Christian Friedrich Hornschuch was a German botanist born in Rodach, Bavaria.
In 1808 he started his career as an apprentice at a pharmacy in Hildburghausen. In 1813 he moved to Regensburg as an assistant to botanist David Heinrich Hoppe, and afterwards worked as an assistant to Heinrich Christian Funck in Gefrees, where he performed research of mosses native to the Fichtelgebirge.
In 1816 he accompanied Hoppe on a botanical expedition to the Adriatic coast, then returned to Coburg to arrange his diaries, and in April 1817 continued his research with Hoppe in Tyrol and Carinthia. Later he worked as a "botanical demonstrator" at the University of Greifswald, and for a period of time studied with Carl Adolph Agardh from the University of Lund.
In 1820 he was appointed associate professor of natural history and botany, and director of the botanical gardens at the University of Greifswald. In 1827 he attained the title of "full professor".