The Botanical Catalogues of Auguste De St. Hilaire

Abstract

The recent essay of Jenkins1 serving as an introduction to Auguste de St. Hilaire's Esquisse de mes voyages au Bresil et Paraguay focused considerable attention on this French naturalist who collected plants and animals in southeastern Brazil during 1816-1822. Few of the 30,000 plant specimens collected by St. Hilaire2 have found their way into other botanical institutions from the herbaria of the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris or the Universite de Montpellier3. This has contributed to the failure of many modern monographers of Brazilian plants to cite St. Hilaire material. While studying at the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris I came upon the ten handwritten books constituting the catalogues of plants collected by St. Hilaire4. It is my hope to demonstrate the importance of these catalogues and also to rectify some errors made in the handling of the St. Hilaire collections. I wish to express my thanks to Prof. H. Humbert, Directeur Laboratoire de Phanerogamie, Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France, for permission to examine and to have microfilmed the catalogues of Auguste de St. Hilaire, as well as to use the facilities of the Herbarium. I owe especial gratitude to Monsieur J. Leandri, Sous-Directeur of the same institution, for his substantial assistance. To Mr. George Swett, Examiner of Questioned Documents, Clayton, Mo., I extend my heartfelt appreciation for his comparison of handwritings found in and related to the catalogues.