Helga Dietrich

{{Short description|German orchidologist and author (1940–2018)}}

{{Expand German|topic=bio|Helga Dietrich|date=February 2019}}

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Helga Dietrich

| image =

| caption =

| birth_date = 1940

| death_date = 2018

| nationality = German

| alma_mater = University of Jena

| thesis_title = The Pollen Morphology of the Plantaginaceae

| thesis_year = 1964

| author_abbrev_bot = H.Dietr.

| awards = Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (2012)

| field = Orchidology

| work_institutions = Botanischer Garten Jena

}}

Helga Dietrich (1940–2018) was a German orchidologist and author who is noted for her comprehensive guides to literature on orchids, and for her work as curator of the Botanischer Garten Jena.{{cite book |last1=Llamacho |first1=Juan A. |last2=Larramendi |first2=Julio |title=The orchids of Cuba |date=2005 |publisher=Greta Editores |pages=13–20 |isbn=9788493361525 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rhxFAAAAYAAJ |accessdate=1 March 2019 |language=es}}{{cite book |last1=Committee |first1=Orchid Society of Minnesota Library |title=Information Retrieval in Orchid Literature and a Bibliography of Orchid Literature in the Minneapolis and St. Paul Metropolitan Area ; Orchid Society of Minnesota, Library Committee |date=1989 |publisher=Orchid Society of Minnesota |pages=3–5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fRjOp2XhuCEC |accessdate=1 March 2019 |language=en}} She described over eighty species of orchids, many from Cuba.{{cite web |title=Tropicos {{!}} Person – Dietrich, Helga |url=http://www.tropicos.org/Person/26695?tab=names |website=www.tropicos.org |accessdate=1 March 2019}} {{botanist|H.Dietr.|inline=yes}} She was a 2012 recipient of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. Dietrich studied biology at the University of Jena from 1959 and graduated in 1964 with a diploma on the topic The Pollen Morphology of the Plantaginaceae. Afterwards she was a research assistant at the Institute of Special Botany/Botanical Garden of the University. After receiving her doctorate in 1975, she was appointed curator of the Jena Botanical Garden. Her dissertation was on the subject of On the Trait Inventory of the Plantaginaceae and its Significance for Systematics. In 1980 she received the teaching qualification, between 1989 and 1994 she completed a PhD-B procedure, which was recognized as habilitation a short time later. From 1994 to 2006 she was a lecturer at the Institute of Special Botany, since April 2006 she was a lecturer there.