member of the Linnaean Society.