Friedrich Wilms was a German apothecary, botanical collector and traveller.

Wilms voyaged to South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 on the same boat as Bachmann

Franz Ewald Theodor Bachmann

Franz Ewald Theodor Bachmann , was a medical practitioner and naturalist.Bachmann studied in Breslau with Adolf Engler and in Würzburg where he was awarded an M.D. in 1883. He arrived in the Cape on 4 July 1883 in the company of Friedrich Wilms and disembarked while Wilms carried on to Durban...

, arriving in Cape Town

Cape Town

Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...

 on 4 July 1883. Bachmann disembarked and Wilms sailed on to Durban

Durban

Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...

. He travelled by train to Pietermaritzburg

Pietermaritzburg

Pietermaritzburg is the capital and second largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was founded in 1838, and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. Its "purist" Zulu name is umGungundlovu, and this is the name used for the district municipality...

 where he started collecting. From here he made use of an ox-wagon to get to Greytown

Greytown, KwaZulu-Natal

Greytown is a town situated on the banks of a tributary of the Umvoti River in a richly fertile timber-producing area of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.-History:...

 and northwest to Ladysmith

Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal

Ladysmith is a city in the Uthukela District of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It is north-west of Durban and south of Johannesburg. Important industries in the area include food processing, textile and tyre production...

, crossing the Natal Drakensberg at Laing's Nek

Laing's Nek

Laing's Nek, or Lang's Nek is a pass through the Drakensberg, South Africa, immediately north of Majuba, at at an elevation of 5400 to . It is the lowest part of a ridge which slopes from Majuba to the Buffalo River, and before the opening of the railway in 1891 the road over the nek was the main...

 on 17 November 1883. From here he travelled north to Pretoria

Pretoria

Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...

, east to Bronkhorstspruit and further east to Lydenburg

Lydenburg

Lydenburg is a town in Mpumalanga, South Africa. The town is slated to be renamed Mashishing, according to an announcement made on June 30, 2006 by the South African Minister of Arts and Culture, Pallo Jordan. Lydenburg is situated on the Sterkspruit/Dorps River tributary of the Olifants River at...

 which was to be his headquarters for the next 13 years. Using Lydenburg as his base, he made a number of collecting trips. He also ventured through the malaria-infested coastal flats of Portuguese East Africa

Portuguese East Africa

Mozambique or Portuguese East Africa was the common name by which the Portuguese Empire's territorial expansion in East Africa was known across different periods of time...

 to reach Delagoa Bay, choosing the winter season when there were fewer mosquitoes about.

In 1896 he returned to Germany with an extensive collection of mosses, lichens, ferns and phanerogams. His paper of 1898 entitled "Ein botanischer Ausflug ins Boerenland" which appeared in Verh. Bot. Ver. Prov. Brandenb., included interesting observations on the vegetation.

Wilms was later appointed as an assistant in the moss section of the Botanical Museum Berlin-Dahlem

Botanical Garden in Berlin

Botanical Garden in Berlin is considered one of the most important gardens in the world, with area of 43 hectares and around 22,000 different plant species.The garden is located in the Dahlem neighborhood of the borough of Steglitz-Zehlendorf...

 and was also closely involved in the taxonomy of specimens collected by August Gottlieb Hans Rudatis. He is commemorated in numerous specific names such as Kirkia wilmsii Engl., Melolobium wilmsii Harms, Argyrolobium wilmsii Harms, Streptocarpus wilmsii Engl., Polygala wilmsii Chodat, Salix wilmsii Seem. and Lejeunea wilmsii Steph.