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The botanical field notes prepared by Humboldt and Bonpland in tropical America
Author(s) -
Lack H. Walter
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
taxon
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.819
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1996-8175
pISSN - 0040-0262
DOI - 10.2307/4135629
Subject(s) - herbarium , geography , archaeology , botanical garden , botany , biology
On their famous expedition to tropical America (1799–1804) Humboldt and Bonpland recorded plant descriptions, preliminary determinations, localities and habitat information in seven collecting books, which are kept today in the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris. The entries were numbered in a single chronological sequence from 1 to 4528 and the numbers cited on the field labels. Together with the herbarium specimens and the field drawings this material later formed the basis for the botanical parts of the voluminous Voyage aux Régions Équinoxiales du Nouveau Continent . Bonpland, Willdenow and notably Kunth, while working on the specimens in Paris, added determinations to the collecting books, which permit a very precise analysis of the expedition and the later publication process.