THE BOTANICAL COLLECTIONS OF WILLIAM LOBB 

 IN COLOMBIA 



By ELLSWORTH P. KILLIP, 



ASSOCIATE CURATOR, DIVISION OF PLANTS, 

 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM 



The name of William Lobb is closely associated with botanical 

 exploration in western South America, and there are numerous 

 references in literature to his collections from the Andes. While 

 studying the distribution of certain species of Andean plants. I have 

 found it necessary to examine rather carefully these references, espe- 

 cially those in which the specimens are mentioned merely as " Peru, 

 Lobb," or " Columbia, Lobb." Although these studies have been by 

 no means exhaustive, and positive conclusions are perhaps not yet 

 justified, it seems worth while to present the results of my preliminary 

 investigations. 



My interest in the subject was first aroused by observing the 

 unusual distribution of various species of Passifloraceae given in 

 Masters' monograph ' of the family. There were numerous instances 

 of a species being reported from Colombia solely on the basis of a 

 Lobb collection, all other specimens cited being from Peru or southern 

 Ecuador. More remarkable was the fact that my examination of col- 

 lections not included in Masters' monograph or made subsequent to 

 its publication showed that in the same instances this additional mate- 

 rial came from Peru or southern Ecuador, never from Colombia. 

 Turning to other plant families I found that a similar situation existed. 



The question at once presented itself : Did Lobb chance to visit a 

 part of Colombia with a characteristic Peruvian or southern Ecua- 

 dorean flora, never before or since explored by botanists, or has there 

 been an error in the labeling of some of his specimens,^ certain 

 Peruvian and Ecuadorean ones being labeled "Colombia"? The 

 importance of answering this question is obvious : If the " Colombia " 

 specimens actually came from Peru, many species must be eliminated 

 in listing the known plants of Colombia, and conversely, in preparing 

 a flora of Peru, many species hitherto supposed to have been endemic 

 to Colombia must be accounted for. It should be noted that although 



'Mart. Fl. Bras. 13': 530-654- ^872. 



Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. 87, No. 1 



