1953] 



BOTANY OF THE GUAYANA HIGHLAND 



S9 



McConnell and Quelch twice visited Roraima, in 1894 and again in 1898, both 

 times reaching the summit, where a total of 12 days were spent making animal and 

 plant collections. They had crossed the Ireng at Karona Falls into Brazil from 

 British Guiana. Roraima was approached from the south up the valley of the Ara- 

 bapo in Venezuela, and ascended by way of the Kukenam drainage in Venezuela 

 along the southwest face of the mountain. Their extensive collections form the 

 basis for the report by N. E. Brown which remains today the most important single 

 contribution to the botany of Roraima. Unfortunately, although locality is given in 

 the citation of specimens, by indirection from the title of the work one is led to 

 consider that the collections were made in British Guiana, whereas in fact the 

 great bulk was made in Venezuela and a lesser amount in Brazil. 



Gleason 4 has reported that "E. Ule spent several weeks on the slopes of the 

 mountain [Roraima] in December 1909 and January 1910, and made four ascents to 

 its summit." but that (Gleason p. 406) "no summary has been made of the number 

 of species collected by Ule." 



Contemporary botanical study of Roraima began with the Lee Garnett Day — 

 American Museum of Natural History Expedition led by G. H. H. Tate of the Amer- 

 ican Museum. Roraima was approached by the way of the Amazon and Rio Branco, 

 and ascended by the then well established trail up the southwestern face. Collec 

 tions on Roraima and its approaches were made from October 27, 1927, to January 

 9, 1928. 



Although the primary purpose was the study and collection of the fauna of the 

 mountain, Dr. Tate found time also to make 515 collections of plants. These were 

 deposited at the New York Botanical Garden, where they were studied and reported 

 on by H. A. Gleason. 5 



Albert S. Pinkus and P. S. Perberdy in 1938-39 visited Roraima by way of the 

 Mazaruni River, British Guiana. Their collections of plants, representing some 292 

 numbers (collected and prepared almost entirely by their Arawak Indian assistant, 

 Rufus Boyan), were studied and distributed by the New York Botanical Garden, 

 where the first set is deposited. Sixteen new species were described from the 

 Pinkus materials. 



No further plant collections of significance were made on Roraima until 1945 

 when Julian A. Steyermark visited the mountain. Dr. Steyermark's first set is at 

 the Chicago Museum of Natural History; duplicate sets are at the New York Bo- 

 tanical Garden, the United States National Herbarium, and elsewhere. 



In earlier reports, precise geographical designation may not have been consid- 

 ered significant in comparison to the overriding importance of initial exploration 

 and investigation, since in the literature most of the collections of this region 

 have been loosely assigned to British Guiana, whereas in point of fact most of 

 these early collections are from Venezuela and Brazil. While many of the species 

 involved may and probably actually do occur within the political limits of British 

 Guiana, in great part there exists no actual record of them for that British colony. 

 Even as late as 1929, Gleason (p. 393) in his report on the Tate collection, wrote: 

 **The small area on the summit of Mount Roraima is shared by Brazil, Venezuela, 

 and British Guiana, and the dividing line between them has not been accurately 

 located. All specimens in this article from the summit and slopes of the mountain 

 have been credited to British Guiana as a matter of convenience." 



Phelps 6 has discussed a similar confusion of geography as related to birds 

 collected on various expeditions to Roraima, on which the birds were taken wholly 



4 Bull. Torrey Club 56: 391. 1929. 



5 Bull. Torrey Club 56: 339-390. 1929. 



6 Phelps, William H. The geographical status of the birds collected at Mount Roraima, 

 Bol. Soc. Venez. Ci. Nat. 83-95. 1939. reprint, Caracas, 1939. 



