Blumea 65, 2020: 126–161 www.ingentaconnect.com/content/nhn/blumea RESEARCH ARTICLE https://doi.org/10.3767/blumea.2020.65.02.06 The botanical exploration of Angola by Germans during the 19th and 20th centuries, with biographical sketches and notes on collections and herbaria E. Figueiredo1, *, G.F. Smith1, S. Dressler 2 Key words Abstract A catalogue of 29 German individuals who were active in the botanical exploration of Angola during the 19th and 20th centuries is presented. One of these is likely of Swiss nationality but with significant links to German Angola settlers in Angola. The catalogue includes information on the places of collecting activity, dates on which locations botanical exploration were visited, the whereabouts of preserved exsiccata, maps with itineraries, and biographical information on the German explorers collectors. Initial botanical exploration in Angola by Germans was linked to efforts to establish and expand Germany’s plant collections colonies in Africa. Later exploration followed after some Germans had settled in the country. However, Angola was never under German control. The most intense period of German collecting activity in this south-tropical African country took place from the early-1870s to 1900. Twenty-four Germans collected plant specimens in Angola for deposition in herbaria in continental Europe, mostly in Germany. Five other naturalists or explorers were active in Angola but collections have not been located under their names or were made by someone else. A further three col- lectors, who are sometimes cited as having collected material in Angola but did not do so, are also briefly discussed. Citation: Figueiredo E, Smith GF, Dressler S. 2020. The botanical exploration of Angola by Germans during the 19th and 20th centuries, with biographical sketches and notes on collections and herbaria. Blumea 65 (2): 126–161. https://doi.org/10.3767/blumea.2020.65.02.06. Effectively published online: 22 September 2020. INTRODUCTION a given locality – information useful in conservation biology investigations. All these data in turn greatly facilitate taxonomic “Those interested in botanical matters know how difficult it is to trace the history of the notable people who have contributed to our subject studies, for example the compilation of national/regional floristic […]” Shurley (1954: ix). checklists, and the writing of Flora treatments and monographs. Additionally, collections made early during the exploration of Historically and presently, preserved and living plant collec- a country are almost invariably rich in type material that fixes tions serve multiple very important research purposes for plant the application of plant names. Although therefore of critical scientists. Among other things they enable the study of plant importance in taxonomy and floristics, complete information morphology and variation in character expression, as well as on collections is often lacking or is difficult to interpret by users provide a permanent record of historical and current plant occur- who are not acquainted with a particular region, a collector, or rences and raw data for proposing or testing phytogeographical a period in history, which can result in errors being introduced patterns, and additionally serve as reference collections for in the geographical distribution of taxa, for example. plant identification. Obviously, the more comprehensive the The historical botanical exploration of some parts of Africa has collections, the better they can be used in scientific endeavours received considerable attention and catalogues are available of at any scale, be it global, continental, regional, or subregional/ collectors and collecting activity in southern Africa, essentially national. Herbaria additionally serve as the repositories for type the Flora of Southern Africa (FSA) project through the work specimens and voucher specimens for a range of botanical of Gunn & Codd (1981), and East Africa, through the work studies, including in anatomy, ethnobotany, cytology, chemistry, of Polhill & Polhill (2015). The FSA project covers Namibia, conservation biology, and vegetation surveys. Botswana, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), Lesotho, and South Knowledge about the botanical exploration of a region of any Africa, while East Africa encompasses Uganda, Kenya, and size provides important information about the whereabouts Tanzania. However, little is known of early plant collecting in of preserved herbarium collections (often of both primary Angola, a country that was not included in the FSA or adjacent and duplicate sets), who collected the specimens and (often Flora Zambesiaca (FZ) (Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Ma- exactly) where, and whether the specimens are extant. Albeit lawi, Mozambique) projects (note that Botswana is common varying in quantity and quality, notes included in collecting to the FSA and FZ regions). Rather, Angola had its ‘own’ Flora labels often provide an idea of the abundance of a species at project, the Conspectus Florae Angolensis (CFA) (Carrisso 1937). Although attracting sporadic attention, the CFA was never completed, which inevitably hampers the study of the 1 Department of Botany, Nelson Mandela University, P.O. Box 77000, Port history of the botanical exploration of the country. In addition, Elizabeth, 6031 South Africa; corresponding author email: [email protected]. for several reasons, including a civil war that raged for some 25 2 Botanik und molekulare Evolutionsforschung, Senckenberg Forschungs- years (c. 1975–2000), Angola has suffered some neglect from institut, Senckenberganlage 25, D-60325 Frankfurt/M., Germany. a fundamental floristic perspective, with a first comprehensive © 2020 Naturalis Biodiversity Center You are free to share - to copy, distribute and transmit the work, under the following conditions: Attribution: You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Non-commercial: You may not use this work for commercial purposes. No derivative works: You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work, which can be found at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/legalcode. Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder. Nothing in this license impairs or restricts the author’s moral rights. E. Figueiredo et al.: German collectors in Angola 127 plant checklist only being produced in 2008 (Figueiredo & Smith In a few instances the entries provided here benefitted from 2008, Smith & Figueiredo 2010). consultation with former and current herbarium curators, who Botanical exploration activities in Angola in general have been have knowledge of the activities of the collectors and/or their dominated by the work of two remarkable, pioneer collector- collections (see Acknowledgements). For each collector, the botanists: the Austrian-born Friedrich Martin Joseph Welwitsch sources from which information was obtained are referenced (5 February 1806, Maria Saal, Austria–20 October 1872, Lon- at the end of their respective entries. don, United Kingdom) and the Swiss-born John Gossweiler An initial list of collectors was compiled based on the literature (26 December 1873, Regensdorf, near Zürich, Switzerland–19 (Gossweiler 1939, Bossard 1993, Romeiras 1999, Figueiredo et February 1952, Lisboa, Portugal), who were active in Angola al. 2008) and during 2019 each name was investigated against in the 1850s–early-1860s and the first half of the 20th century, available online databases and other literature sources. Several respectively. For example, Welwitsch, on behalf of the Portu- online herbarium databases were searched for Angolan speci- guese government, made collections of c. 5 000 species, and mens collected by Germans. Specimens for which a barcode Gossweiler, also as an employee of Portugal, collected about is given were examined at JSTOR Global Plants (2020) or at 14 000 specimens. Remarkably, about 1 000 new species were the websites of the respective herbaria. described based on Welwitsch’s collections (Albuquerque et al. For some collectors, information provided on specimen labels 2009). According to IPNI (2020) there are about 720 species was particularly relevant for determining itineraries or collect- and 60 genera that Welwitsch identified as being new and ing areas. This label information was compiled from herbarium that he named. He described and validly published some of databases and literature sources and captured in a spreadsheet these names, while others were validated by other authors. that is provided as supplementary material. Itineraries of locali- Since 1872, when Welwitsch died and his collections became ties where, and dates on which, three collectors, M. Buchner, accessible, and as part of the eventual production of African R. Büttner, and P. Pogge, collected plant specimens in Angola Floras, many other names were published based on his Angolan were reconstructed. Maps are provided of the routes travelled material. JSTOR Global Plants (2020) includes over 12 000 by H. Baum, M. Buchner, R. Büttner, O. Jessen, K. Jordan, specimens collected by Welwitsch in Angola that are recorded A. von Mechow, and P. Pogge. For other collectors, collecting as types. Currently, there are over 450 names accepted in the localities are provided based on herbarium specimens and flora of Angola that are associated with Welwitsch.