Russian botanist and explorer (1801-1872).
Grigory Silych Karelin (January 1801 – 17 December 1872) was a Russian explorer and naturalist who travelled around Siberia and central Asia. Many species of plants have been described from specimens that he collected and some named in his honour. Karelin was born in Petersburg district where his father was a music conductor. Orphaned at the age of eight he joined the Cadet Corps, graduating in 1817 as a Second Lieutenant. He wrote some humorous verse on the secretary of war, Count Arakcheev, which led to his being posted in Orenburg on the border of Russia. Here he met E. F. Eversmann and be