Academic literature on the topic 'Herbarium Haussknecht'

George Edward Post wrote the first flora of the Middle East in English. His other botanical activities are less familiar. In addition to the flora, this paper discusses his teaching, fieldwork, contribution to Bible dictionaries, relations with the Boissier Herbarium in Geneva, establishment of the herbarium, and letters. Those letters are used here for the first time. Post corresponded with botanical luminaries of his day including Autran, Baker, Balfour, Barbey, Boissier, Bornmüller, Carruthers, Denslow, Haussknecht, Hooker, Schweinfurth, Thistleton-Dyer, Torrey, and Winkler. His long-term relationship with the herbarium at Geneva is highlighted. In addition, some of the lesser understood aspects of his life including chaplaincy during the American Civil War, and missionary to Syria are discussed.

The nomenclatural notes, discussed in the present communication, are based on the revision of Iris Linnaeus (1753: 38) names described from Turkey, considering this genus in its wide sense (e.g., Dykes 1924, Mathew 1989, Güner 2012). Iris haussknechtii Bornm. ex Baker (1892: 4) is a species endemic to Turkey referred to I. ser. Spuriae (Diels 1930: 502) Lawrence (1953: 361) of I. sect. Limniris Tausch (1823: without pagination), treated at the generic level under the name Chamaeiris Medikus (1790: 417) (Crespo 2011, Crespo et al. 2015). It is a rhizomatous, perennial herbaceous, compact plant, with two terminal pale yellow or yellow and white flowers on single stem, the perianth segments with only yellow veins, and the narrow, rather tough leaves slightly shorter than flowers. According to some authors (Dykes 1912, 1924, Peckham 1939, Mathew 1984), it is a close relative to I. sintenisii Janka (1877: 244), except for the colour of the flowers, the shape of the outer perianth segments, the fact that the spathe valves are not sharply keeled (Dykes 1924), and the reported chromosome number: 2n = 18 in I. haussknechtii (Özkan et al. 2001, as “I. kerneriana”) vs 2n = 16 in I. sintenisii (Popova & Ceschmedjiev 1975). Based on herbarium specimens examination (deposited at E, K, and P; acronym according to Thiers 2019), we conclude that I. haussknechtii is distributed in the following northern Turkey provinces: Canakkale, Balikesir, Bolu, Kastamonu, Cankiri, Ankara, Corum, Sinop, Amasya, Tokat, Erzincan, as well as in Eskisehir, Afyonkarahisar, Kirikkale, Kirsehir, and Sivas (A. Güner, pers. comm.). This plant usually occurs in open sites, on stony soil amongst woodland, in dry meadows, scrubland, and on steep stony slopes at elevations ranging from 1150 to 2350 m (Mathew 1984). At the best of our knowledge, the name I. haussknechtii has not yet been typified. After the examination of all the original material and protologue, we designated the lectotype for this name.

The taxonomic classification of the genus Crocus has undergone substantial revisions over the past half‐century. Likewise, over the last two decades, the number of known species in Iran has tripled with the discovery of 16 additional species. Despite these noteworthy recent findings, there is a lack of an updated taxonomic revision that encompasses all these newcomers. This revision of the genus in Iran is based on comprehensive morphological examinations conducted on fresh plant material collected in the field, cultivated plants, herbarium specimens, and an extensive literature review. Presently, 24 species are recognized in Iran. They are classified into two sections: Crocus and Nudiscapus. Notably, 18 species (75%) are endemic to Iran, with 14 among them being steno‐endemics, the five remaining species are subendemic elements whose distribution is limited to Iran and the adjacent countries. An identification key to all 24 recognized species is presented, accompanied by illustrations, detailed descriptions, distribution maps and information on the conservation status of each species. According to the IUCN criteria, the conservation status of all species, excluding C. caspius, C. damascenus, C. haussknechtii and C. michelsonii is at an alarming level. This revision aims to resolve ambiguities in the Iranian Crocus taxonomy, and offers the opportunity to collectively examine all previously described species in one comprehensive contribution.