Bibliographic Notes on G. Forster’s 
"'De plantis esculentis insularum oceani australis” (1786) 
E. D. Merrill^ 
There are certain overlooked aspects of 
G. Forster’s small book of 80 pages issued 
in 1786. The first is that there were two edi- 
tions, one the doctorate thesis printed at Ha- 
ke ad Salam in 1786 and a reprint of this with 
a new title page issued in Berlin in the same 
year; and the second aspect is that various 
new names, with very ample descriptions, 
were herein published anterior to their ap- 
pearance in Forster’s Prodromes, in which only 
very short diagnoses were provided. 
No date closer than the year appears on ei- 
ther edition, both bearing the legend: "Datum 
Vilnae Fithuanicae, anno MDCCLXXXVI.’’ 
I have detected no differences in the technical 
parts, pages 25-80, but the Halle edition (the 
thesis) carries a l4-line footnote on page 19 
which was eliminated in the Berlin issue, 
whereas the former bears at the end of the 
introduction, page 20, the name Georgivs 
Forster, and the latter D. Georgivs Forster. 
One can only conclude that the Halle issue 
appeared first and the Berlin edition some- 
what later. The eliminated footnote is inter- 
esting, and, as it throws some light on what 
happened, it seems desirable to reproduce it 
here: 
Dedarat in pater optimus, flagitanti amico ut aliquot 
centurias plantarum ex Itinere relatarum, magni nom- 
inis Viro et modo non montes auri pollicenti ea tamen 
lege atque omine, dono concederet, ne iis quisquam 
uteretur, ad descriptiones ex siccis speciminibus pa- 
randas; quum scilicet easdem Pater et Ego juncta opera 
evulgare nobis proposuissemus. Verum in Supplemento 
'Plantarum Systematis Vegetabilium a CAROLO a linne 
Filio Brunsvigae 1781, edito, in qualibet pagina plantis 
^ Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University, Jamaica 
Plain 30, Massachusetts. Manuscript received Novem- 
ber, 18, 1952. 
Oceani Pacifici, Botanophili mirantur iam nunc nomen 
Equitis Baeck, adscriptum; qui nunquam hoc mare 
adiit. 
Sic Vos non Vobis 
Hos ego versiculos feci, tulit alter honores! 
It was customary in the eighteenth century 
often to add to labels or to statements added 
to herbarium sheets (and thus mentioned in 
publications) the name of the donor rather 
than the name of the collector, when a set 
of specimens had been received as a gift from 
an intermediary. Abraham Baeck (or Back) 
was one of Linnaeus’ most intimate friends 
and was accustomed to acquire botanical ma- 
terial from time to time and to present the 
specimens to Linnaeus. It was unquestionably 
Baeck who purchased a set of duplicates of 
the Forster Collection. As Linnaeus died early 
in January, 1778, these specimens found their 
ultimate resting place in the herbarium of the 
son. This in turn was acquired by Sir James 
Edward Smith when he purchased the entire 
Linnaean Herbarium; but the herbarium of the 
younger Linnaeus was distributed into the 
Smith Herbarium, now maintained separately 
at the Linnaean Society in London. Willdenow 
continued this system as he built up his large 
herbarium which is, as to specimens, the basis 
of his greatly amplified edition of Linnaeus’ 
Species plantarum, 1797-1824. Another strange 
practice that was continued up to at least the 
middle of the nineteenth century in some 
botanical centers was the writing of the name 
of the species and that of the collector on the 
herbarium sheets and the discarding of the 
original labels and notes (if any). 
Thus it is that in the younger Linnaeus^ 
Supplementum plantarum (1781) the references 
35 
