General description of the cacti

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Title page of Schumann's general description of the cacti

The complete description of the cacti is a work by Karl Moritz Schumann published from 1897 to 1899 in 13 parts on the systematics of the cactus plants . On 832 pages 21 genera with 578 species from the plant family of the cactus plants are described. For the first time, the cacti were divided into three subfamilies , a subdivision that essentially still exists. In 1903 an addendum was published.

Until the publication of the four-volume work The Cactaceae (1919–1923) by the Americans Nathaniel Lord Britton and Joseph Nelson Rose, Schumann's work was the most extensive publication on the known cacti.

History of origin

Karl Moritz Schumann first dealt more intensively with the cactus family around 1886 when Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius was preparing his Flora Brasiliensis and he worked out the part about Brazilian cacti that appeared in 1890 . In the January issue of the monthly magazine for Kakteenkunde , Schumann stated that an up-to-date general description of the cacti was missing and asked the members of the Society for Cactus Friends for their help. With the support of the Royal Prussian State Government, Schumann undertook a trip through Northern Italy and France , during which he visited important cactus collections. These included the collections of Ludwig Winter in Bordighera , Thomas Hanburys in Ventimiglia , Robert Roland-Gosselins (1854–1925) in Colline de la Paix near Villefranche-sur-Mer , Pierre Rebuts in Chazay-d'Azergues near Lyon and those of the Jardin des Plantes in Paris , which he studied under the guidance of Frédéric Albert Constantin Weber .

plant

The complete description of the cacti (Monographia cactacearum) was published from 1897 by Julius Neumann in Neudamm . In contrast to the original plan, which provided for ten partial deliveries, the entire work consisted of 13 deliveries in the end. The deliveries took place every two months. The price was two marks per delivery. At the same price, the publisher offered a cover in half leather with a linen cover. The overall description of the cacti comprised 832 pages, contained 117 illustrations and was supplemented by care instructions by Karl Hirscht († 1925). The introduction is dated November 15, 1898.

content

The general description of the cacti is structured as follows:

  • introduction
  • I. General part
    • Family characteristics of cacti (Cactaceae) pp. 1–28.
  • II. Special part
    • Classification of cacti on pp. 29–31.
    • List of authors, pp. 32–45.
    • [Subfamilies, genera and species] pp. 46–766.
  • The care and breeding of cacti pp. 767–808.
  • Complete register of all species, varieties, synonyms and common names pp. 809–832.

Date and scope of deliveries

The 13 individual deliveries were made on the following dates:

delivery pages delivery date
1 1-64 February 1897
2 65-128 May 15, 1897
3 129-192 August 1, 1897
4th 193-256 October 20, 1897
5 257-320 January 1, 1898
6th 321-384 February 25, 1898
7th 385-448 April 15, 1898
8th 449-512 June 20, 1898
9 513-576 August 1, 1898
10 577-640 October 1, 1898
11 641-704 November 1, 1898
12 705-768 November 25, 1898
13 769-832 December 15, 1898

reception

In April 1897, the first delivery of Schumann's work was discussed in the association magazine of the Gesellschaft für Kakteenfreunde . Regular short reviews were also made in the journal General botanical journal for systematics, floristry, plant geography published by Johann Andreas Kneuckers (1862–1946) .

On the occasion of the 10th annual general meeting of the German Cactus Society on June 14, 1903, a 172-page supplement to the overall description of the cacti and a second edition of the same appeared.

Systematics

Schumann divided his 21 genera with 578 species of the cactus family for the first time in a modern way into subfamilies and tribe . In his distinction at the genre level, however, it was based on the systematics established by Joseph zu Salm-Reifferscheidt-Dyck in 1850. Schumann's subfamilies Cereoideae (today Cactoideae ), Opuntioideae and Pereskioideae are generally recognized today. He divided the subfamily Cereoideae into three tribes.

Schumann's assignment of the genera was as follows:

Follow-up publications

  • The distribution of the Cactaceae in relation to their systematic structure . Royal Academy of Sciences, Berlin 1899. - 118 pages, 11 distribution maps
  • General description of the cacti. Supplements from 1898 to 1902 . J. Neumann, Neudamm 1903 - 172 pages
  • Blooming cacti (Iconographia cactacearum) . J. Neumann, Neudamm from 1900 - 4 plates per issue
  • Keys of the Monograph of Cactaceae . J. Neumann, Neudamm 1903 (English translation of the key at the instigation of Charles Darrah), 68? pages

proof

literature

  • Johann Andreas Kneucker: Botanical literature, journals etc. In: General botanical journal for systematics, floristry, plant geography. Volume 3, number 6, Karlsruhe 1897, p. 99 ( online ) - deliveries 1 and 2
  • Johann Andreas Kneucker: Botanical literature, journals etc. In: General botanical journal for systematics, floristry, plant geography. Volume 4, number 2, Karlsruhe 1898, p. 30 ( online ) - deliveries 3 to 5
  • Johann Andreas Kneucker: Botanical literature, journals etc. In: General botanical journal for systematics, floristry, plant geography. Volume 4, number 11, Karlsruhe 1898, p. 183 ( online ) - delivery 6 to 10
  • Johann Andreas Kneucker: Botanical literature, journals etc. In: General botanical journal for systematics, floristry, plant geography. Volume 5, number 6, Karlsruhe 1899, p. 102 ( online ) - delivery 11 to 13
  • Detlev Metzing, Roberto Kiesling: The Study Of Cactus Evolution: The Pre-DNA Era. In: Haseltonia. Volume 14, 2008, pp. 6-25, doi: 10.2985 / 1070-0048-14.1.6 .
  • Gordon Douglas Rowley : A History of Succulent Plants . Strawberry Press, 1997, ISBN 0-912647-16-0  ( formally incorrect ) , p. 263-264 .
  • Valentin Scholz, Hermann Stützel: Chronicle of the German Cactus Society eV Würzburg 1999.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gordon Douglas Rowley: A History of Succulent Plants. P. 263.
  2. ^ Karl Moritz Schumann: Preparations for a complete description of the cacti. In: Monthly for cactus science. Volume 3, number 1, J. Neumann, Neudamm 1893, pp. 12–13, pp. 18–20 (online)
  3. ^ Frans Antonie Stafleu , Richard Sumner Cowan: Taxonomic literature . A selective guide to botanical publications and collections with dates, commentaries and types. Volume 5: Sal-Ste. 2nd Edition. Utrecht 1985, ISBN 90-313-0631-2 , pp. 405-406 (online)
  4. ↑ [Anonymous:] Newer phenomena in the field of cactus literature. In: Monthly for cactus science. Volume 7, number 4, J. Neumann, Neudamm 1897, pp. 63–64 (online)
  5. ↑ Erich Dams: Tenth Annual General Report of the German Cactus Society. In: Monthly for cactus science. Volume 13, number 7, J. Neumann, Neudamm 1903, p. 100, (online)
  6. ^ Edward F. Anderson : The great cactus lexicon . Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-8001-4573-1 , p. 54 .

Web links

  • Scan of the work in the 1st edition