Catalogue of the African Plants collected by Dr. F. Welwitsch in 1853–61

Abstract

DR. WELWITSCH, although an Austrian by birth, occupied the position of curator of the Lisbon Botanic Garden and Museum, when he was selected, in 1851, by the King of Portugal as naturalist to an expedition for exploring the Portuguese possessions on the West Coast of Africa. Between this date and 1861, he made very large collections, chiefly of plants. Although Dr. Welwitsch died in 1872, his collections have till recently remained unedited, partly owing to a dispute as to their ownership between his Trustees and the Portuguese Government, which ended in the Court of Chancery, partly owing to the difficulty in finding a compiler and editor. This office was finally placed, by the Trustees of the British Museum, as far as the flowering plants are concerned, in the very competent hands of Mr. W. P. Hiern, who has now brought out the first part, comprising the natural orders of Dicotyledons from Ranunculaceæ to Rhizophoraceæ. The work has been one of great labour, a large number of new species and some new genera being described; and we may congratulate the systematic botanist on so important an addition to our knowledge of the flora of Tropical Africa. Catalogue of the African Plants collected by Dr. F. Welwitsch in 1853–61. Part i. Dicotyledons. By W. P. Hiern. Pp. xxvi + 336. (London: Printed by order of the Trustees of the British Museum, 1896.)