Carl Ignaz Leopold Kny (6 July 1841 – 26 June 1916) was a German botanist, notable as a specialist in research involving the morphology of fungi and cryptogams.

At the age of 17, Kny graduated from high school and began to attend the University of Wroclaw.

He completed his doctorate in Berlin, where he was a pupil of Alexander Braun He studied leafless liverworts and then went to Sicily and Madeira to recover his health.

[2] Kny became an associate professor at the Friedrich Wilhelm University, as well as director of the newly formed department of plant physiology in 1873.

These were a series of 117 botanical wall charts known for their high level of detail, and were widely used in classrooms long after his death.