376 



XXVI.— GUNNERA MANICATA AND 



G. BRASILIENSIS. 



0. Staff. 



Dr. A. 3L Schindler in his monograph of the Halorrliagaceae 

 (completed by Prof. C. Mez ; in Engl. Pflanzenreich, iv. 1905, 

 225) has two " Gunnera manicata, Lind." One (p. 122) is 

 "G. manicata, Linden in Illustr. hortic. xx. (1873) 156 nee 

 alibi," the other (p. 124) " G. manicata, Linden in Belg. 

 Hortic. (1867) 104 (nee alibi, nomen nudum)." The former is 

 retained as a distinct species, stated to have been introduced by 

 Linden from Colombia, without precise indication of locality 

 and to have been seen by the author in the Herbaria of Munich 

 and Petersburg; the latter is made the basis of a new species, 

 G. brasiliensis, Schindler, including G. manicata of Schwacke ill 



Engler's Bot. Jahrb. xii. (1890) Beibl. 28, p. 1, and of Petersen 

 in Engl. & Prantl, Pflanzenfam. iii. 7 (1893), 236, fig. 107. 

 The distribution of this species is given as follows: " Brasilien. 

 Rio de Janeiro, an Felsen am Abhang der Serra do Oratorio 

 (TJle n. 1229, im Marz fruchtend," to which the author adds that 

 he saw the ])lant in the Berlin Herbarium. As G. manicata is 

 one of our noblest and most decorative foliage plants for water 

 borders and lawns it seems to be worth while to inquire into the 

 claims of the conflicting names. 



It was Joseph Libon, a Belgian collector, who discovered the 

 plant known in British gardens as G. manicata. He travelled 

 for Jean Linden in Brazil between 1859 and 1861 when he died 

 at Rio de Janeiro. Most of his work was done in the State of 

 Santa Catharina which he explored from Desterro (Floiianopolis) 

 to bevond the watershed of the Serra do Mar. Here on the 

 western side of the Serra do Mar, in the open grassy highland 

 which stretches towards Lages (987 m.) — the Campos de Lages — 

 the Gunnera was found growing in " regions froides et glacees 

 . . . . dans les parties marecageuses au pied des premiers 

 contreforts de la Serra do Mar," "glacees" meaning evidently 

 not more than that snow and frosts occur. Linden advertised the 

 plant as G. manicata, Lind. in his Prix-Courrant for 1867 and in 

 Belgique Horticole, vol. xvii. p. 104 of the same year. No 

 description was given in this place beyond the statement that 

 each leaf attains to a circumference of 5 m. But about the 

 same time Delchevalerie, Chef multiplicaleur au fleuriste de la 

 ville de Paris, gave a descriptive account (in Revue Horticole, 

 1867. 218) of the plant, a specimen of which was then to be seen 

 in the International Horticultural Exhibition at Paris. This 

 specimen had flowered with Linden the y* k ar before. Linden as 

 well as Delchevalerie attribute the discovery of the plant to 

 Libon and give the Serra do Mar as its home, a statement which 

 Linden insisted upon when in 1875 he introduced another new 

 Gunnera, this time from Colombia (Linden, Prix Courrant, 

 f. 1875, p. 5). Meanwhile E. Andre had published a fuller 

 description of Gunnera manicata, Linden, in Illustration Horti- 

 cole, xx. (1873) 156, with the remark " Voici la description de 

 cette magnifique espece introduite par M. J. Linden, de la 



