Leopold Trattinnick (26 May 1764 in Klosterneuburg – 24 January 1849 in Vienna) was an Austrian botanist and mycologist. He was a curator of the Royal Natural History collection in Vienna. He published several mycological and other botanical works. Most of these works were illustrated with engravings and many of them were hand coloured (pre-colour printing). He also gave out collections of wax replicas of species of fungi and later sponges. Biography Leopold Trattinnick was born on 26 May 1764 near Vienna to a wealthy and influential family. He originally began to study law but his interests in nature grew and he started studying Science and divided his time amongst the fields of entomology, mineralogy and botany. His main area of Interest was mycology and spermatophytes. In 1797, he published 'Anleitung zur Cultur der ächten Baumwolle in Österreich' (translated as 'Introduction to the culture of true cotton in Austria'). It was his first botanical publication. This was followed by 'Genera Plantarum Methodo Naturali Disposita', in 1802, which was a proposal for a natural arrangement of some plant genera. Between 1804-1806, he published several works about mushrooms (mycology), including 'Fungi Austriaci'. He also staged an exhibition with wax sculpted mushroom replicas, called the 'Mycological Cabinet'. A second collection (with edible sponges) was made in 1830. The Mycological Cabinet was numbered in Arabic numerals (1-42). The second collection of sponges is numbered with letters (A-FF). In 1809, he published 'The edible sponges of the Empire of Austria'. Several places still have these wax collections including the 'Museo Civico di storia naturale' in Trieste, Italy (only up to no. 18), the portrait collection of the National Library in Vienna, which has wax models from both series, the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna, which also has wax models from both series and the 'Department of Botany' in the Hungarian National Museum in Budapest. Between 1805-1819, 7 Volumes of 'Thesaurus Botanicus' were published with botanical Illustrations (which include works from Ignace Strenzel (or Ignaz Stremel) (professor at the Vienna Academy, 1786-1832), Franz Reinelli (a flower specialist at the Royal Vienna porcelain works, 1785-1812) and Johann Buchberger from Vienna. It contained 80 plates. He did not have an official botanical position until 1806 when he became the “Landschafts-Phytographen von Niederösterreich”,(plant illustrator of the landscape of Lower Austria). In 1809, the Kaiser of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Emperor Francis I, appointed him “Kustos des K.k. Hof- Naturalienkabinetts”