The Anatolian botanical expeditions of Joseph Bornmüller (1862-1948)

Asuman Baytop

Joseph Bornmüller (1862-1948) was a German botanist, traveller-collector, who had much herborized in Inner and Western Anatolia between 1886 and 1929. He studied in the Postdam-Wildpark Gardening Institution. He settled at Weimar, collaborated with Carl Haussknecht (1838-1903), became the curator of the Herbarium Haussknecht from its foundation in 1886 to 1938, was elected president of the Thüringische Botanische Verein (founded by Haussknecht in 1883) after the death in 1903 of the founder. In 1918, the Grand Duke of Saxony conferred him the Professor titel. In 1942, he was awarded with a Goethe medal. In 1943, the Jena University honoured him with the title of Dr.rer.nat.h.c.

The Flora of Turkey cites 1733 specimens of his Turkish collections, which includes 189 types and syntypes, which represent 161 new taxa. The type specimens are from Inner Anatolia (Ankara, Kastamonu, Amasya, Tokat, Yozgat, Sivas, Niğde, Malatya, Konya) and from Western Anatolia (Bilecik, Bursa, Manisa, İzmir, Aydın). The specimen citations accepted inFlora of Turkey reveal that Bornmüller came to Anatolia first in 1886 and visited the Uludağ (Bursa). In 1889 and 1890, he came to Amasya, explored the provinces of Amasya, Kastamonu, Çorum, Samsun, Tokat, Yozgat, Sivas, Kayseri. The 1889 collection counts ca. 2300 specimens, the 1890 collection ca. 3500. For 1891, the Flora cites 4 specimens from Sivas, Ankara and Tokat. In 1892, Bornmüller collected from Ankara, Kastamonu, Sivas, Amasya. In 1893, he had specimens from Sivas, Tokat, Erzincan, Ankara, Kayseri, Malatya, Gaziantep. These two years, 1892 and 1893, are the years of his Anatolian-Persian expeditions, when he intensively collected from Iran. In 1899, Bornmüller was in Inner Anatolia. From Amasya, through Bilecik, Yenişehir, Mudanya, he came to Bursa, visited the Uludağ again. He continued exploring densely the Sultan dağları (Afyon, Konya). In 1906, Bornmüller arrived to İzmir, Manisa and Aydın. In 1910 and 1911, on his way to Lebanon and return, he has been in İstanbul, as proven by a few specimens. In 1929, he visited mainly Bilecik, Çankırı and Ankara, collected along the Çakmaklıdere valley and visited the Ilgaz dağı. His Ankara specimens are mainly from Kavaklıdere, Çankaya, Çubuk, Dikmen, Kayaş and Kalecik. He named in 1931, a new hybrid of Moltkia (Boraginaceace) that he collected in 1929 from Çankaya, after Mustafa Kemal Paşa (1881-1938), the president of the Republic of Turkey: Moltkia x kemalpashii. His expeditions of 1899, 1906 and 1929 count in total ca.15,000 specimens. In short, according to the specimens citied in Flora of Turkey, Bornmüller herborized at least 11 times in Anatolia, in the years 1886, 1889, 1890, 1891, 1892, 1893, 1899, 1906, 1910, 1911 and 1929, and collected ca. 20,000 specimens. The expeditions of 1889, 1890, 1899, 1906 and 1929 were especially destined for Anatolia. The Turkish specimens of Bornmüller are distributed to 36 herbaria in 17 countries, including the Herbarium of the Faculty of Science of Ankara University (ANK). Bornmüller was an active researcher. He produced between 1889-1941 at least 87 publications related to Turkish flora. He is commemorated by the genus Bornmuellera Haussk. (Cruciferae, 1897) which is represented in Turkey with 4 endemic species. There are in the Turkish flora at least 25 species named after him.

Key words: Flora of Turkey, botanical expeditions, collectors, Joseph Bornmüller, history of botany. Anahtar sözcükler: Türkiye florası, bitki toplamaları, toplayıcılar, Joseph Bornmüller, botanik tarihi.