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ISBN: 978-1-78160-963-7
Publisher’s note: The plates printed here come from the Hortus Eystettensis of Basilius Besler published for the first time in 1613.
Herbarium
Table of contents
Introductory plate: Hortus Eystettensis
Introductory plate: Spring
Biography
List of Illustrations
Helianthus annuus
Sunflower
Compositae
1561: Birth of Basilius Besler, son of Michael Besler, in Nuremberg on the 13th February.
1586: Besler marries Rosine Flock.
1596: Second marriage to Susanne Schmidt. From his two marriages, Besler would have sixteen children altogether.
1589-1629: Besler manages the apothecary shop Zum Marienbild in Nuremberg. There he creates and maintains a botanical garden as well as a collection of curiosities
(Naturalienkabinett).
1597: The bishop of Eichstatt commissions Besler to create a botanical garden at Willibaldsburg. He designs a garden of one hectare comprising eight terraces. To realise this, Besler turns to the botanists Charles de l’Écluse, Joachim Camerarius le Jeune and Ludwig Jungermann for help.
Following this, Besler undertakes an inventory of the rare and little-known plants of the time.
1607: Birth of his nephew Michel-Basile Besler.
1613: Besler publishes his Hortus Eystettensis in Eichstatt and Nuremberg. The work brings together 1,084 species of plants, classed in order of appearance according to the seasons, comprising 367 plates engraved using intaglio techniques, principally by Wolfgang Kilian. Printed in black and white, the herbarium was coloured by painters engaged by the richest buyers of the work.
1616: Publication of engravings of the rarest “products” of nature, which he had brought together in his collection of curiosities.
1627: Hieronymus Besler, Basilius’ brother, prints a new edition of the Hortus Eystettensis, a less lavish version with just 96 plates.
1629: Basilius Besler dies on the 13th March in Nuremberg.
1646-1648: Michel-Basile Besler publishes Mantissa ad Viretum stirpium Eystettense, as a complement and homage to his uncle’s Hortus Eystettensis.
Introductory plate: Portrait of Basilius Besler
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A herbarium, or Hortus Siccus, is a collection of plants that have been dried and preserved so as to illustrate as far as possible their different characters. Since the same plant, owing to peculiarities of climate, soil and situation, degree of exposure to light and other influences may vary greatly according to the locality in which it occurs, |
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Introductory plate: Hortus Eystettensis |
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it is only by gathering together, for comparison and study, a large series of examples of each species that the flora of different regions can be satisfactorily represented. Even in the best-equipped botanical garden it is almost impossible to have more than a very small percentage of the representatives of the flora of any given region or large group of plants. |
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Plantarum Horti Eystæt tensis Claffis Verna Introductory plate: Spring |
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Hence, a good herbarium forms an indispensable part of a botanical museum or institution. There are large herbaria at the British Museum and at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, and smaller collections at the botanical institutions at the principal British universities. |
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I. Ruscus aculeatus Butcher’s Broom Liliaceae-Asparagales
II. Philadelphus coronarius Double-flowered Mock-orange Hydrangeaceae
III. Philadelphus coronarius Single-flowered Mock-orange Hydrangeaceae |
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Linnaeus’ original herbarium is in the possession of the Linnaen Society of London. It was purchased from the widow of Linnaeus by Dr. (later Sir) J. E. Smith, |
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I. Cercis siliquastrum Judas Tree Leguminosae-Caesalpinia
II. Maianthemum bifolium False Lily of the Valley Liliaceae
III. Botrychium lunaria Moonwort Ophioglossales-Pteridophyta
IV. Chrysosplenium oppositifolium Golden Saxifrage Saxifragaceae |
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one of the founders of the Linnaen Society, and after his death was bought by the society. Herbaria are also associated with the more important botanical gardens and museums in other countries. |
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I. Prunus specie Double-flowered Cherry Rosaceae
II. Prunus padus Bird Cherry Rosaceae
III. Picea abies Branch and cones of the Norway Spruce Conifer |
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The value of a herbarium is much enhanced by the possession of “types”, that is, the original specimens on which the study of a species was founded. |
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I. Malus specie Double-flowered Apple Rosaceae
II. Lychnis viscaria Sticky Catchfly Caryophyllaceae
III. Campanula patula Spreading Bellflower Campanulaceae |
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Thus the herbarium at the British Museum, which is especially rich in the earlier collections made in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, contains the types of many species founded by the earlier workers in botany. It is also rich in types of Australian plants from the collections of Sir Joseph Banks and Robert Brown, and contains in addition many valuable modern collections. |
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I. Staphylea pinnata Bladdernut Staphyleaceae
II. Vinca minor White-flowered Lesser Apocynaceae
III. Vinca minor Lesser Periwinkle Apocynaceae
IV. Vinca minor Mauve-flowered Lesser Apocynaceae
V. Vinca minor Double-flowered Lesser Apocynaceae |
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The Kew herbarium, founded by Sir William Hooker and greatly developed by his son Sir Joseph Hooker, also contains many types, especially those of plants described in the Flora of British India and various colonial floras. |
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I. Laburnum anagyroides Common Laburnum Papilionaceae
II. Laburnum alpinum Alpine Laburnum Papilionaceae |