Karl Theodor Hartweg (1812-1871) was a plant collector for the Royal Horticultural Society, and later the head-gardener in Karlsruhe. Around the year of 1842 he discovered Phrag. longifolium var. hartwegii on the east slopes of the Andes of Quito near Nanegal in Ecuador, at an altitude of about 1300 m. These are divisions of jungle collected plants from Panama in 1987.