Hugo Rühle von Lilienstern and his palaeobotanical collection: an east-west German story

A formerly private fossil collection of Hugo Rühle von Lilienstern, now located at the Museum of Natural History, Berlin, is the focus of this paper. The personality of the collector and the fate of the collection, closely interwoven with German/German history after World War II are described. Furthermore, the scientific value of these mostly Middle to Late Triassic central European fossils and its standing compared to other late Triassic palaeobotanical collections are discussed.