ix 



A third work was taken in hand by Martius in 1823, and, indeed, the 

 one with which his name will be most closely and enduringly connected. 

 This was the Monograph of Palms, ' Historia Naturalis Palmarum ' (3 

 vols. imp. fol., Munich, 1823-50). The peculiar richness of Brazil in 

 Palms, the beauty of Brazilian forms, and the honour likely to accrue from 

 a new and comprehensive work on this group of plants induced Martius 

 to concentrate his attention upon them immediately after his arrival in 

 Brazil. The fulfilment of this great undertaking cost twenty-eight years 

 of labour and research. 



For the matters with which he was less conversant, Martius obtained 

 the cooperation of distinguished colleagues. The chapter on the ana- 

 tomy of palms was written by H. von Mohl ; the fossil palms fell to the 

 share of F. Unger ; and Sendtner and A. Braun contributed to the mor- 

 phology. But by far the greater part came from the pen of Martius him- 

 self, notably : — the chapter on the geographical distribution of palms, in 

 which Martius enunciated his views on phyto-geography in general ; and 

 the whole of the third volume, containing descriptions of all known palms, 

 systematically arranged, and forming in itself an almost complete mono- 

 graph of the family. The scientific merit of this work was universally 

 acknowledged. Not only was the 'special knowledge of palms thereby 

 greatly extended, but the science of botany in general was signally pro- 

 moted ; and it may be said, in the words of a great naturalist, that, "so 

 long as palms are known and palms are grown, the name of Martius will not 

 be forgotten." 



The last great work by Martius to which we can refer on this occasion 

 is the ' Flora Brasiliensis.' He had made an attempt, in conjunction with 

 Nees von Esenbeck, to publish such a work on a small scale, but soon aban- 

 doned the idea ; but in 1839, encouraged by Prince Metternich, he planned 

 a far more ambitious publication, in conjunction with the celebrated 

 Viennese botanist Endlicher. The groundwork of it was to consist of an 

 entirely new and scientific elaboration of all the accessible materials 

 brought together from Brazil, accompanied by numerous plates, thus 

 forming a splendid systematic whole. To comprehend in some degree the 

 magnitude of such an undertaking, it must be remembered that the flora of 

 Brazil numbers almost five times as many species as that of the entire area 

 of Central Europe. It was plain that the carrying out such a work could 

 be accomplished only by the joint labours of many scientific men ; and 

 Martius was fortunate enough to obtain the services of the most 

 eminent German and foreign botanists for this purpose. The Emperor 

 Ferdinand I. of Austria, and the Emperor Don Pedro II. of Brazil, and 

 also King Louis of Bavaria took the work under their special patronage. 

 After Endlicher's death in 1849, Fenzl, his successor in office, supplied his 

 place, as co-editor with Martius. At first the work proceeded slowly, 

 on account of the novelty and costliness of the undertaking ; but since the 

 year 1850, in consequence of the increased interest taken in it by the Bra- 



