Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

William Hamilton (1783-1856) and the Prodromus Plantarum Indiae Occidentalis (1825)

1981; Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University; Volume: 62; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.5962/bhl.part.11247

2474-3283

Kristin S. Clausen, William Thomas Gillis, Richard A. Howard,

Botany, Ecology, and Taxonomy Studies

s Prodromus was published in the interval between the descriptive work of Olaf Swartz (1788Swartz ( -1806) ) and Martin Vahl (1798-1807) and Grisebach's Flora of the British West Indian Islands (1859)(1860)(1861)(1862)(1863)(1864).The publication contains descriptions of plants occurring between the Bahama Islands and Guyana, Venezuela, and Colombia, including all of the Greater and Lesser Antilles.Twenty-four new genera were described, of which four {Phymosia, Rhytachne, Torulinium, and Emmotum) are currently accepted.Two genera, Etericius (Rubiaceae?) and Cypellium (Styracaceae?)have not been satisfactorily placed to family in recent botanical studies.Of the 222 species hsted, 153 were indicated (by a dagger) as new.Gillis compiled from this volume a list of 15 names that have not been included in Index Kewensis or its supplements.Other binomials represent new names or new combinations, which have also not been indexed.Subsequent monographers have found Hamilton's work difficult to use.The binomials have been credited to Hamilton, Desvaux, Desvaux in Hamilton, or Desvaux ex Hamilton.Hamilton collected in the West Indies, studied and described living material, and had access to the herbarium of Desvaux.Hamilton's own collections apphcable to the Prodromus are said to be in Paris and Charkov, but none has been located (Stafleu, 1963, p. 191).The names of numerous Hamilton species from the Lesser Antilles will remain dubious until collections can be located.Hamilton usually cited "Herb.Prof. Desv." without indicating a collector.Desvaux' s herbarium has been perplexing to subsequent workers.Following Desvaux' s death in 1856, his general herbarium was sold by his son to Alphonse Lavallee.Although it was advertised as 40,000 sheets, Bonnet (1907, p. 276, footnote) felt that this was an exaggeration.Lavallee moved the collection to Segrez (Seine-et-Oise).It was given to the Museum of Natural History, Paris, by his widow in 1896 (Bureau, 1896).The collection has been subsequently integrated into the general herbarium.Desvaux did not personally collect botanical specimens beyond the region of Angers.He received specimens from many correspondents, but the collector is not noted and the area stated is rarely specific.De CandoUe (1880) noted, "Les omissions ou indications fausses de pays et la similitude de certains echantillons avec ceux du Museum rendent cet herbier fort curieux."Hamilton's personal collections have not been located in the Desvaux herbarium, although Hamilton mentioned seeing living material and apparently made specimens.The coUec-