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Two great naturalists and a miniature plant
Read more: Two great naturalists and a miniature plantIt is hard to imagine a plant more inconspicuous than Selaginella microphylla: tiny leaves on a uniform, branched shoot, monochromatic green, without flowers. Nevertheless, it was collected in 1801 or 1802 during an expedition through the rough wilderness of the northern Andes, carefully labelled, preserved, transported to the Pacific coast and shipped to Europe together…
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Brooks’ Selaginella: Plant knowledge as a by-product of colonial politics
Read more: Brooks’ Selaginella: Plant knowledge as a by-product of colonial politicsThe history of the discovery and first description of Selaginella brooksii is, as is often the case with tropical plants, also a history of colonial activities by European states. The story of S. brooksii is far from unique, but it is exemplary and therefore worth telling here.
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Around the world on behalf of the tsar
Read more: Around the world on behalf of the tsarOn 7 August 1803 the sailing ship Nadeshda under captain Adam Johann von Krusenstern left St. Petersburg for the first Russia-led circumnavigation of the globe on behalf of Tsar Alexander I. During a first stop in Copenhagen, German naturalist Georg Heinrich von Langsdorff (1774-1852), later diplomat in the service of the tsar, came aboard. After crossing…
