Schouw was born on 7 February 1789 in Copenhagen, the son of wine merchant Paul S. (1751–1800) and Sara Georgia Liebenberg (1761–1826).

On this journey, he was strongly impressed with the conspicuous zonal division of the mountain vegetation and distribution of plant species in relation to altitude.

While earning for his living as a lawyer, he delved into the copious literature on plant geography, e.g. by Wahlenberg and von Humboldt.

In this thesis, he dealt with the question of Generatio aequivoca, that is the origin of species through continuous evolution, a view he advocated.

The expectations of his scientific potential were so great that King Frederik VI granted him an extraordinary professorship of botany at the University of Copenhagen.

He was a member of the 1848 Danish Constituent Assembly but refused to become a minister because he, unlike the government, favoured the division of Schleswig.

Schouw married Susanne (Susette) Marie Augustine Peschier Dalgas, (1798-1844), a daughter of priest at the French Reformed Church in Fredericia Jean Marc Dalgar (1756–1811).

The lively Grundtvegian home was frequented by many visitors from the Danish world of culture, His daughter Georgia married the painter P. C. Skovgaard.

In 1896, botanist Augustin-Pyramus de Candolle published Schouwia, a monotypic genus of flowering plants from Northern Africa, belonging to the family Brassicaceae and named in Joakim Frederik Schouw's honor.