Hermann Karsten, His Collections and the Flora Columbiae

Author(s): Alice F. Tryon

Source: Taxon, Vol. 12, No. 3 (Apr., 1963), pp. 103-105
Published by: International Association for Plant Taxonomy (IAPT)
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1217198 .
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 HERMANN KARSTEN,
HIS COLLECTIONS AND THE FLORA COLUMBIAE
Alice F. Tryon (Cambridge, Massachusetts)

A sample of plant collectors in the Neotropics, since the French Joseph de Jussieu
searchedthe Andes for Cinchonain 1735, and the Spanish mission by Hipolito Ruiz and
Jose Pavon surveyed the plant resources of the New World in 1777, might include the
Belgian - Jean Linden, the Bohemian- ThaddaeusHaenke,the Dutch - Fr. L. Splitgerber,
the English - Hugh Weddell,the Germans- Karl Moritzand HermannKarsten,the Italian
- CarlosBertero,the Scots - William Purdie and William Jameson, and the Swede - Pehr
Loefling. Their collections form the basis of our knowledge of the neotropical flora.
Where and how the collections have accumulatedis history which is often exposed in
studies on the genera of the region. A search for the collections of the Andean fern
famesonia, made by HermannKarstenand describedin his Flora Columbiae,uncovered
a bit of this history. The illustrationsin this two volume, folio work which is fully titled,
Florae Columbiae terrarumqueadiacentium specimina selecta in peregrinatione duo-
decim annorumobservatadelineavit et descripsit, are generally so accurateand detailed
that the Karsten specimens are seldom referred to in monographsincluding his species.
The illustrations of the five new species of Jamesonia are the finest that have been done
for the genus and have been reproduced in several subsequent publications. For this
group it was necessary to examine the specimens for the critical charactersare obscured
by the extreme reduction of the leaves. In the search for the original specimens it was
discovered that there is relatively little information about Karsten or his collections in
the usual sources, thus a comparison of some of his specimens and a brief sketch of his
life is presentedhere.
In De Candolle'sLa Phytographie, 1880. it is noted that 2000 species of Karsten's
Colombianplants were in the herbariumin St. Petersburg,300 at Gottingen and 200 in
the De Candolle Herbarium. In the report of Lanjouw, "On the location of Botanical
Collectionsfrom Centraland South America",in F. Verdoorn'sPlants and Plant Science
in Latin America, 1945, Karsten collections are listed at B, BM, G, GOET,K, KIEL, L,
LE, NY, P, W and those at LE are indicated as the original. The record of Urban, of
collections at the Botanical Museum in Berlin, 1815-1913, includes Karsten collections
from Venezuela, Colombiaand Ecuador.
In 1960 I examined the Karsten collections of Jamesonia in the herbaria at B, LE, P.
S-PA and I have seen his collections on loan from Vienna. Specimens of all five species
described by Karsten in the Flora are at Leningrad and the name and data on each
correspondsto that in the publication. "H. Karsten"is embossed on the label on each of
these specimens. In addition there are duplicate specimens of three of the collections
bearing the label, E. Ender Hebar. Filicum. The Karsten collections that I have seen
from Vienna include four of the five species described in the Flora. Two sheets have his
embossedname and only one, 1. bogotensis has the data and species named according to
the Flora. The specimens at Leningrad thus represent the more complete series of the
species describedby Karsten and I have acceptedthem as the holotypeswhile some of the
specimens at Vienna are isotypes. The material examined in three other herbaria was
fragmentary and less complete than that at LE or W. Two collections at Paris were in
the Luerssen Herbarium, one at Stockholm in the Rosenstock Herbarium and one at
Berlin from the Herbariumof Mettenius. I have inquired of A. E. Bobrov, at the Her-
barium of the Botanical Institute, Leningrad, about the collections and he informs me
that he has examined the Karsten types and reports that there is a striking similarity
betweenthe drawings in the Flora and the herbariumspecimens in the comparisonsthat
he has made.

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 An explanation of how the largest set of Karsten collections came to Leningrad is
revealed in the account of his life. Hermann GustavWilhelm Karl Karsten was one of
the prodigious Germannaturalists with inquiring mind, thorough training and volum-
inous publications encompassing many aspects of natural history. He was born in
Stralsund,in Pomerania, Prussia and made his first collections of the plants and insects
of that province. He was apprenticedto a pharmacistand educatedin naturalhistory. He
received the Doctor of Philosophy degree at Trendelenburgin 1843 with a dissertation,
De Cella Vitali. A timely offer of a trip to Puerto Cabello,Venezuela,by a friend having
a commercial establishment there, was accepted with enthusiasm and methodic pre-
parations. He arrived in 1844 and was invited to stay at San Esteban,situated in a valley
a short distance from the coast, surrounded by virgin forest and luxuriant vegetation.
Tree ferns, cycads and palms captured his attention and he made his first study of
tropical plants on the palms of the region. Die Vegetationsorganeder Palmen. Ein Bei-
trag zur vergleichendenAnatomie und Physiologie, 1847 also includes his observations
on the anatomy of some ferns. He moved eastwardto Colonia Tovar, the scientific and
intellectual community of Germans, where he made the acquaintance of the botanist,
Karl Moritz. Cinchonamoritziana was one of several new plants he described from the
vicinity of Colonia Tovar. In 1847 he returnedto Europe. In the Botanische Zeitung of
September24, 1847, a large selection of Colombianplants is offered for sale by Karsten.
The list includes prices, the cultural requirements,the general aspect and flower color
for these plants and his address is given as Friedrichsstrasse,Berlin. On funds obtained
from the sale of plants Karsten returned to Venezuela in 1848 and for the next eight
years he traveledthere, in Colombia and in Ecuador. His first trip after arriving at La
Guayra was east to the Gulf of Cariaco with return to Caracas in 1850. In 1852 he travel-
ed westward to Lake Maracaibo and the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and south to
Bogota. He collected in the vicinity of Quindio, Popayan and Pasto in southern Colom-
bia and in the Cinchonaforests of Ecuadoraround Cayambeand Pichincha. The collect-
ions and observationson Cinchonaon these trips were the basis for his publication, Die
Medicinischen ChinarindenNeu-Granada's1858. His broad taxonomic concepts of the
genus appear to have had little following although his ecological observations,his anat-
omical and chemical studies of the bark have been well considered. He also made
extensive collections of fossils and geological specimens which were sent to Berlin. He
published several works on the geology of Colombia, among them, Uber die geognosti-
schen Verhiiltnissedes westlichen Columbien,etc., 1856 and Uber die Vulkaneder An-
den, 1857. Between 1852 and 1854 he resided for a half year in Bogota and became
acquainted with the botanists Francisco Jose de Caldas, Jose Celestino Mutis and
Jose Triana. He collected with Triana and together they began preparations
of a prodromus for the flora; an effort which resolved in two separate works-that
of Karsten and the Prodromus Florae Novo-Granatensis, 1862-1867 by Triana and
Planchon. Karsten's knowledge of the natural history of Colombia was recognized, for
the President of the Republic, Mosquera,asked him to prepare a text on the geology of
the country. Karsten returned to Berlin in 1856 and in this and the next few years he
published a series of works based on his observations in the tropics. The Flora is dated
by H. Sleumer(Taxon 7: 58. Mar. 1958) as appearingbetweenApril 6, 1859 and August
24, 1869. The plates for the work were drawn by several artists, most of them by either
C. F. Schmidt or by Diuwelwho did the excellent illustrationsof Jamesonia. I have not
been able to trace Diiwel but from his drawings it appears that he was either familiar
with the living plants or was well informed and supervised by Karsten.
From 1856 to 1868 Karsten was Professor of Botany in Berlin and in 1864 organized
a laboratory of plant physiology. He received an honorary degree in medicine from the
University. of Greifswald. In 1868 he became Professor of Botany at Vienna and
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established a laboratory for the study of plant anatomy and physiology. Criticism of
Karsten by the man he succeeded at Vienna aroused a bitter and much publicized
contest. Karsten expressed his views in a private publication, Fiulniss und Ansteckung
nebst Erlebnissen an der Wiener Universitdt, 1872. In the record of accessions of the
herbarium at St. Petersburg,published by F. von Herder in 1893, there are entries for
1871 listing, "ColumbischePflanzen, gesammeltund erhalten von Karsten, 650 Arten"
and in 1872 the same entry listing 1425 species. It thus appears that Karsten sent his
collections to St. Petersburg while he was embroiled in the conflict at Vienna.
After all of these experiences Karsten embarked on a new era, in the publication of
Europeanfloras with special reference to medicinal plants. The first, a 1248 page work,
dated 1880-1883, Deutsche Flora. Pharmaceutisch-medicinischeBotanik, ein Grundriss
der systematischen Botanik zum Selbststudium fiir Aerzte, Apotheker und Botaniker.
A larger work, Flora von Deutschland, Deltsch-Oesterreich und der Schweiz mit Ein-
schluss der fremdliindischenmedicinisch und technisch-wichtigenPflanzen, Droguen
und deren chemisch-physiologischenEigenschaften fiir alle Freunde der Pflanzenweldt,
1894-1895, was issued in fascicles. A biographic note on Karsten, published in 1872
recounts many of his accomplishmentsalthough it underestimatedhis vitality with a
remarkthat his twelve years in the tropics may have shortenedhis life. Karsten reached
the age of 92 when he died in Berlin in 1908.
HermannKarsten is commemoratedby several species named for him but he is best
rememberedfor his Flora Columbiaewhich is still a major referenceon the flora.

REFERENCES
HERDER V., F. 1893 - Die in St. Petersburg befindlichen Herbarien und botanischen Museen,
Bot. Centralbl.55: 291.
RATZEBURG,J. T. C. 1872 - ForstwissenschaftlichesSchriftsteller-Lexikon.Berlin.
RO6L, E. 1944 - HermannKarsten(1817-1908), Bol. Acad. Sci. Venez. 8: 991-1025.

SYMBOLS AND TERMS FOR

MORPHOLOGICAL INTERGRADATION AND HYBRIDIZATION
Edward E. Terrell (Beltsville)*

In a recent paper (Lewis & Terrell, Rhodora 64: 313-323. 1962) the dash, -, instead
of the multiplicationsign, X, was used between species names to cite collections inter-
gradientbetweentwo species. I made the suggestion, here amplified,that X be employed
only for instances in which the evidence for hybridization had been reasonably well
established.
That X is best retainedonly for known hybrids or for plants whose hybrid derivation
is strongly suggested by ratherfirmly based circumstantialevidence seems scarcely open
to argument (scatter diagrams coupled with other morphological and ecological data
might provide sufficient evidence). A less strict usage of X is misleading and may be
incorrect. Consequently, a symbol or symbols are needed to designate morphological
intergradationper se between or among two or more taxa. Such symbol(s) would apply
to either of two possible situations: (1) the cause of the apparent intergradationis un-
known, (2) causes other than hybridization explain the apparent intergradation (e.g.,
environmentalmodification, parallel evolution). New symbols would be more useful in

? Crops Research Division, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service,

Beltsville, Maryland.

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