Curt Backeberg

Curt Backeberg (1894-1966) was a German horticulturist especially known for the collection and classification of cacti.

He travelled extensively through Central and South America, and published a number of books on cacti, including the six-volume 4,000-page Die Cactaceae, 1958-1962, and the Kakteenlexikon first appearing in 1966 and updated posthumously.

Although he collected and described many new species and defined a number of new genera, much of his work was based on faulty assumptions about the evolution of cacti, and too focused on geographic distribution; many of his genera have since been reorganized or abandoned.

In botany, his name is abbreviated as "Backeb."