The botanical legacy of Martinus Houttuyn (1720–1798) in Geneva

Wijnands, D.O.†, J. Heniger, J.F. Veldkamp, N. Fumeaux & M.W. Callmander (2017). The botanical legacy of Martinus Houttuyn (1720–1798) in Geneva. Candollea 72 : 155–198. In English, English abstract. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15553/c2017v721a11 The contribution made by Martinus Houttuyn (1720–1798) to systematic botany has been widely underestimated. Fourteen volumes of the second part of his Natuurlijke Historie of Uitvoerige Beschrijving der Dieren, Planten en Mineraalen, published between 1773 and 1783, dealt with botany. Houttuyn popularized the Linnaean system and published more than 150 species and several genera. The historical context of this early botanical work is described. The history of the acquisition of Houttuyn's herbarium is outlined and an English translation of his auction catalogue is provided. We discuss Houttuyn's exotic herbaria from the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa), Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Java (Indonesia), and Japan. Houttuyn did not go abroad to collect plants. His herbarium consisted of material from many collectors, with the vast majority of specimens collected by Thunberg, but collections were also made by Auge, Radermacher, Richter, and possibly von Wurmb, while material from unknown collectors is also present. The main set of Houttuyn herbarium, which proves to be present in the Geneva herbarium, was originally part of the Burman herbarium bought by Delessert in 1801 on the advice of Augustin-Pyramus de Candolle. It is now incorporated in the Pre-Linnaean herbarium (G-PREL). Much smaller sets from Java are present in Leiden (L) and Amsterdam (AMD, now in L). In many cases Houttuyn described new species on the basis of Thunberg specimens before Linnaeus f. or Thunberg did, whose identical but later names are based on the specimens in their own herbaria, and although some might consider these to be homonyms, we regard them as isonyms because their types are duplicates of the same gatherings. A selection of 111 names are discussed, most of which were published by Houttuyn in the Natuurlijke Historie. Others are linked to Burman, Thunberg, Linnaeus f. or A.-P. de Candolle. A total of 57 lectotypes and one epitype are designated.Accepted: February 10, 2016; First published online: May 12, 2017