Flora Tasmaniae

Last updated
Flora Tasmaniae
Author Joseph Dalton Hooker
Illustrator Walter Hood Fitch
CountryEngland
LanguageEnglish
SeriesMonthly parts
Subject Botany
Publisher Reeve Brothers
Publication date
1853 – 1859

The Flora Tasmaniae is a description of the plants discovered in Tasmania during the Ross expedition written by Joseph Dalton Hooker and published by Reeve Brothers in London between 1855 and 1860. [1] Hooker sailed on HMS Erebus as assistant surgeon. [2] Written in two volumes, it was the last in a series of four Floras in the Flora Antarctica , the others being the Botany of Lord Auckland's Group and Campbell's Island (1843–1845), the Botany of Fuegia, the Falklands, Kerguelen's Land, Etc. (1845–47), and the Flora Novae-Zelandiae (1851–1853). They were "splendidly" illustrated by Walter Hood Fitch. [3]

Contents

The larger part of the plant specimens collected during the Ross expedition are now part of the Kew Herbarium. [4]

Although Hooker professed not to have changed his views on Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection, the book contains an introductory essay on biogeography written from a Darwinian point of view, making the book the first case study for the theory.

Context

The British government fitted out an expedition led by James Clark Ross to investigate magnetism and marine geography in high southern latitudes, which sailed with two ships, HMS Terror and HMS Erebus on 29 September 1839 from Chatham. [5]

The ships arrived, after several stops, at the Cape of Good Hope on 4 April 1840. On 21 April the giant kelp Macrocystis pyrifera was found off Marion Island, but no landfall could be made there or on the Crozet Islands due to the harsh winds. On 12 May the ships anchored at Christmas Harbour for two and a half months, during which all the plant species previously encountered by James Cook on the Kerguelen Islands were collected. On 16 August they reached the River Derwent, collecting plants in Tasmania until 12 November. A week later the flotilla stopped at Lord Auckland's Islands and Campbell's Island for the spring months. [5]

Large floating forests of Macrocystis and Durvillaea were found until the ships ran into icebergs at latitude 61° S. Pack-ice was met at 68° S and longitude 175°. During this part of the voyage Victoria Land, Mount Erebus and Mount Terror were discovered. After returning to Tasmania for three months, the flotilla went via Sydney to the Bay of Islands, and stayed for three months in New Zealand. After visiting other islands, the ships returned to the Cape of Good Hope on 4 April 1843. At the end of the journey specimens of some fifteen hundred plant species had been collected and preserved. [6]

Book

The 930-page Flora Tasmaniae was published between 1855 and 1860. Hooker dedicated it to the local naturalists Ronald Campbell Gunn and William Archer, noting that "This Flora of Tasmania .. owes so much to their indefatigable exertions". Although the book is sometimes stated to have been published in 1859, the dedication is dated January 1860. It made use of plants collected by the local naturalist Robert Lawrence as well as Gunn and Archer. [7]

The book begins with an "Introductory Essay" on biogeography. It is followed by a "Key to the Natural Orders of Tasmanian Flowering Plants" and a more detailed key to the genera. The Flora proper begins with the first order, the Ranunculaceae.

Impact

Hooker's Flora Tasmaniae was "the first published case study supporting Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection". [7] It contained a "milestone essay on biogeography", [8] "one of the first major public endorsements of the theory [of evolution by natural selection]". [9] Hooker gradually changed his mind on evolution as he wrote up his findings from the Ross expedition. While he asserted that "my own views on the subjects of the variability of existing species" remain "unaltered from those which I maintained in the 'Flora of New Zealand'", the Flora Tasmaniae is written from a Darwinian perspective that effectively assumes natural selection, or as Hooker named it, the "variation" theory, to be correct. [10]

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<i>Leptospermum nitidum</i> Species of shrub

Leptospermum nitidum, commonly known as shiny tea-tree, is a species of compact shrub that is endemic to Tasmania. It has crowded, aromatic, elliptical leaves, white flowers about 15 mm (0.59 in) in diameter and fruit that remain on the plants until it is burned or dies.

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The Botany of Fuegia, the Falklands, Kerguelen's Land, Etc. is a description of the plants discovered in these islands during the Ross expedition written by Joseph Dalton Hooker and published by Reeve Brothers in London between 1845 and 1847. Hooker sailed on HMS Erebus as assistant surgeon. It was the second in a series of four Floras in the Flora Antarctica, the others being the Flora of Lord Auckland and Campbell's Islands (1843-1845), the Flora Novae-Zelandiae (1851–1853), and the Flora Tasmaniae (1853–1859). They were "splendidly" illustrated by Walter Hood Fitch.

<i>Botany of Lord Aucklands Group and Campbells Island</i>

The Botany of Lord Auckland's Group and Campbell's Island is a description of the plants discovered in those islands during the Ross expedition written by Joseph Dalton Hooker and published by Reeve Brothers in London between 1844 and 1845. Hooker sailed on HMS Erebus as assistant surgeon. It was the first in a series of four Floras in the Flora Antarctica, the others being the Botany of Fuegia, the Falklands, Kerguelen's Land, Etc. (1845–1847), the Flora Novae-Zelandiae (1851–1853), and the Flora Tasmaniae (1853–1859). They were "splendidly" illustrated by Walter Hood Fitch.

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<i>Plantago aucklandica</i> Species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae

Plantago aucklandica is a species of flowering plant in the family Plantaginaceae that is endemic to the subantarctic Auckland Islands, New Zealand. Joseph Dalton Hooker described P. aucklandica in his Flora Antarctica in 1844. Plants of this plantain are large with large leaves, up to seven veins, wide petioles, colliculate seeds, and long spikes with dozens of flowers and one-seeded fruits. This species in considered to be At Risk - Naturally Uncommon, as it is an island endemic with a restricted range.

<i>Lasiopetalum micranthum</i> Species of shrub

Lasiopetalum micranthum is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae and is endemic to a small region of eastern Tasmania. It is a low, spreading shrub with thin, rusty-hairy branches, narrow oblong leaves and drooping, star-shaped red to greyish-pink or white flowers.

<i>Myosotis lyallii</i> Species of flowering plant

Myosotis lyallii is a species of flowering plant in the family Boraginaceae, endemic to New Zealand. Joseph Dalton Hooker described the species in 1853. Plants of this species of forget-me-not are perennial with a prostrate habit, bracteate or partially-bracteate inflorescences, and white corollas.

<i>Spyridium lawrencei</i> Species of shrub

Spyridium lawrencei, commonly known as small-leaf spyridium or small-leaf dustymiller, is a species of flowering plant in the family Rhamnaceae and is endemic to Tasmania. It is an erect, compact or straggling shrub with small, leathery, round to heart-shaped leaves, and dense heads of hairy, cream-coloured flowers.

<i>Cryptandra alpina</i> Species of flowering plant

Cryptandra alpina, commonly known as alpine pearlflower, is a species of flowering plant in the family Rhamnaceae and is endemic to Tasmania. It is a small, prostrate shrub with slender branches, linear leaves, and tube-shaped white flowers arranged singly on the ends of branches.

<i>Spyridium obcordatum</i> Species of shrub

Spyridium obcordatum, commonly known as creeping spyridium or creeping dustymiller, is a species of flowering plant in the family Rhamnaceae and is endemic to Tasmania. It is a prostrate shrub with heart-shaped leaves, the narrower end towards the base, and clusters of hairy, white flowers.

Puccinellia stricta is a species of grass known by the common names Australian saltmarsh grass, and Marshgrass. It was first described by Joseph Dalton Hooker in 1853 as Glyceria stricta from a specimen collected at Akaroa, but was assigned to the genus, Puccinellia, in 1930 by Carl Hilding Blom. It is native to New Zealand and Australia, where it is found in Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania.

<i>Glossostigma elatinoides</i> Species of aquatic plant

Glossostigma elatinoides, also known as small mud-mat, is a flowering plant in the family Phrymaceae and grows in eastern states of Australia. It is a small aquatic or terrestrial herb with mauve flowers.

References

  1. Joseph Dalton Hooker (1844). Flora Antarctica, Volume 1, Parts 1-2, Flora Novae-Zelandiae - The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage of H.M. Discovery Ships Erebus and Terror in the years 1839-1843. London: Reeve Brothers. pp. title pages.
  2. "The Erebus voyage". Kew Royal Botanic Gardens. Archived from the original on 2015-11-23. Retrieved 2015-11-28.
  3. Curtis, Winifred M. (1972). "Hooker, Sir Joseph Dalton (1817-1911)". Australian Dictionary of Biography . Vol. 4. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISSN   1833-7538.
  4. David Goyder; Pat Griggs; Mark Nesbitt; Lynn Parker; Kiri Ross-Jones (2012). "Sir Joseph Hooker's Collections at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew" (PDF). Curtis's Botanical Magazine. 29 (1): 66–85. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8748.2012.01772.x. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-06-08. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  5. 1 2 Hooker, Joseph Dalton (1844). Flora Antarctica, Volume 1, Parts 1-2, Flora Novae-Zelandiae. pp. v–vii.
  6. J.D. Hooker (1844). Flora Antarctica, Volume 1, Parts 1-2, Flora Novae-Zelandiae. pp. v–vii.
  7. 1 2 Cave, E. C. (2012). "Flora Tasmaniae: Tasmanian naturalists and imperial botany, 1829-1860 (PhD Thesis)". University of Tasmania . Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  8. "Hooker, Joseph D. (1817 - 1911)". Australian National Herbarium. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  9. Ruse, Michael; Travis, Joseph (2009). Evolution: The First Four Billion Years . Harvard University Press. p.  639. ISBN   978-0-674-03175-3.
  10. Endersby, Jim. "What Made Darwinism Useful to Joseph Dalton Hooker?". Victorian Web. Retrieved 29 February 2016. Extracted from the conclusion of Imperial Nature: Joseph Hooker and the Practices of Victorian Science, University of Chicago Press, 2008.