Education
From 1919 to 1921, he studied natural sciences at the University of Munich, where he was a pupil of botanist Karl Ritter von Goebel.
From 1919 to 1921, he studied natural sciences at the University of Munich, where he was a pupil of botanist Karl Ritter von Goebel.
He advocated a morphological biology that was rooted in the nature philosophy of Goethe. He was an older brother to geographer Carl Troll (1899–1975). In 1929/30 he participated in the Sunda Expedition der Notgemeinschaft der Deutschen Wissenschaft, during which, he conducted studies on the respiratory roots of mangrove plants.
In 1932 he was appointed professor of botany and director of the botanical garden at the University of Halle, and in 1946, he became a professor of botany and general biology at the University of Mainz.
Plants with the specific epithet of trollii honor his name, an example being Puya trollii (family Bromeliaceae).
German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. Heidelberg Academy for Sciences and Humanities. Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur.