Atlas of the Distribution of Plants

Abstract

THE history of the science of the distribution of plants begins with Linnæus, who was the first to cite systematically the countries and situations in which the plants he described grew. This we find carefully done in the first edition of the “Species Plantarum,” published in 1753. No perceptible advance beyond this was made before the appearance of Humboldt and Bonpland's “Essai sur la Géographie des Plantes” in 1805, which work may be designated the real foundation of the science. It was followed in 1823-24 by the Dane, Schouw's “Grundtræk” and “Plantegeographisk Atlas,” the latter containing twenty-two maps illustrating the vegetation of the world, and especially the distribution of plants cultivated for food. There is also a German edition of both the “Outlines” and the “Atlas.” From this date onward many of the most eminent botanists investigated distribution in connection with classification of plants, notably R. Brown, A. P. De Candolle, H. C. Watson, C. Darwin, A. De Candolle, J. D. Hooker, Edward Forbes, Von Marti us, and Grisebach, to say nothing of the younger botanists. But the results of their labours ars still scattered, or at least only partially elaborated; for Grisebach, in his “Vegetation der Erde,” deals with the facts from a peculiarly narrow stand-point.

Atlas der Pflanzenverbreitung.

(Berghaus's “Physikalischer Atlas,” Abtheilung V.) Bearbeitet von Dr. Oscar Drude. (Gotha: Justus Perthes, 1887.)