Carl Kalchbrenner was born in Pöttelsdorf (now Austria) on 5 May 1807. After finishing his theological education he accepted the position of an evangelic priest in Spišské Vlachy (Szepes Olaszi in Hungarian, Wallendorf in German and Olaszinum in Latin), northeast Slovakia in 1832. After being introduced to botany and mycology by Friedrich Hazslinszky he started his investigations of the region of Spiš (Szepes in Hungarian, Zips in German and Scepusii in Latin). During his scientific career he published 60 papers and described more than 400 fungi from Europe, Asia, Australia and South America. Well-known are his Icones Selectae Hymenomycetum Hungariae with descriptions and paintings of numerous new species by himself and by S. Schulzer. Later he collaborated with M.C. Cooke (England), F. von Thümen (Austria), C. Roumeguère (France), F. von Müller (Australia), J.M. Wood and P. MacOwan (South Africa) and published several papers on overseas fungi mainly in Cooke's Grevillea. Kalchbrenner's contribution to mycology was honoured by election as a corresponding (1864) and a full member (1872) of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and as a corresponding member of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, Australia. He died in Spišské Vlachy on 5 June 1886.

Most of his own collections have been destroyed and only a small part (about 2500 specimens) was rescued and is now preserved in the Slovak National Museum, Bratislava (BRA). A few specimens are held with Cooke's fungal reference collection in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K), numerous taxa were published by L. Rabenhorst, G. Linhart and F. von Thümen in their exsiccatae. A complete list of Kalchbrenner’s new taxa was published by Lizoň (1992, 1997) and some of them were commented on later by Lizoň & Jančovičová (2000). [Pavel Lizoň]

Collections. UPS. Lists. Publications. Taxa. Kirk & Ansell form of name: Kalchbr.