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W. J. Burchell and the Botany of St Helena by Q

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W. J. Burchell and the Botany of St Helena by Q Archives of Natural History (1988) 15 (1): 45-60 W. J. Burchell and the botany of St Helena By Q. C. B. CRONK Corpus Christi College, Cambridge CB2 1RH.* SUMMARY The unpublished writings of W. J. Burchell concerning the natural history of St Helena (9 MSS at Kew, Oxford and Johannesburg) have been examined as sources for historical ecology. Even though the native vegetation of St Helena had been substantially altered by the time of BurchelPs visit (1805-1810), the documents are useful in interpreting subsequent extinction and plant introduction, as well as for understanding the former vegetation. Floristically the most important document is the "Flora Insulae Sanctae Helenae" and a full transcript is provided here. INTRODUCTION William John Burchell D.C.L., F.L.S. (1782-1863) was the son of Matthew Burchell, a Fulham nurseryman. Sometime after leaving school he apparently worked at Kew Gardens (Davies, 1980), and thus botany was his principal interest when he left England after an unhappy love affair (Poulton, 1907) to spend the years 1805-10 in St Helena. He was the first botanist to stop for long in St Helena and made the first extensive botanical collections. These are of unequalled importance for the interpret- ation of the botany of St Helena. For this reason I have gathered together here all 1-9 the more important material relating to his stay. St Helena (lat. 15°56'S, long. 5°42'W) is a small island (122 km2) in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean. It has an extraordinary native flora including many taxonomically isolated endemics, the most famous of which are the "cabbage trees" (arborescent Compositae). Unfortunately the natural vegetation has been almost entirely destroyed by the activities of man (the island was uninhabited when discovered by the Portuguese in 1502). Those endemic plants not already extinct survive as relicts on cliffs and in the small patches of tree fern thicket remaining on the highest parts of the central ridge, and they are now tenaciously conserved. Surprisingly St Helena is probably better known as the place of Napoleon Bonaparte's final exile (1815-1821) than for its plants. The island was first settled by the English East India Company in 1659, and is now a British Dependency. Burchell left St Helena in 1810 to sail for the Cape of Good Hope and from there made the explorations in Africa on which his fame chiefly rests (McKay, 1943). He returned to England in September 1815 calling again at St Helena for a short time during which he arranged to collect a few more plants (on 15 September 1815). Back at Fulham he began working on his collections. In 1817 (Chichester, 1886) he gave an important collection of animal skins from South Africa to the British Museum, * Address for correspondence: Botany School, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EA. 46 W. J. BURCHELL AND THE BOTANY OF ST HELENA and by 1822 he had published the first two volumes of his Travels in the interior of Southern Africa (the third volume never appeared). In 1825 he left England for Brazil making a large collection there and returning in 1829. By then he had largely turned his attention to zoology and his botanical collections (which in 1830 he estimated at 15,000 species (Chichester, 1886) from numerous parts of the world) were no doubt becoming overwhelming. Indeed he never published anything on botany and very little on zoology. From his manuscript floras of St Helena, though, it is clear that he intended to publish. He lived at Churchfield House, Fulham until his suicide on 23 March 1863. BURCHELL IN ST HELENA When Burchell, aged 23, arrived at St Helena on 13 December 1805, he did not have the East India Company's permission to stay (McKay, 1934). However he got on well with the Governor, Colonel Robert Patton, who secured for him the post of "School Master and acting Botanist". He opened school on 3 December 1806 after a delay due to ill health. In 1789 a Botanic Garden had been established in Jamestown (with Sir Joseph Banks's encouragement (Dawson, 1958)) to facilitate the introduction of plants from the Indies to Kew. Patton wished to build it up again. On 20 November 1806 Burchell discussed it with the Governor and impressed him by offering to inform Mr Aiton at Kew of their proceedings. Accordingly Patton put Burchell in charge. In 1807 he introduced cotton from Peru and requested a supply of coffee trees from Dr Roxburgh at Calcutta but the plants perished on the voyage. In July 1807 Patton left the island and was replaced a year later by Major-General Alexander Beatson. In January 1809 Burchell was asked to give up the position of schoolmaster and, with an increased salary, devote himself to an investigation of the natural resources of the island. The East India Company wished to turn the island from an expensive to a profitable possession. Burchell thus began to send fibres, lichens for dyeing, marine algae and clay samples to England for assessment, all of which came to nothing. At this time he began to disagree with Beatson (who studiously avoided any mention of his name in the St Helena Tracts (Beatson, 1816)). The main source of friction was Burchell's report to the Court of Directors of the East India Company which he drew up in December 1809 and which Beatson asked him to withdraw as in it Burchell took a pessimistic view of his survey. Much fuss and bad feeling followed, compounded by Burchell being asked to pay rent for the schoolhouse in Jamestown, where he had continued living. More unpleasantness followed and in October 1810 Burchell sailed for the Cape. BURCHELL'S COLLECTING AND ST HELENA JOURNAL Burchell collected extensively in St Helena, making specimens of nearly all the plants he thought to be wild and which he later used in the preparation of his manuscript floras. He did not use field numbers but later numbered his herbarium according to his "Flora Insulae Sanctae Helenae". The year of greatest industry seems to have been 1808; he collected rather little in 1809 even though seconded to be a full time W. J. BURCHELL AND THE BOTANY OF ST HELENA 47 Figure 1. Self-portrait of Burchell sketching Agave lurida Ait., entitled "The American aloe on St Helena—17.2.1807-47". Watercolour in the collection of the Africana Museum (album 68/1466 p. 11). naturalist. Presumably he was encouraged to concentrate on natural history of potential economic value. While in St Helena, Burchell kept a Journal (now in the University Museum at Oxford).9 Professor E. B. Poulton (Hope Professor of Zoology 1893-1933) arranged for a transcript to be made, evidently with publication in mind but his scheme came to nothing. Mrs H. McKay extracted botanical information from the Journal in 1936 and sent it to H. N. Ridley at Kew who was at that time interested in the flora of St Helena. He does not appear to have made any use of it however. 48 W. J. BURCHELL AND THE BOTANY OF ST HELENA The Journal has two peculiarities which must be mentioned. Firstly, there are odd sentences and paragraphs cut out. These are thought to be references to his unhappy love affair which led to his leaving England. The excisions were probably made by BurchelPs sister after his death. Secondly, some passages are written in a particularly grand style, as they were intended for sending home to his family, after being copied out (an example is quoted in Cronk (1983)). The Journal is not only important historically, it is an important botanical source. In it he describes the vegetation and topography encountered on his collecting trips. To give an idea of the flavour of the work here is his first journey to the highest parts of the island (not undertaken until 10 October 1807!): 10—Saturday. This morning Barnes came to propose for me to take a ride with him, to which I agreed and we set off up the Ladder-hill road, without determining on any particular journey; but at last, as it was a road I had never seen before we agreed to ride up Dentaaffe's-path. The day was particularly fine, the air cool, and the wind lulled. In examining this part of Sandy-bay ridge I perceived many plants I had never seen before, particularly a sp. of Lobelia, a Campanula, the purple Cabbage tree, a noble species of Asplenium, a Lonchitis, & a Marchantía. I also observed two small sp. of Limax and an Oniscus with a yellow echinated body. The view from the top of the Ridge looking down the woody [Burchell's underlining] precipice, is very sublime: the luxuriance of the verdure causes a delightful feeling strangely mixed with sensations of fear & wonder. THE FATE OF BURCHELL'S ST HELENA COLLECTIONS Up to the time of his death Burchell's collections were housed at Fulham, where he intended to work on them. Although he published very little, he "scarcely allowed any naturalist access to any part of his herbarium" (Hemsley, 1885). However, in 1819 Burchell sent several specimens to A. P. De Candolle who used them for descriptions in his Prodromus systematis naturalis regni vegetabilis (1823-1873). In 1832 he went to Geneva to deliver personally another selection of specimens to De Candolle. These specimens (Burchell's numbers 84, 152, 154-160) are now in Geneva (G-DC) along with a specimen of Wahlenbergia burchellii A.DC. in DC. which Burchell sent to A. L. P. P. De Candolle in 1839.
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