Humboldt, his botanical mentor Willdenow, and the fate of the collections of Humboldt Bonpland

Los hermanos Goujaud Bonpland: dos enfoques complementarios del conocimiento botánico

“…A vast literature has been devoted to the well-known travels of Humboldt and Bonpland in the New World (Stearn, 1968;Stauffer et al, 2012) and their impact on a wide range of biological disciplines such as taxomomy, floristics, ecology and biogeography have been highlighted in several hundreds of scientific papers. More specific efforts have been addressed in order to characterize the collections gathered in their journey (Hiepko, 1987(Hiepko, , 2006Lack, 2003), the botanic field notes compiled (Lack, 2004a,b), as well as the plant engraved material (Lack, 2001). The study of taxonomically defined groups such as Amaryllidaceae, Asteraceae and Rubiaceae has provided important hints towards the understanding of the collections and pointed out their importance for taxonomical studies in the Neotropics.…”

“…) at the "Museum National d´Histoire Naturelle de Paris" (France) In a letter to the authorities of the Natural History Museum of Paris dated December 18 of 1804 Humboldt formally expressed his desire to deposit in this institution a herbarium containing more than 6000 specimens, packed in 45 boxes. According Hiepko (2006) about 3560 of these specimens are now kept separately in the section of historical collections and considered to represent the main set of collections issued from the Humboldt and Bonpland expedition. The other 3000 specimens of the original group were offered by Humboldt to Kunth in order to be further studied in Berlin.…”

“…Much later, when Aimé left Europe in November 1816 with the idea to definitely settle in Argentina, he took with him these collections as well as the "Journal Botanique" (Fig. 5), containing the description of all the collections gathered in the expedition (Hiepko, 2006;Stauffer et al, 2012). The latter was recovered in the last minute by Kunth before Bonpland left France (Lack, 2004a), whereas the former traveled to Argentina indeed but were finally sent by Bonpland back to Paris in 1832.…”

The discovery and naming of Lomelosia caucasica (Dipsacaceae) with notes on its nomenclature and its early cultivation

“…Habitat in Caucaso". A label "Mussin-Puschkin W" in the hand of Diederich Friedrich Carl von Schlechtendal (1767 -1842), who is known to have arranged the herbarium after Willdenow's death (Hiepko 2006), is affixed to the verso of the front page of the blue folder. This second label indicates that at least one of the four specimens had been given to Willdenow by Apollos Apollosovič Graf Mus[s]in-Puschkin (1760 -1805), who was Willdenow's source for further specimens collected in the Caucasus region, e.g.…”

“…Furthermore, Schultes gave a diagnosis and a brief description of this species that were not taken or adapted from Bieberstein's protologue (Marschall von Bieberstein 1808), then already available, nor from the unpublished label in Willdenow's herbarium (see above). He and Johann Jakob Roemer (1763 -1819) are known to have often transcribed and published the text of such labels in subsequent years (Hiepko 2006). Schultes's note "missa a Cl.…”