The book of palms

Abstract

The book of palms is a lavishly illustrated, large-format 442-page book celebrating the work of the German botanist Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius (1794–1868). It is a reproduction of the latter's epic study of the palm family: Historia naturalis palmarum: opus tripartitum (Natural History of Palms: a work in three volumes), published between 1823 and 1853. Born in Erlangen, where he undertook his early botanical studies, Martius was subsequently assigned the task of exploring the flora of Brazil, which he carried out over a number of years. Later in his career he settled in Munich as Curator of the botanic garden and Professor of botany at the university. The study of the flora of Brazil was a key part of his career and he published a number of works relating to different plant groups investigated during his travels there. One of the most significant contributions that Martius made in Brazil was his description of 85 new palm species, 54 of which still bear the names he assigned them today. Historia naturalis palmarum incorporates this large body of new botanical data that he obtained. Originally published in three volumes, it described and illustrated all genera of the palm family known at the time. Although we now know that the palm family consists of nearly 2500 species, only a fraction of which were described in Martius' work, Historia naturalis palmarum can still be considered to have laid the foundations of palm taxonomy upon which subsequent generations of botanists have been able to build. After his death in 1868 his tombstone was adorned with two palm leaves and the latin phrase: ‘In palmis semper virens resurgo!’ (loosely translated as ‘in palms I am ever youthful and resurgent!’). The beautifully presented reproduction published by Taschen contains the three reprinted volumes of Historia naturalis palmarum in large format: 31·4 × 43·5 cm. At the beginning of the book is a short but interesting overview of Martius' life and contribution to palm taxonomy provided by the author, H. Walter Lack, Director at the Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin-Dahlem and Professor at the Free University of Berlin. Thereafter, the book is entirely devoted to the botanical drawings that form the essence of this tome. In their beauty, diversity, attention to detail and quantity these drawings are truly impressive. It is interesting to note that the three volumes did not originally appear in the order one might have expected. Each volume was published gradually, with volume II (New World palm species) initiated in 1823, followed by volume III (mostly Old World palm species), which was eventually completed in 1853. In parallel, volume I (general features) appeared gradually between 1831 and 1853. As regards the drawings, only those of the second volume were executed by Martius himself. The lithographs reproduced in the book, the majority of which are in colour, illustrate palms from a number of different perspectives. Volume I deals mostly with palm anatomy and morphology, with a section on palm fossils. Histological sections are reproduced faithfully and there are also some interesting floral diagrams, sketches of whole adult palms and maps describing the distribution of palms on a world level. The second and third volumes contain detailed descriptions of genera and species. The plates contain drawings showing both the specific structures of individual species and also landscape views of the palms, the latter having more of a historical charm than a botanical value. As before, the drawings are beautifully reproduced. The latest palm nomenclature is incorporated for the benefit of the reader, so inevitably there are differences between the names on the original plates and those in the newly compiled legends (e.g. Cocos comosa becomes Syagrus comosa). Several elegant poster-size illustrations (folded inside the body of the book) are also included. This book is highly commendable for a number of reasons: its historical importance, its enormous aesthetic beauty and the informative value of the drawings, to name but three. It came as a great surprise to discover that the book was being offered for sale by Taschen for a price-tag of about 100 euros – hard to believe that such a feat was possible given the high quality of the reproductions and the large number of pages. This book should be of interest to a wide range of people: botanists of course, but also gardeners with an interest in palms and the history of ‘plant hunting’; or potentially anyone who appreciates the aesthetic appeal of high quality botanical illustrations of the type that abound in this book.