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“My Reputation is at Stake.” Humboldt's Mountain Plant Geography in the Making (1803–1825)

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Abstract

Alexander von Humboldt’s depictions of mountain vegetation are among the most iconic nineteenth century illustrations in the biological sciences. Here we analyse the contemporary context and empirical data for all these depictions, namely the Tableau physique des Andes (1803, 1807), the Geographiae plantarum lineamenta (1815), the Tableau physique des Îles Canaries (1817), and the Esquisse de la Géographie des plantes dans les Andes de Quito (1824/1825). We show that the Tableau physique des Andes does not reflect Humboldt and Bonpland’s field data and presents a flawed depiction of plant occurrences and vertical succession of vegetation belts, arising from Humboldt’s misreading of La Condamine’s description (1751). Humboldt's 1815 depiction, by contrast, shows a distribution of high-vegetation belts that is consistent with La Condamine’s description, while the 1824 depiction drops innovations made in 1815 and returns to simply showing numerous species’ names, thus not applying Humboldt’s own earlier zonation framework. Our analysis of contemporary reactions to Humboldt’s TPA includes Francis Hall’s posthumously published 1834 illustration of Andean plant zonation near Quito and Humboldt’s reaction to Hall’s critique. Throughout his work on plant geography, Humboldt disregarded some of his own observations, or confused them. At stake was his reputation as an innovator in the field of plant geography and a discoverer of the sequence of high-elevation vegetation belts on the world’s mountains.

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Notes

  1. We consider Humboldt as the sole author of the book and of the TPA, based on his own statements. In the title page, just below the mention of the two authors, a precision is made: « rédigé par A. de Humboldt», and in the introduction to the TP, Humboldt makes it clear that Bonpland is co-author because of their friendship and close collaboration throughout their six-year trip, not because he contributed to the design and writing (Humboldt 1807a, pp. vii–viii).

  2. The printing of the French edition of the Essay began in February 1805, but it was published only in 1807. The German edition appeared in March 1807. The charts Tableau physique / Naturgemälde appeared later in 1807 (Fiedler and Leitner 2000, pp. 238–239, 244–245). Since both text and charts were available to the public only in 1807, we will use this as the reference year for the Essay and the accompanying TPA in this paper. We will refer to the French edition of the Essay and chart (1807a), unless stated otherwise.

  3. “Quito—Il neige quelquefois jusqu’à 2000 t. de haut[.] De 2000–2300 t. il n’y a que des graminées uchuc. 2300–2400 des mousses au-delà tout nue et neige perpétuelle.” (SBB-PK, Nachl. A. v. Humboldt, kl. Kasten 7b, Nr. 47a, Bl. 7v.—http://resolver.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/SBB00015CE200000013).

  4. Its title is: “Geography of Plants near the Equator. Physical sketch of the Andes and neighbouring lands, based on observations and measurements made on sites in 1799-1803” (Géographie des plantes près de l’Equateur. Tableau physique des Andes et pais voisins, dressé sur les observations et mesures faites sur les lieus en 1799–1803).

  5. Museo Nacional de Colombia, reg. 1204, http://www.museonacional.gov.co/colecciones/piezas-notables/Galera%20Historia/04.Geograf%C3%ADa-de-las-plantas.jpg

  6. Seventeen taxa are placed in the same elevation zone with the same genus name, or in one case with a corrected name (Staehlina replaced by Chuquiraga); four taxa are repeated but moved from under to above the treeline (Conyza, Espeletia, Swertia, Valeriana); two taxa from 1803 are no longer present in 1807 (Geranium, Orobus).

  7. “From 1500 to 2000 toises [2900-3900 m] the trees weaken and their number decreases a lot, except for some large olive-leaved Syngeneses [Asteraceae], which are preserved isolated at the highest elevations. This is the region of the Fraylejon (Espeletia), Tusliago [sic], Achupalla (Pourretia), Swertia, yellow and blue Gentians, Stellaria, and Orobas. From 2000 to 2100 toises [3900-4100 m], the grasses begin to dominate over the other plants, of which the only ones to be observed are the Ranunculus with large red flowers, the Stehelina, saxifragas, Lupinus lanuginosus, a microscopic Lobelia, and a small gentian, which rises higher than all the other herbaceous plants” (Humboldt 1809, p. 146, translated from Spanish).

  8. The Spanish word pajonal, from paja, straw, refers to an Andean high-elevation plant community that consists of tall- and short-grass species and that includes both herbaceous and woody vegetation, but is dominated by tussock- or bunchgrasses (Luteyn 1999).

  9. “First the forest up to 1600 toises [ca. 3200 m], then the Pajonal, a grassy meadow with swampy areas, up to 1900 toises [ca. 3800 m], with the occasional Gentiana, Brathys, Gunnera, a Syngenesist [Asteraceae] resembling a Juniperus, and big Frailejón” (Humboldt 1986, p. 144, translated from German).

  10. Humboldt (1837, p. 183) describes “plains carpeted with grass” and “huge lawns” from 3146 to 3615 m on the lower slopes of Chimborazo.

  11. According to his description, the lakes near the Azuay pass, at 3800 / 3900 m, were “bordered with dense lawns of alpine grasses” (Humboldt 1810, p. 108, translated from French).

  12. The name Staehlina is also used by Bonpland in the Journal botanique to designate Chuquiraga jussieui (under the No. 2278: “g. Staehelinae aff.,” meaning “genus similar to Staehlina”). It was only on their return to Europe that Humboldt and Bonpland realized it had been described as Chuquiraga. In HBK the elevation attributed to Chuquiraga is the same as in Humboldt’s diary: 1,700 toises.

  13. In an overview of mountain climates, he describes the whole páramo zone as “hardly liveable” (Humboldt 1815, p. xxxviii).

  14. Letter to Bonpland 14th of September 1835: “Do you remember the little spring in Turbaco and our view from Chilo over Quito? Oh, how happy we were then…” (Humboldt & Bonpland 2004, p. 95, translated from French).

  15. Cf. Letters by Caldas to J. C. Mutis, Ibarra, 21 September 1802; Quito, 21 April 1803 (Caldas 1978, pp. 194-199; 218-219). For recent analyses of Caldas’s maps see Gonzalez-Orozco et al. 2015; González-Orozco and Porcel 2021; Gómez-Gutiérrez 2016; Gómez-Gutiérrez and Portilla 2021.

  16. « Laissez revoir la gravure après vous par Candolle et Biot. (…) Mon dessin est absolument exact et pensez qu’il y va de ma renommée. C’est l’ouvrage que le public attend le plus.»

  17. Apiaceae, Asteraceae, Boraginaceae, Calceolariaceae, Campanulaceae, Caryophyllaceae, Fabaceae, Gentianaceae, Grossulariaceae, Poaceae, Ranunculaceae and Rosaceae.

  18. Humboldt is referring to the chart “Limite inférieure des Neiges perpétuelles à différentes Latitudes” (Humboldt 1814-1834, plate 1).

  19. Humboldt refers here to the TPA (in Humboldt 1807a).

  20. Humboldt 1815, pp. xxxiii–xxxiv, translated from Latin.

  21. As Humboldt explains it in the Latin legend of the figure: “We located the names of the plants at the elevation where they stop growing” (Plantarum nomina apposuimus ea altitudine qua quaeque crescere desinunt).

  22. This conversion from toises to metres is wrong: 2300 toises are equivalent to 4480 m. In any case, the species in question can be found at 4480 m as well as at 4600 m.

  23. “Elevación del Chimborazo, según Ulloa, Dn Jorge Juan, Bourget, La Condamine, y Humboldt.” Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid. Sección de Cartografía y Artes Gráficas, Sign. C I/ a 89. Núm. Registro 82.

  24. Alexander von Humboldt: Énumération des Plantes de la Province de Quito, ed. Ulrich Päßler. In edition humboldt digital, ed. Ottmar Ette. Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Berlin. Version 8 (May 11, 2022). https://edition-humboldt.de/v8/H0016409.

  25. Letter from Alexander von Humboldt to Franz Julius Ferdinand Meyen. [Berlin], after 22 August 1834, ed. Petra Werner in collaboration Ingo Schwarz und Tobias Kraft. In: edition humboldt digital, ed. Ottmar Ette. Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Berlin. Version 8 (11 May 2022). https://edition-humboldt.de/v8/H0006507. On Humboldt’s reference to 1805 as year of the redaction of the Essai (1807) cf. footnote 2.

Abbreviations

TPA:

Tableau physique des Andes

HBK:

Humboldt, Bonpland, and Kunth 1815–1825

TPIC:

Tableau physique des Îles Canaries

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Acknowledgements

For exchange of literature and discussion of ideas we thank Andreas Daum, Christian Körner, and Staffan Müller-Wille. Information on the publication date of the Tableau Physique des Iles Canaries was provided by Amrei Buchholz. We also thank two reviewers whose comments helped focus the text.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Washington University, Saint Louis, MO, 63130, USA

    Susanne S. Renner

  2. Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 10117, Berlin, Germany

    Ulrich Päßler

  3. Laboratoire TRACES, UMR 5608, CNRS, Université Toulouse 2, Toulouse, France

    Pierre Moret

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  1. Susanne S. Renner
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  2. Ulrich Päßler
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Correspondence to Susanne S. Renner.

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Renner, S.S., Päßler, U. & Moret, P. “My Reputation is at Stake.” Humboldt's Mountain Plant Geography in the Making (1803–1825). J Hist Biol 56, 97–124 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10739-023-09705-z

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