Following studies of botany at the University of Tübingen, he moved to the United States after receiving a subsidy from the Society of Natural Sciences in Württemberg.

In 1831, Leitner began taking classes at the Medical College of South Carolina in Charleston.

During his travels he eventually reached the Florida Keys, during which, he paid a visit to the Dry Tortugas.

[4] In 1836 he traveled to Key West, where he joined U.S. Navy Lieutenant Levin M. Powell's unit as a guide and surgeon.

The genus Leitneria is named in his honor,[5] as is the family Leitneriaceae, the latter taxa being circumscribed by George Bentham.