Diederich Franz Leonhard von Schlechtendal (27 November 1794, Xanten – 12 October 1866, Halle) was a German botanist. The standard author abbreviation Schltdl. is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name. He studied in Berlin, in 1819 becoming curator of the Royal Herbarium. He was a professor of botany and director of the Botanical Gardens at the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg from 1833 until his death in 1866. The genus Schlechtendalia (Asteraceae), from Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina, was named in his honor.