The Cactaceae

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Britton Rose Cactaceae Title page.png
The Cactaceae Image
Author Nathaniel Lord Britton
Joseph Nelson Rose
Illustrator Mary Emily Eaton
H.A. Wood
Kako Morita
Country United States
Language English
PublisherThe Carnegie institution of Washington
Publication date
Between 1919 and 1923
Media typeMonograph
Nathaniel Lord Britton.jpg
Nathaniel Lord Britton
Joseph Nelson Rose.jpg
Joseph Nelson Rose

The Cactaceae is a monograph on plants of the cactus family written by the American botanists Nathaniel Lord Britton and Joseph Nelson Rose and published in multiple volumes between 1919 and 1923. It was landmark study that extensively reorganized cactus taxonomy and is still considered a cornerstone of the field. [1] It was illustrated with drawings and color plates principally by the British botanical artist Mary Emily Eaton as well as with black-and-white photographs.

Contents

History

Watercolor of several Opuntia cactus species by Mary Emily Eaton for Britton and Rose's The Cactaceae, 1919 (vol. 1, plate XXXIV). Britton Rose Cactaceae v1-plate34.jpg
Watercolor of several Opuntia cactus species by Mary Emily Eaton for Britton and Rose's The Cactaceae, 1919 (vol. 1, plate XXXIV).

Nathaniel Lord Britton was a Columbia University geology and biology professor who left the university in 1895 to become the founding director of the New York Botanical Garden. Much of his own field work was done in the Caribbean. Joseph Nelson Rose was an authority on several plant families, including parsley (Apiaceae) and cacti (Cactaceae). He had been a plant curator at the Smithsonian since 1896, and while working there he made several field trips to Mexico, collecting specimens for the Smithsonian and for Britton's newly founded New York Botanical Garden. Together, Britton and Rose published many articles on the stonecrop family (Crassulaceae) before embarking in 1904 on research leading towards The Cactaceae. With the support of Daniel T. MacDougal, director of the Carnegie Institution for Science's Desert Botanical Laboratory, the Carnegie Institution agreed to fund the project. [2] Rose took a leave of absence from the Smithsonian to pursue it, and both Rose and Britton were named Carnegie Institution Research Associates in 1912, when more focused work on the project began. [2] Between 1912 and 1916 Rose and Britton did extensive field work, collecting specimens and touring the botanical gardens and notable collections of Europe, the Caribbean, and North, Central, and South America. [2]

In this period, cactus taxonomy was in a disorganized state with only a few very large and heterogeneous genera. [3] Britton and Rose broke these old-style catch-all genera into smaller, more defined genera, ultimately classifying 1255 species under 124 genera. [3] It has been argued that with this first major overhaul of cactus genera, they ushered in an era of 'splitting' or liberalism in cactus taxonomy, in contrast to the conservative 'lumping' approach that characterized their predecessors. [1]

Britton and Rose defined their genera by the characteristics of the cactus plants' vegetation, flowers, and fruit, as well as by their geographic distribution. [3] They drew on their own and others' field work, as well as on greenhouse studies and specimens in herbaria to describe species included in their exhaustive study. [2] An important aspect of their work was their careful reexamination of existing type specimens, many of which turned out to have been incorrectly identified. [2] [4]

Britton and Rose published The Cactaceae in four volumes through the Carnegie Institution between 1919 and 1923. It "set new standards in cactus botany" [3] and has been called Britton's "magnum opus". [5] Though it was considered definitive in its own day, [4] the taxonomy of Cactaceae has remained problematic, due in part to difficulties in preserving type specimens of cactus. Several taxonomic reorganizations have succeeded Britton and Rose's work, with a major one dating to 1984. (See Cactus entry for more details.) Despite this, the excellence of their work is reflected in the fact that some 50 of the 79 genera they authored were still considered phylogenetically sound in 1990, though some had been redefined. [1]

A black-and-white reprint of the second (1937) edition of The Cactaceae was published by Dover Publications in 1963. In 2006, Daniel Schweich undertook a project to digitize the entire book, and all four volumes can now be downloaded in full color.

Illustrations

Watercolor of three species of Cactaceae by Mary Emily Eaton for Britton and Rose's The Cactaceae, 1919 (vol. 1, plate III). Britton Rose Cactaceae v1-plate3.jpg
Watercolor of three species of Cactaceae by Mary Emily Eaton for Britton and Rose's The Cactaceae, 1919 (vol. 1, plate III).

In 1911, the British illustrator Mary Emily Eaton moved to New York, where she was employed by the New York Botanical Garden for two decades. The great majority of color plates in the four volumes of The Cactaceae are by Eaton, with a handful by other artists such as Deborah Griscom Passmore, Helen Adelaide Wood, and Kako Morita. [2] [6] Eaton's compositions are striking and her watercolors are noted for their crispness and accuracy of botanical detail.

The color plates are supplemented by black-and-white line drawings as well as by black-and-white photographs of cacti, ranging from long shots taken in the field to close-up details. [2] One contemporary reviewer called The Cactaceae “the most sumptuous botanical publication" since William Rickatson Dykes’ 1913 book The Genus Iris. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nathaniel Lord Britton</span> American botanist, taxonomist (1859-1934)

Nathaniel Lord Britton was an American botanist and taxonomist who co-founded the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, New York.

<i>Neoraimondia</i> Genus of cacti

Neoraimondia is a genus of medium to large cacti from Peru. The genus is named after the Italian-born Peruvian explorer, naturalist, and scientist, Antonio Raimondi.

<i>Leptocereus</i> Genus of cacti

Leptocereus is a genus of cacti native to the Greater Antilles. It has been placed in the tribe Leptocereeae or in a broadly defined Echinocereeae.

<i>Pterocereus</i> Genus of cacti

Pterocereus is a monotypic genus of cactus containing the sole species Pterocereus gaumeri.

<i>Hatiora</i> Genus of flowering plants in the cactus family Cactaceae

Hatiora is a small genus of epiphytic cacti which belongs to the tribe Rhipsalideae within the subfamily Cactoideae of the Cactaceae. Recent taxonomic studies have led to the three species formerly placed in subgenus Rhipsalidopsis being removed from the genus, including the well known and widely cultivated ornamental plants known as Easter cactus or Whitsun cactus.

<i>Rhipsalidopsis</i> Genus of flowering cactus

Rhipsalidopsis is a small genus of flowering plant in the family Cactaceae, native to southern Brazil. Like other members of the tribe Rhipsalideae, its species are epiphytes, growing on trees.

<i>Mila caespitosa</i> Species of plant

Mila caespitosa is a species of cacti and the only species of the genus Mila. Its generic name is an anagram of Lima, Peru, the city near which the plant is found. The genus was first thought to comprise 13 species, until recent studies suggest they form one very variable species.

<i>Pereskiopsis</i> Genus of cacti

Pereskiopsis is a genus of cactus in the subfamily Opuntioideae. Unlike typical cacti, it has persistent fleshy leaves. The genus name refers to its resemblance to the genus Pereskia. Most species are found in Mexico south through Guatemala to Honduras, with one species in Bolivia. The incorrect spelling Peireskiopsis has also been used.

<i>Quiabentia</i> Genus of cacti

Quiabentia is a genus of cacti, closely related to Pereskiopsis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Nelson Rose</span> American botanist

Joseph Nelson Rose was an American botanist. He was born in Union County, Indiana. His father died serving during the Civil War when Joseph Rose was a young boy. He later graduated from high school in Liberty, Indiana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Emily Eaton</span> British botanical illustrator

Mary Emily Eaton was an English botanical artist best known for illustrating Britton & Rose's The Cactaceae, published between 1919 and 1923.

<i>Harrisia aboriginum</i> Species of cactus

Harrisia aboriginum, the west-coast prickly apple or prickly applecactus, is a species of columnar cactus endemic to peninsular Florida, on the Gulf Coast of the counties of Lee, Sarasota County, and Charlotte. Only 12 occurrences are known, and the species is threatened by horticultural collection, shading from fire suppression, competition from invasive flora, and most of all habitat destruction. It is a federally listed endangered species of the United States.

<i>Harrisia fragrans</i> Species of cactus

Harrisia fragrans is a rare species of cactus known by the common name fragrant prickly apple. It is endemic to Florida, where it is known only from St. Lucie County. The plant's habitat has been almost completely consumed by development, leading to its rarity. It is a federally listed endangered species of the United States.

<i>Mammillaria spinosissima</i> Species of cactus from Mexico

Mammillaria spinosissima, also known as the spiny pincushion cactus, is a species of flowering plant in the cactus family Cactaceae, endemic to the central Mexican states of Guerrero and Morelos, where they grow at elevations of approximately 1,600 to 1,900 metres. The species was described in 1838 by James Forbes, gardener of the Duke of Bedford. Botanist David Hunt collected a specimen in 1971, when he located one near Sierra de Tepoztlan, Mexico.

<i>Pelecyphora sneedii</i> Species of cactus

Pelecyphora sneedii is a rare species of cactus known by the common names Sneed's pincushion cactus and carpet foxtail cactus. It is endemic to the Chihuahuan Desert of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. It is a small, variable cactus with a lengthy taxonomic history, and is often subdivided into a number of subspecies or varieties. It is usually found on steep, rocky habitats, primarily of limestone geology, in desert scrub or coniferous forest. A species of conservation concern, P. sneedii faces threats from poaching, urban encroachment, and wildfires.

<i>Gymnocalycium anisitsii</i> Species of cactus

Gymnocalycium anisitsii is a globular cactus belonging to the family Cactaceae. The specific epithet honors the Hungarian pharmacist Dániel Anisits J. (1856-1911).

<i>Lobivia cinnabarina</i> Species of cactus

Lobivia cinnabarina is a species of cactus first described in 1885.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deborah Griscom Passmore</span> American botanical illustrator

Deborah Griscom Passmore (1840–1911) was a botanical illustrator for the U.S. Department of Agriculture who specialized in paintings of fruit. Her work is now preserved in the USDA's Pomological Watercolor Collection, and she has been called the best of the early USDA artists. She rose to lead the USDA staff artists, and she became the most prolific of the group, contributing one-fifth of the 7500 paintings in the Pomological Watercolor Collection.

<i>Denmoza</i> Species of cactus

Denmoza is a monotypic genus of cacti. Its only species, Denmoza rhodacantha, is native to northwest Argentina.

<i>Pelecyphora tuberculosa</i> Species of plant

Pelecyphora tuberculosa, the corncob cactus, is a species of flowering plant in the family Cactaceae, native to the south-central United States, and northern Mexico.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Gibson, Arthur C., and Park S. Nobel. The Cactus Primer. Harvard University Press, 1990.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Britton, Nathaniel Lord, and Joseph Nelson Rose. The Cactaceae. Vols. 1–4. Washington, D.C.: The Carnegie Insitiution, 1919–23.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Britton and Rose: The Cactaceae". Lophophora blog, Nov. 12, 2006.
  4. 1 2 3 Marroquin, Adriana, and Robin Everly. "Wait, Is That the Original?" Plant Press 16:3 (July 2013).
  5. "Nathaniel Lord Britton Records (1875-1934): Biographical Note". New York Botanical Garden web site.
  6. Hartwell, Cindy. "Deborah Griscom Passmore and the Art of the U.S. Department of Agriculture". The Desert Breeze, June 2015.