Hieracium

Vogt, Robert & Gottschlich, Günter, 2022, Ferdinand Tessendorff (1879 - 1924) and his Hieracium collection, Willdenowia 52 (1), pp. 83-90 : 85-86

The Hieracium collection

The status of Tessendorff’s Hieracium collection now located in the backlog of the Botanical Museum Berlin is unclear because it does not appear in the herbarium records and the specimens do not bear any information concerning their acquisition. Possibly the material was already on the premises of the Botanical Museum at the time of Tessendorff’s death and was not subsequently recorded. Furthermore, it would be conceivable that the material was relocated to a safe place after the fire disaster of 1943 and survived the Second World War outside Berlin as did the other, as yet unprocessed Hieracium collections of Karl Touton ( Vogt 1998), Hans Schack ( Vogt 1999) and Josef Bornmüller.

The collection comprises 565 specimens, including 11 type specimens of nine names described by Karl Hermann Zahn, who studied Tessendorff’s collections for his monumental treatments of the genus in Engler’s Das Pflanzenreich ( Zahn 1921 –1923) and in Ascherson & Graebner’s Synopsis der mitteleuropäischen Flora ( Zahn 1922 –1938).

The carefully prepared specimens were kept unmounted in covers. The information on the labels is meagre and normally without further details on locality or altitude in addition to the geographic information. Fig. 1 presents a selection of labels used by Tessendorff. There are two types of labels: simple field labels with brief information on place and date of collection in Tessendorff’s handwriting and the stamped addition “ F. Tessendorff.” ( Fig. 1A, B ) and blank labels with the printed headline “Museum botanicum Berolinense.” and the stamped footnote “leg. F. Tessendorff” into which Tessendorff himself ( Fig. 1C ) or later Berlin herbarium staff ( Fig. 1D ) entered the information by hand. Karl Hermann Zahn’s determination remarks and his signature “ Z ” can be found on nearly all specimens (e.g. Fig. 1A–D , Fig. 2 ) and it can be assumed that Tessendorff regularly submitted his collections to the monographer of the genus for identification. Zahn listed Tessendorff’s collection in his treatment for Engler’s Das Pflanzenreich among the Hieracium collections he had seen ( Zahn 1921 –1923: 1573). In view of the loss of Zahn’s herbarium at the end of the Second World War, the specimens in Tessendorff’s collection are of particular importance today.

The herbarium material was almost exclusively collected by Tessendorff himself in the time between 1902 and 1922 in Germany including the former eastern territories, as well as Italy, Austria and Switzerland. Specimens from the following areas are extant (year of collection in brackets).

GERMANY: BADEN-WÜRTTEMBERG: Freudenstadt (1921), Hohenzollern (1921), Kaiserstuhl (1916, 1918), Murgtal (1921), Neubreisach (1918), Schönmünzach (1921), Schwäbische Alb (1919), Schwarzwald (1910, 1919), Weingarten (1921); BAYERN: Banz (1919), Bayerischer Wald (1920), Berchtesgaden (1911), Fichtelgebirge (1922), Fränkische Schweiz (1916), Lichtenfels (1916, 1919), Vilshofen (1920), Würzburg (1910); BERLIN UND BRANDENBURG: Angermünde (1922), Grunewald / Berlin (1920), Botanischer Garten (1920), Buckow (1921), Chorinchen (1921), Diehloer Berge (1909), Erkner (1920), Freienwalde (1919), Fürstenberg (1909), Glindow (1920), Hoppegarten (1921), Jahnberge (1909), Joachimsthal (1921), Liepnitzsee (1921), Luckow, Mittenwalde (1909), Müncheberg, Niederfinow (1910), Niemegk (1922), Oranienburg (1919), Potsdam (1908), Rüdersdorf (1920, 1921), Spandau (1921), Sperenberg (1919, 1921), Tegeler Forst (1920), Uckermark (1916), Werbellinsee (1921), Zossen; MECKLENBURG-VORPOMMERN: Usedom (1921); HARZ (NIEDERSACHSEN UND SACHSEN-ANHALT): Altenau (1922), Benneckenstein (1922); HESSEN: Braunfels (1922), Limburg/ Lahn (1921, 1922); RHEINLAND-PFALZ: Altenbamberg (1916), Bad Dürkheim (1914, 1916), Bad Ems (1921), Bad Kreuznach (1909, 1911, 1912, 1921, 1922), Balduinstein (1922), Braubach am Rhein (1921), Heidesheim-Ingelheim (1904), Höchstenbach (1922), Katzenelnbogen (1922), Oberlahnstein (1921); SACHSEN: Hoyerswerda (1916); SACHSEN-ANHALT: Altmark (1915), Havelberg (1911), Stendal (1908, 1919); THÜRINGEN: Altenberg (1922), Berka (1916), Blankenburg (1919), Kyffhäuser (1921); WESTERWALD: (1921); NOT LOCATED: Rosental (1902), Weidental (1908). — AUSTRIA: Kärnten (1911), Salzburg (1911), Tirol (1911). — BELARUS: leg. Bothe (1918). — FRANCE: Mülhausen [Mulhouse] (1918), Vogesen (1910, 1911). — ITALY: Friaul (1911), Görz [Gorizia] (1912), Triest [Trieste] (1912). — LITHUANIA: Kurische Nehrung [Kuršių nerija]. — POLAND: “WESTPREUSSEN”: Bellinchen [Bielinek] (1916), Briesen [Wąbrzeźno] (1910), Drausensee bei Elbing [Druzno near Elbląg] (1908, 1910, 1920), Eylau [Iława] (1919), Kulmsee [Chełmża] (1908), Löbau [Lubawa] (1919), Marienburg [Malbork] (1920); “OSTPREUSSEN”: Allenstein [Olsztyn] (1919), Miswalde [Myślice] (1919), Nikolaiken [Mikołajki] (1920), Sensburg [Mrągowo] (1920); “ POMMERN ”: Bublitz [Boblice] (1920), Rummelsburg [Miastko] (1920), Swienemünde [Świnoujście] (1921), Stettin [Szczecin] (1922); “ SCHLESIEN ”: Glatz [Kłodzko] (1922), Neurode [Nowa Ruda] (1922), Riesengebirge [Karkonosze] (1910), Strehlen [Strzelin] (1922). — RUSSIA: “OSTPREUSSEN”: Insterburg [Tschernjachowsk, ЧерНЯХовск] (1919), Kurische Nehrung [Kurschskaja kossa, КуршскаЯ коса] (1919). — SWITZERLAND: Simplon (1912), Wallis (1911, 1912), Graubünden (1912), St. Gotthard (1913).

Only few specimens from other collectors are included: H. Bothe, K. Hahn, H. Preuss, E. Rebholz and F. Roemer. Exsiccata are not present.

Index herbariorum ( Vegter 1988) indicated Berlin ( B) and Geneva ( G) as the herbaria housing plant material collected by Tessendorff. The duplicate specimens of Tessendorff’s Russian plant collections presented to Johannes Abromeit in Königsberg [Kaliningrad] were destroyed in the Second World War.

Figures

Fig. 1. A–D: Labels used in the Hieracium collection of Ferdinand Tessendorff. Locality information and date written in A–C by F. Tessendorff, in D by Berlin herbarium staff. The determination particulars come from K. H. Zahn, who additionally signed the labels of the specimens he saw with a “Z”.

Fig. 2. Holotype of Hieracium murorum subsp. koserovense Zahn (B [B 10 0673426]) with handwritten determination particulars of K. H. Zahn.