Ernst Ferdinand Nolte (24 December 1791, Hamburg – 18 February 1875, Kiel) was a German botanist. He was son-in-law to chemist Christoph Heinrich Pfaff (1773–1852). After duties as a pharmacy apprentice in Goslar, he studied medicine at the University of Göttingen. While a student, he engaged in frequent botanical excursions throughout northern Germany. In 1817 he finished his studies at Göttingen, and later came under the influence of Danish botanist Jens Wilken Hornemann (1770–1841). From 1821 to 1823 he conducted botanical investigations in Lauenburg and the "Elbe Duchies", later taking scientific excursions to Zealand, Funen, Jutland and islands off both coasts of the Schleswig-Holstein mainland.