George Englemann2

10 Haseltonia, No. 1, 1993 GEORGE ENGELMANN'S CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE CACTACEAE LARRY W. MITICH Division of Botany, University of California, Davis, CA 95616

In the mid-19th century, exploring parties along Carl Victor Schott accompanied Lt. Col. William the western frontier of the United States opened Hemsley Emory to the Gadsden Purchase' and vast unexplored regions to botanists. The com• likewise returned with a rich botanical collection. manders, medical doctors, and naturalists of these Engelmann (Fig. 1) was a medical doctor, well expeditions often sent their botanical specimens versed in botany, who emigrated from Germany. to Dr. George Engelmann of St. Louis for iden• In "Cacteae2 of Engelmann and Gray's Plantae tification. Thus Engelmann was presented with Lindheimerianae," in "Cacteae of Plantae Fend• a comprehensive selection of western flora; lerianae," in his contribution to Frederick A. through his meticulous taxonomy, he became the Wislizenus' 1848 Memoir of a Tour of Northern most important figure of his time in the study of Mexico in 1846 and 1847, and in two treatises American cacti, agaves, yuccas, and numerous on Cereus giganteus, he described over 100 spe• other plant groups. cies of cacti in five genera—among them a new In 1853, Lt. Amiel Weeks Whipple explored genus, Echinocereus Engelmann (1848). along the 35th parallel for Pacific Railroad. Dr. Jacob M. Bigelow, the physician and botanist of the expedition, collected new plant material (some 1 A tract of 45,535 square miles, now contained in 1,200 species) and sent it to Engelmann for anal• New Mexico and Arizona, purchased for $10 million ysis. Geologist and author Dr. Ferdinand Van- from Mexico in 1853, the treaty being negotiated by diveer Hayden (1829-1887), with little financial army officer and diplomat James Gadsden (1788-1858). support, explored the upper Missouri and Yel• - "Cacteae" was used for the name of the cactus fam• lowstone regions and discovered northern cacti, ily until about 1850, when "Cactaceae" was adopted. which Engelmann described. Naturalist Arthur

Fig. 1. Dr. George Engelmann, St. Louis medical doc• tor and botanist, provided one of the most important Fig. 2. Ferdinand Jacob Lindheimer, a German-born contributions ever made on the Cactaceae. He also botanist, was honored in Engelmann's "Cacteae of contributed immensely to the study of agaves, yuccas, Plantae Lindheimerianae." Engelmann named Opun• and numerous other plant groups. tia lindheimeri for him. Haseltonia, No. 1, 1993 11

Fig. 3. Geologist and author Dr. Ferdinand Vandi- veer Hayden explored the upper Missouri and Yellow• Fig. 5. In 1848 Augustus Fendler explored the coun• stone regions and discovered northern cacti, which En- try around Santa Fe and Engelmann described plants gelmann described. from this journey, including Cereus (Echinocereus) fendleri, in "Cacteae of Plantae Fendlerianae."

These plants comprised more than a fourth of all cacti known at that time. In just two treatises, Engelmann provided the most important con• tribution ever made on the Cactaceae. Both works were published by the United States Govern• ment in the reports of the Pacific Railroad Ex• pedition and the Mexican Boundary Survey. The first published treatise, "Descriptions of the Cactaceae Collected on Route near the Thir• ty-fifth Parallel," appeared in Lt. Whipple's re• port in Vol. 4 of Reports of Exploration and Sur• veys for a Railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, published in Washington in 1856. In it Engelmann described six mammil- larias with seven varieties, six echinocerei with 11 varieties, six cerei with 15 varieties, and 25 opuntias with 40 varieties. It also contains de• scriptions of the saguaro {Cereus giganteus En• gelmann) and of Opuntia rafinesquei Engelmann, named in honor of Constantine Samuel Rafin- esque (1783-1840), its discoverer. While Engelmann's first treatise stimulated great interest about American cacti in the sci• Fig. 4. Engelmann named Echinocactus (Sclerocac- entific world, it appears insignificant compared tus) whipplei and Yucca whipplei for Lt. Amiel Weeks to his "Cactaceae of the Boundary," published Whipple, commander of the Pacific Railroad Expedi• 3 years later (1859) in Emory's Report of the tion. He died 7 May 1863 from wounds received in United States and Mexican Boundary Survey. the Civil War. Before the appearance of these two works, En- 12 Haseltonia, No. 1, 1993

Fig. 7. Numerous cacti were collected during Major William Hemsley Emory's military reconnaissance from Fort Leavenworth, Missouri, to San Diego and on the United States and Mexican boundary survey. Engel• Fig. 6. Opuntia rafinesquei (now O. humifusa) was mann named Cereus (Bergerocactus) emoryi in his hon• named by Engelmann in honor of Constantine Samuel or. Rafinesque, a California naturalist and traveler who discovered the species. work, in Vol. 2 of Emory's report, was published in Washington in 1859 with the famous frontis• gelmann had published his Synopsis of the Cac- piece: "View of the Gila River," depicting In• taceae ofthe United States and Adjacent Regions, dians among giant saguaros (Fig. 8). Roetter based Cambridge, 1856, which mentioned and de• his drawing for this plate on a sketch by German scribed 130 species of cacti. Synopsis of the Cac- painter and author Balduin Mollhausen (Fig. 9), taceae was not illustrated, but in it Engelmann the artist of the Gadsden territory expedition. included immensely valuable information on the In "Cactaceae of the Boundary," Engelmann geographic distribution of the cacti in the United described 146 species and 186 varieties of cacti. States. His "Cactaceae of the Boundary" con• By this time, he had described the genus Echino• tained 76 magnificent steel engravings of cacti. cereus and nearly 300 species of cacti. The United States Congress, realizing the im• From the 1860's until his death, Engelmann portance of Engelmann's botanical investiga• made many contributions to cactus literature: tions, appropriated the extraordinary sum of "Cactaceae of Lt. Joseph C. Ives' exploration"; money needed to publish the Survey; it required "The pulp of cactus fruit"; "Addition to the cac• 5 years for completion. tus-flora of the territory of the United States"; Engelmann chose Paulus Roetter, a very tal• "Cactaceae of Clarence King's exploration of the ented German artist, for the enormous task of 40th parallel"; "Cactaceae of Capt. James Her- making the Survey's illustrations. In recognition vey Simpson's expedition"; and "Report upon of Roetter's service, Engelmann named Cereus United States Geographical Surveys west of the roetteri (now Echinocereus roetteri) in his honor. 100th meridian, in charge of First Lieutenant To the description he added: "I take great plea• George M. Wheeler, U.S. Engineers." sure to acknowledge my indebtedness to the Engelmann's reputation was imperishably modest and faithful artist, Mr. Paulus Roetter connected with the natural history of the Cac• who has adorned this memoir by his skillful pen• taceae, and two species were named for him: cil, by naming this species after him." Cereus [Echinocereus] engelmannii Parry, one of From Roetter's drawings, the Survey's exqui• the most beautiful of this genus; and the robust site steel engravings were made by W. H. Dougal Opuntia engelmannii Salm-Dyck (Boston Jour• in German town, D.C.; Maillard and Conner in nal of Natural History, Vol. 6, 1850). St. Louis; and several European artists—Weber Engelmann perpetuated the names of most of in Berlin; Davesne, Rebuffet, Martin Schmelz, his co-laborers and of the conductors of the var• and the Picart brothers in Paris. Engelmann's ious expeditions in which these plants were dis- Haseltonia, No. 1, 1993 13

Fig. 8. German painter and author Balduin Mollhausen, artist of the Gadsden Territory expedition, made a sketch on which Roetter based the famous illustration "View of the Gila River," used as the frontispiece in "Cactaceae of the Boundary." covered, by naming species in their honor. And Engelmann's exact and incisive work on cacti he was generous with his praise. For example, appeared in many different publications over a commenting on Opuntia wrightii (O. kleiniae), a 30-year period. In later life, he began prepara• species discovered by Charles Wright (Fig. 12), tions to journey to Mexico to study cacti in hab• Engelmann wrote that it "bears a name which is itat, with the purpose of publishing his findings forever inseparably connected with botany of our in one great work. However, illness and old age Southern Boundary." Many of the species have prevented him from carrying out his cherished since been reclassified and some names are in plan. synonymy. Many of the succulent plants which Engelmann died on 4 February 1884, just two Engelmann named are listed in Table 1. days after his 75th birthday. At this time, Pro- Fig. 11. Dr. Lawrence LeConte, entomologist, phy• Fig. 9. Balduin Mollhausen in 1854, at the height of sician, and explorer, mapped the faunal areas of much his western travels. of the West. Engelmann commemorated his name in Echinocactus (Ferocactus) lecontei.

Fig. 12. Engelmann named Mammillaria wrightii and Opuntia wrightii (now O. kleineae) for Charles Wright, surveyor, teacher, and botanical explorer, who col• lected numerous plants in Texas. Asa Gray acknowl• Fig. 10. Clarence King's exploration of the 40th par• edged Wright's collecting skills in "Plantae Wrightia- allel provided new cacti for Engelmann to describe, but nae." Photo courtesy of Hunt Institute for Botanical Engelmann never named a plant for him. Documentation. Carnegie Mellon Inst., Pittsburg. Haseltonia, No. 1, 1993 15 Table 1. Cacti named by Engelmann in honor of his colleagues Genus Species Currently Named for Cereus berlandieri Echinocereus blanckii Posel• Dr. Jean Luis Berlandier (1805-1851), ger author and botanist; discovered many plants of the Lower Rio Grande. Ja• tropha berlandieri Torrey also named for him. Bergerocactus emoryi (En• Major William Hemsley Emory (1822- emoryi gelm.) Britton & Rose 1887), Director of the Mexican Boundary Survey (1850-1854) (Fig. 7). Echinocereus fendleri (En• Augustus Fendler (1813-1883), who in fendleri gelm.) Rumpler 1846 made a botanical exploration of the country around Santa Fe. Engel• mann's "Cacteae of Plantae Fendler• ianae" was based on plants from this journey (Fig. 5). Peniocereus greggii (Engelm.) Josiah Gregg (1806-1850), trader, ex• greggii Britton & Rose plorer, amateur naturalist, and author of the frontier classic Commerce of the Prairies. Echinocereus roetteri (En• Paulus Roetter, German artist who roetteri gelm.) Rumpler made the illustrations for Engel• mann's "Mexican Boundary Survey." Lophocereus schottii (En• Arthur Carl Victor Schott (1814-1875), schottii gelm.) Britton & Rose naturalist of the Mexican Boundary Survey. Lemaireocereus thurberi (En• George Thurber (1821-1890), author thurberi gelm.) Britton & Rose and editor; botanist of the Mexican Boundary Survey. Assembled a her• barium of flora native to the Mexican Border, which formed the basis for Asa Gray's "Plantae Novae Thurber• ianae." Dr. John Lawrence Le Conte (1825- Echinocactus lecontei Ferocactus lecontei Engelm. 1883), entomologist, physician, and explorer; mapped the faunal areas of much of the West (Fig. 11). Dr. Charles Cristopher Parry (1823- parryi 1890), English-born botanist, writer, and good-natured explorer. Named mountains and discovered new spe• cies in many families. Sclerocactus whipplei (En• Lt. Amiel Weeks Whipple (1818-1863), Echinocactus whipplei gelm. & Bigelow) Britton & commander of the Pacific Railroad Rose Expedition from the Mississippi to Los Angeles, 1853-1854 (Fig. 4). En• gelmann also named Yucca whipplei for him. Coryphantha (neobessya) mis• Thomas Nutall (1786-1859), English Mammillaria nut allii souriensis (Sweet) Britton & naturalist and author of The Genera Rose of North American Plants. He de• scribed numerous plants. Col. James Duncan Graham (1799- grahamii 1865) of the U.S. Corps of Topo• graphical Engineers "under whose auspices many . . . species were col• lected." He supervised many perilous explorations and constructions, and studied arts and sciences throughout his life. Charles Wright (1811-1885), surveyor, wrightii teacher, and botanical explorer, who collected many plants in Texas; his collecting skills were acknowledged by Asa Gray in his "Plantae Wrightia• nae." Table 1. Continued Genus Species Currently Named for Opuntia bigelovii John Milton Bigelow (1804-1878), sur• geon and botanist of the Pacific Rail• road Explorations (1853-1855), col• lected about 1,200 plants, which Engelmann described. Opuntia tunicata var. davisii Jefferson Davis (1808-1889), Secretary davisii (Engelm. & Bigelow) L. of War under whom the Pacific Rail• Benson road surveys and Whipple's report were made; later, President of the Confederate States. Ferdinand Jacob Lindheimer (1801— lindheimeri 1879), German-born botanist, teacher, and fearless lone explorer, who was honored in Engelmann's "Cacteae of Plantae Lindheimerianae" for his de• finitive collecting in Texas (Fig. 2). Opuntia humifusa (Rafin• Constantine Samuel Rafinesque (1783- rafinesquei esque) Rafinesque 1840), California naturalist and travel• er (Fig. 6). Opuntia emoryi Opuntia schottiistanlyi Engelmvar. graham•. see Cereus emoryi grahamii ii (Engelm.) L. Benson see Mammillaria grahamii greggii Opuntia schottii Engelm. see Cereus greggii parryi see Echinocereus parryi schottii see Cereus schottii thurberi status uncertain see Cereus thurberi whipplei see Echinocactus whipplei wrightii Opuntia kleiniae DeCandolle see Mammillaria wrightii

fessor Asa Gray of Harvard University said that classifying and arranging the papers. Some of the Dr. Engelmann had done a thorough and com• government publications had not been revised mendable job on yucca and agave, two distinctly by the author, and most of the papers were pub• American groups of plants that are difficult to lished under conditions unfavorable for proof• represent realistically by herbarium specimens. reading. The more serious misprints, found cor• He noted that up to that time nothing of im• rected in the author's copy, were rectified in the portance had been added to what the great sci• reprint. entist so modestly styled "Notes on the genus Recovering the illustrations was an even bigger Yucca," published in Transactions ofthe St. Louis task. Professor Baird, secretary of the Smithson• Academy of Science, Vol. 3, 1873, or to the il• ian Institution, found the 76 steel plate quarto lustrated "Notes on agaves," included in the engravings used in "Cactaceae of the Boundary," Transactions in 1875. but several of them had rusted badly and had to Since Engelmann's publications were very be repaired at considerable expense. widely scattered, most were virtually inaccessible The 24 plates illustrating the memoir on the to those who needed them. To resolve this prob• Cactaceae of Whipple's expedition, and the three lem, Henry Shaw, a fellow townsman, decided plates of Simpson's expedition, had been en• to support the publication of a complete collec• graved or drawn on stone and no longer existed. tion of Engelmann's botanical works as a me• However, they were reproduced with great fi• morial to his old friend and associate. delity by Armstrong & Co. of the Riverside Press, Happily, this was accomplished in 1887 with who took considerable pains to further the pub• the publication of The Botanical Works of the lishing of the reprint. Dr. Engelmann's portrait Late George Engelmann, Collected for Henry on the frontispiece was made by Brimmer and Shaw, Esq., edited by William Trelease and Asa Kalb of St. Louis from the best photograph in Gray and published by John Wilson and Son, existence. Cambridge, Mass. This sumptuous volume con• The Botanical Works has served most effec• tains over 600 pages, 103 plates, and a frontis• tively in perpetuating Engelmann's memory; it piece portrait of Engelmann. makes his invaluable literature available to bot• Dr. Trelease, under the supervision of Profes• anists worldwide. Unfortunately, this publica• sor Gray, had the long and burdensome job of tion was never reprinted and today is a rare book. Haseltonia, No. 1, 1993 17 Table 2. Engelmann's publications on the Cactaceae. All government reports were Table 2. Continued published in Washington, D.C. 1859 Cactaceae of the Boundary. In Report of the U.S. and Mexican Boundary Survey, 1845 Cacteae of Engelmann and Gray's Plantae under the order of Lt.-Col. W. H. Emory. Lindheimerianae, Part I. Boston Journal 2:1-78. of Natural History 5:245-247. 1861 Cactaceae of the Ives exploration. In Ives, 1848 Cacteae of Emory's reconnaissance. In J. C. Report upon the Colorado River of Emory, W. H. Notes of a Military Recon• the West, Explored in 1857 and 1858. naissance from Fort Leavenworth, in Part 4:12-14. Missouri, to San Diego, in California. 1861 The pulp of cactus fruit. Trans. St. Louis Appendix No. 2, pp. 157-159. Acad. Science 2:197-204. Sketch of the botany of Dr. Wislizenus's ex• 1863 Additions to the cactus-flora of the territory pedition. In Wislizenus, A. Memoir of a of the United States. Trans. St. Louis Tour to Northern Mexico in 1846 and Acad. Science 2:197-204. 1847, pp. 87-115. 1871 Cactaceae of Clarence King's exploration of 1849 Cacteae of Plantae Fendlerianae. Memoirs the 40th parallel. In Watson, S. Botany of the American Academy 4:49-53. 5:115-120. 1850 Cacteae of Engelmann and Gray's Plantae 1876 Cactaceae of Simpson's expedition. In Lindheimerianae, Part II. Boston Journal Simpson, J. H. Report of Exploration of Natural History 6:195-209. across the Great Basin of the Territory of Denkschrift iiber eine Reise nach Nord- Utah for a direct wagon-route from Mexico. [German translation, by G. M. Camp Floyd to Genoa, in Carson Valley, von Ross, of Wislizenus' 1848 report. in 1859, pp. 436^143. Engelmann's article occupies pp. 140-177 Cactaceae. In Brewer, W. H., and S. Wat• of this volume.] son. Botany of California 1:242. 1851 On the character of the vegetation of south• 1878 Cactaceae of Wheeler's expedition. In Re• western Texas. Proc. Amer. Acad. Adv. port upon U.S. Geogr. surveys west of Science 5:223-228. the 100th meridian, in charge of First Lt. 1852 Notes on the Cereus giganteus of southeast• G. M. Wheeler. Botany 6:127-132. ern California, and some other Califor- 1880 Mammillaria deserti n. sp. In Watson, S. nian Cactaceae. Amer. Jour, of Science Botany of California 2:449. and Arts, Ser. 2, 14:335-339, 446. 1883 Opuntia subulata Engelm. Gard. Chron., 1854 Further notes on Cereus giganteus of south• May 19, p. 627. eastern California with a short account of Morphology of spines. Bot. Gaz. 8:338- another allied species in Sonora. Amer. 339. Jour, of Science and Arts, Ser. 2, 17:231- 1886 Directions for collecting cacti. Bot. Gaz. 11: 235. 135-136. Posthumous publication based 1856 Synopsis of the Cactaceae of the territory of on a manuscript by Engelmann. the United States and adjacent regions. Cereus pecten-aboriginum n. sp. Proc. Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts and Sciences Amer. Acad. Arts and Sciences, n.s., 13: 3:259-314, 345-346. 429-430. Posthumous publication edited With J. Bigelow. Description of the Cacta• by S. Watson. ceae collected on route near the 35th par• 1887 The botanical works of the late George En• allel, explored by Lt. A. W. Whipple in gelmann, collected for Henry Shaw, Esq. 1853, 1854. In Reports of Explorations W. Trelease and A. Gray, eds. John Wil• and Surveys for a Railroad from the Mis• son and Son, University Press, Cam• sissippi River to the Pacific Ocean 4:27- bridge, Mass., pp. ix, 584, with 103 58. plates.

Acknowledgment A special thanks to Guy B. Kyser, Division of Bot• any, University of California, Davis, for reviewing the manuscript and composing the tables.