Carl Friedrich Philip von Martius, Johann Emanuel Pohl and Johann Baptist von Spix
Systematic botanical collecting of the Brazilian cerrado vegetation started a little under 200 years ago, with Karl Friedrich Philip von Martius, Johann Emanuel Pohl and Johann Baptist von Spix amongst the first notable European botanists to collect the flora.
Born in Erlangen, Germany, and having completed his studies in medicine at the University of Erlangen and the Royal Bavarian Academy, Martius joined an Austrian expedition to Brazil in 1817 as part of a scientific commission organized by the Chancellor of the Austrian Empire, Prince von Metternich-Winneburg. The aim of the expedition was to obtain data on the socio-economic status and natural resources of the country. The initial stages of the trip had royal connections in that the Hapsburg Princess Leopoldina travelled on the same ship to meet her future spouse, the Portuguese crown Prince Dom Pedro who was already resident in Brazil. Dom Pedro would later become Brazil’s first emperor in 1822, and Leopoldina its first empress
Two other significant botanists were also present on this extraordinary voyage. The first was the Austrian botanist Johann Emanuel Pohl. Like Martius, he was to make a considerable contribution to the scientific understanding of Brazilian botany. Graduating in medicine from the University of Prague in 1808, Pohl had a keen interest in plants and was considered one of Bohemia’s pre-eminent botanists by the time the scientific commission set sail. Whilst in Brazil, Pohl made excursions into the provinces of Minas Gerais, Goias, and Bahia, as well as the province of Rio de Janeiro, collecting over 4,000 different species. On his eventual return to Europe he cemented his legacy to Brazilian botany by publishing a pair of two-volume works: Reise im Innern von Brasilien and Plantarum Brasiliae icones et descriptiones. Completing the trio of biologists on the voyage was Johann Baptist Von Spix who was born in the Bavarian town of Höchstadt in 1781 only a few miles away from his compatriot and future colleague von Martius.
On arrival in Brazil, Martius and Spix embarked on a three-year journey across the country. The botanical result of this journey that passed through the states of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Bahia, and which followed the reverse course of the Amazon through Pará and Amazonas, was an impressive collection of ca. 6,500 plant species, 2,700 insects, 85 mammals, 350 birds, 150 amphibians and 116 fishes. These formed the basis of the collection of the Munich herbarium and the Natural History Museum, of which von Spix was the first conservator. They co-authored a book about their travels: Reise im Brasilien (Journey in Brazil), and for the remainder of his life Martius was extremely productive in the field of botany with his collections forming the basis for descriptions of many new cerrado species. The majority of these were published in Nova Genera et Species Plantarum Brasiliensium, a three-volume work partially co-authored with the German botanist Joseph Gerhard Zuccarini between 1823 and 1832. Another work of great significance was the production of a natural history of known palm trees ( Historia naturalis palmarum).
Martius’ greatest legacy to our understanding of the flora of the region, however, was the initiation of the Flora Brasiliensis, an ambitious project started in 1840. Volume 1, part 1 (the last to be published in 1906) comprises an introduction to the flora including some superb plates depicting a range of Brazilian vegetation types, and provides accounts of plant collectors and contributors. In later numbered volumes (published earlier!) Martius himself provided accounts of the Agavaceae (Volume III) and the Annonaceae (Volume XIII). The final volume was completed 38 years after his death.Although now considerably out of date, the Flora Brasiliensis is the only complete flora available for Brazil and remains invaluable to botanists, although many of the family accounts have since been superceded by those of Flora Neotropica.
Many Cerrado species were first described by Martius. These include such quintessential floristic components as Andira vermifuga, Annona crassiflora, Aspidosperma macrocarpon, A. subincanum. Callisthene fasciculata, Cybistax antisyphilitica, Erythroxylum daphnites, E. tortuosum, Luehea paniculata, Mouriri elliptica, Qualea grandiflora, Q. multiflora, Q. parviflora and Zeyheria montana.
Johann Emanuel Pohl was also active in describing the cerrado flora with such typical species as Antonia ovata, Ferdinandusa elliptica,, Physocallyma scaberimmum, Styrax camporum and Vellozia squamata first described by him. Cerrado species named in his honour include Chomelia pohliana, Miconia pohliana and Psidium pohlianum.
