Memoranda Soc. Soc. Fauna Fauna Flora Flora Fennica Fennica 89, 89: 2013 75–104. • Uotila 2013 75 Finnish botanists on the Kola Peninsula (Russia) up to 1918 Pertti Uotila Uotila, P., Finnish Museum of Natural History (Botany), P.O.Box 7, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland. E-mail: [email protected] Finnish botanists actively studied the flora of Karelia (Karelian Republic) and the Kola Peninsula (Murmansk Region) when Finland was a Grand Duchy of Russia in 1809–1918. J. Fellman’s ex- peditions in 1829 were the first notable botanical expeditions to the area. Geologically and floristi- cally the area was similar to Finland, and exploring the area was considered to be a national duty for Finnish biologists. Almost 40 Finnish scientists who travelled on the Kola Peninsula collected significant amounts of herbarium specimens from there. The specimens are mostly in H, but du- plicates were distributed widely. The collectors include M. Aschan, W. M. Axelson (Linnaniemi), V. Borg (Kivilinna), M. Brenner, V. F. Brotherus, R. Envald, J. Fellman, N. I. Fellman, C. W. Fontell, E. af Hällström, H. Hollmén, P. A. Karsten, A. Osw. Kihlman (Kairamo), F. W. Klingstedt, H. Lindberg, J. Lindén, A. J. Malmberg (Mela), J. Montell, F. Nylander, J. A. Palmén, V. Pesola, P. A. Rantaniemi, J. Sahlberg, and G. Selin. A short description is given of the biographies of the most important collectors with notes on their itineraries. Details of the collections from the Kola Peninsula are mostly taken from the vascular-plant specimens kept in the Finnish main herbaria and entered in the Floristic database Kastikka of the Finnish Museum of Natural History. As to bryophytes, lichens and other fungi, only a small proportion has been entered into the database. A network of biogeographic provinces for the Kola Peninsula was created by Finnish scientists in the mid 1800s, and it is still commonly used. Changes in the boundaries of provinces in the peninsula are discussed. The herbarium data are given according to the provinces. Introduction Göran Wahlenberg (1780–1851) had visited in the east (Lapponia inariensis and the eastern part The research interest by Finnish scientists in Rus- of Lapponia kemensis). So there was a demand sian Karelia and the Kola Peninsula in the 19th for surveys in that area when the first scientific century was prompted by several considerations. society in Finland, Sällskap för Finsk Zoologi och In Sweden, northern areas had been actively stud- Botanik, later Societas pro Fauna et Flora Fenni- ied for a long time, and both Linnaeus (1737) and ca, was founded in 1821. Inventories of the fauna Wahlenberg (1812) wrote works entitled Flora and flora of Finland and the establishment of a na- Lapponica. Lars Levi Laestadius (1800–1861), tional natural-history collection in Finland were a vicar in the Swedish Karesuando parish on the included in the main goals of its activity. Later, Finnish border and an active amateur botanist, ex- Wirzén (1837) pointed out that the Finnish Natu- tended his excursions to the westernmost part of ral Area extends to Karelia and the Kola Peninsu- Finnish Lapland. Further east Lapland was botan- la. Inventories of these virtually unknown remote ically almost unknown up to the early 1800s; only eastern areas were regarded as a national duty 76 Uotila • Memoranda Soc. Fauna Flora Fennica 89, 2013 for Finnish biologists. Moreover, in 1809 Fin- lus auricomus s. lat. All specimens in VOA and land had become an autonomous Grand Duchy a majority of specimens in JYV from the area of Russia. Inventories and studies of the natural are included in the database, but in the case of wealth of the empire were valued by the adminis- the other herbaria only small proportions are in- trators (Leikola 1996), and this made it easier to cluded. Some specimens have been checked also obtain letters of recommendation, travel permis- in LE (St. Petersburg), S (Stockholm) and UPS sions and the like and could also facilitate fund- (Uppsala). raising for scientific travels. Also travels by Rus- As to other groups, a small number of speci- sian botanists at the end of 1830s and 1840s (e.g. mens in H from Russian East Fennoscandia have von Baer 1837, Boehtlingk 1840) might have in- been entered in the herbarium database of H. As spired the organization of expeditions. to the area and period concerned, data from 152 Altogether at least 73 Finnish scientists vis- specimens of lichens, 29 of other fungi and 493 of ited the Kola Peninsula before the First World hepatics were available for this paper. There is no War (Rantala 2010), when Finland became inde- estimate of the total number of specimens from pendent. Almost 40 of them collected significant these groups collected in this period from the amounts of herbarium specimens on their expe- Kola Peninsula. However, the numbers of bryo- ditions (Table 1). Not all of these scientists were phytes and lichens, at least, are remarkable high, primarily botanists, but instead entomologists, because so many collectors concentrated also on ornithologists, foresters, geologists and even lin- these groups. guists; however they also collected plants when The Herbarium Journal of the Botanical Mu- they had the chance to visit unknown areas. seum in Helsinki (H) (Journal 1885–1915, Muse- um botanicum Helsingforsiense), written by hand and kept in the archives of the Botanical Muse- Material um, has been checked and cited as Herbarium Journal in the text. Annual reports of the acces- This paper is based mainly on a selection of her- sions to the East Fennoscandian herbarium, pub- barium specimens of vascular plants in the main lished in Meddelanden Societatis pro Fauna et Finnish herbaria, which were entered into the da- Flora Fennica (in a detailed form since vol. 33, tabase Kastikka (the floristic database of the Bo- 1907) and since 1927 in Memoranda Societatis tanical Museum, Finnish Museum of Natural pro Fauna et Flora Fennica are important sourc- History, Helsinki; H) up to the end of Novem- es especially for the most recent years. Less de- ber 2013. As to the area and time period con- tailed information is available for the earlier ex- cerned, label information from ca. 8600 speci- cursions from the annual reports of the Societas mens (sheets) was available in the database. 8543 pro Fauna et Flora Fennica (published in Noti- sheets were collected by Finnish botanists. Most ser, Sällskapet Fauna Flora Fennica and Med- of them are from H (7957), smaller numbers are delanden Societatis pro Fauna et Flora Fennica) from OULU (Oulu) 259 sheets, TUR (Turku) 62, and the University of Helsinki (Redogörelse för TUR-A (Turku) 140, JYV (Jyväskylä) 63, VOA Kejserliga Alexanders-Universitetets i Finland, (Vaasa) 50 and KUO (Kuopio) 11. The systemat- given by the Rector). Despite this effort, howev- ic coverage varies in different herbaria. As to H, er, some minor collectors may be missing from almost all specimens from Regio kuusamoënsis, this compilation if their specimens are not repre- Lapponia petsamoënsis and Lapponia tulomensis sented in the material so far entered into the data- are included and for the other provinces all ferns base Kastikka. and fern allies, conifers and monocots, and dicots Many travelers in the 1800s wrote some kind that are ”rare and/or threatened in any Region of of itinerary or travel diary, and travel grants re- the Russian East Fennoscandia”. This means that ceived, especially from the Societas pro Fauna in H there are altogether approximately 10 000 et Flora Fennica, provided important reasons for specimens of vascular plants from Murmansk Re- writing itineraries. Reports of the travels were gion collected up to 1918, excluding the apomic- expected and at that time they were mostly pub- tic groups Hieracium, Taraxacum and Ranuncu- lished in the journal of the society. All discovered Memoranda Soc. Fauna Flora Fennica 89, 2013 • Uotila 77 itineraries of expeditions to the area have been viations for the eastern provinces. Furthermore, utilized and cited as well as a selection of the Brotherus and Saelan (1890) published slightly most important papers on the scientific results. amplified province boundaries on a map drawn Several earlier overviews were consulted by A. Petrelius on the basis of observations dur- (Hällström & Hintikka 1922, Linkola 1942, Saa- ing the Great Kola Expedition (see below), and las 1942, Elfving & Palmgren 1943, Hiitonen as to the abbreviations they followed Hjelt. In the 1958a, Silfverberg 1988, Rantala 2008, 2010, and long run the abbreviations used by Hjelt became Uotila 2012); they are in Finnish or Swedish, ex- established, but others can be seen in some pub- cept for Rantala (2008, 2010) with text in Eng- lications and on herbarium labels. The border be- lish, Finnish, Russian, Sami and Swedish. tween Finnish Lapland (the province of Lapponia The locality names are used in the text in their inarensis; Li) and Russian Lapland (Lapponia tu- present form, often with a frequently used (most- lomensis; Lt) was drawn with an almost straight ly Finnish) equivalent within parentheses when line along the watershed between the rivers Paz first mentioned. Furthermore all localities men- (Paatsjoki, Pasvikelva) in the west and Pechen- tioned in the text can be found with their syno- ga and Lotta (Lutto) in the east. As to changes in nyms used on labels and in the literature and in the eastern limit of Fennoscandia, the term intro- Cyrillic from the gazetteer at the end of the paper. duced by Ramsay (1898), see Leikola (2011). The names of the persons who collected plant or In 1926 the Societas pro Fauna et Flora Fen- fungi specimens are in bold when mentioned for nica appointed a committee to evaluate the prov- the first time.