Vainio's Brazilian Bryophytes at TUR

Abstract

In 1885 Edvard August Vainio travelled to Brazil primarily to collect lichens, but he also collected bryophytes. The mosses were mostly identified by Brotherus and C. Miiller, and the hepatics by Stephani. These authors described several new species based on Vainio's collections. The set kept at the Vainio herbarium at Turku, Finland (TUR) has recently been rediscovered. All the bryophytes are listed, with their collection localities and TUR accession numbers. Edvard August Vainio (1853-1929, spelled Wainio until 1920, when altered in accordance with changing Finnish orthography) is best known as a lichenologist. He was probably one of the first European lichenologists to do field work in the tropics. In 1885 he journeyed to Brazil, primarily to collect lichens. However, while there he also collected bryophytes and vascular plants. The bryophytes were mostly identified by Brotherus and Carl Miiller (mosses) and Stephani (hepatics), but were never published on as a set. The vascular plants remain to this day, in part, unnamed. Vainio (1888) published an extensive account of his travels, but entirely in Finnish. More recently, Alava (1986) summarized Vainio's Brazilian travels, with emphasis on his lichenological collections. Vainio traveled from Rio de Janeiro via Sitio [= Antonio Carlos] and Lafayette [= Conselheiro Lafaiete], among other places, on his way to Caraga in Minas Gerais. His return took him through these same localities, but apparently he collected very little on the way back to Rio de Janeiro. Once in Rio he collected in the general vicinity, including in Sepitiba. His collections in Sitio were made on 3-18 March 1885, those from Lafayette on 18-31 March, and those from Caraga on 3 April-5 May. Collections from Rio de Janeiro were made 13 May-12 June, and those from Sepitiba on 24-25 May. Greater detail is available in Alava (1986). Among Vainio's Brazilian bryophyte collections is material that was described as new to science. Although the holotypes of these collections are primarily in Helsinki (H-BR) and Geneva (G), in most cases the bulk of the material stayed in Vainio's personal herbarium, now at the herbarium of the University of Turku (TUR) in Turku, Finland. Until very recently this material was missing. Fortunately it was found and had not yet been intercalated into the collections when I visited there in February 1994. Below is a list (Table 1) of the Vainio bryophyte collections, given alphabetically by the name on the packet. Those specimens that are indicated as types on the packets, are indicated by (T). I have not gone to the literature to verify that in fact these specimens are types. In some cases they appear only to be the bases of nomina nuda. The material at TUR is, for the most part, very ample. Therefore, it is potentially very useful when holotypes in the describing authors' herbaria are scant or missing. Names in brackets were originally written onto the packets, but later crossed out. Table 1 has three columns: the name of the taxon as listed on the packet; locality/month (where given) and/or a Vainio collection number; and the TUR