Pieter Willem Korthals

Pieter Willem Korthals (September 1, 1807, Amsterdam – March 1892, Haarlem) was a Dutch botanist.

Korthals was the official botanist with the Dutch East India Service from 1831 to 1836.

Among his many discoveries was the medicinal plant Kratom (Mitragyna speciosa).

[1]: 59  Korthals wrote the first monograph on the tropical pitcher plants, "Over het geslacht Nepenthes", published in 1839.

[2] Carl Ludwig Blume named the botanical genus Korthalsia (family Arecaceae) after Korthals,[3] and Philippe Édouard Léon Van Tieghem introduced the genus name Korthalsella (family Santalaceae) in his honor.