Economic plants encountered on the voyage of the beagle

Abstract

The literature regarding Charles Darwin's life, publications and letters is extensive. Nevertheless, apparently no one has attempted a botanical analysis of the Beagle voyage. For this reason, an account of the economic plants enumerated by Darwin on his five-year journey around the world has been prepared. The data have been obtained largely from five sources (Darwin, 1839, 1846, 1870; Barlow, 1933, 1946). Additions and deletions have been made to each of Darwin's works; hence, none is complete, at least botanically speaking. This is probably due to two facts. First, Darwin, on the voyage of the Beagle, was primarily a geologist, then a zoologist and an anthropologist, and only lastly a botanist. He admitted this himself by saying several times, "I am not botanist enough to say . " Secondly, Darwin published his observations, taken from his journals, in a "piecemeal" fashion, and he allowed at least three professional botanists to work up various special aspects of the Beagle's botany (Berkeley, 1857; Henslow, 1838; Hooker, 1847, 1851). The following presentation is organized by categories of uses. Consequently the reader is forewarned that the discussion, which is limited to those plants which Darwin found particularly important or interesting, will often change from one geographic area to another. However, a checklist of all identifiable economic planits encountered has been included also. In some cases, where no name was mentioned by Darwin and only a description was given by him, "reasonable" assumptions as to their correct genus and species have been made. These are indicated by an asterisk.