Christian Hendrik Persoon (February 1, 1761 - November 16, 1836) was a mycologist who made additions to Linnaeus' mushroom taxonomy. He was influenced by Elias Magnus Fries. Persoon was born in South Africa, of Dutch and German descent. He died in poverty in Paris.

His works include Observationes mycologicae (1795-1799), Synopsis methodica Fungorum (1801) and Mycologica Europaea (1822-1828).

The standard botanical author abbreviation Pers. is applied to species he described.