Carl Borivoj Presl (Czech: Karel Bořivoj Presl; 17 February 1794 – 2 October 1852) was a Czech botanist.

Presl lived his entire life in Prague, and was a professor of botany at the University of Prague (1833–52).^[1] He made an expedition to Sicily in 1817,^[2] and with his brother, published a "Flora bohemica" titled "Flora čechica: indicatis medicinalibus, oeconomicis technologicisque plantis" in 1819.^[3]

His older brother Jan Svatopluk Presl was also a noted botanist; the journal Preslia of the Czech Botanical Society is named in their honor.^[4] The botanical genera Preslaea Mart., 1827 from the family Boraginaceae, (now a synonym of Euploca Nutt.^[5] ) and Preslia Opiz, 1824 of the family Lamiaceae (it is also now a synonym of Woodsia R.Br.^[6]) are dedicated to the two brothers.^[1] In 2006, botanists (Urb. & Gilg) Weigend published Presliophytum, a genus of flowering plants from South America, belonging to the family Loasaceae which also honours Carl Borivoj Presl's name.^[7]

He spent nearly 15 years producing the exsiccata "Reliquiae Haenkeanae" (published from 1825 to 1835), a work based on botanical specimens collected in the Americas by Thaddaeus Haenke.^[8][9][10]

Author abbreviation

• Taxa named by Carl Borivoj Presl (C.Presl)
• Jan Svatopluk Presl (J.Presl, 1791–1849) — Czech chemist/mineralogist/botanist, and older brother of Carl Presl.