John Gossweiler

Johannes Gossweiler (24 December 1873,[1][2] in Regensdorf – 19 February 1952, in Lisbon[3][4]) aka John Gossweiler or João Gossweiler, was state botanist to the Government of Angola from 1899 until his death. He made important collections in every district of Angola and created the first phytogeographic map of that country. His collections of African plant specimens were sent regularly to Lisbon (Jardim Colonial[5] and Jardim Botânico da Universidade[6]), the British Museum,[7] the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and the University of Coimbra.[8] Duplicates were also kept at the Herbarium of the Instituto de Investigação Agronómica[9] in Angola. Today, many herbaria contain specimens he collected (see #Collections in herbaria).

John Gossweiler's 1939 phytogeographic map of Angola

Biography

Gossweiler studied horticulture in Zurich, Stuttgart and Dresden, later spending four years in London at the Royal College of Science in South Kensington, and 1897-98 at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. He was inspired by William Turner Thiselton-Dyer while at Kew, and went on to work for the government of Angola in the country's botanical garden in Luanda, where he remained until his death in 1952.

Arriving in Angola, Gossweiler found the garden far from complete, and started collecting in the coastal area around Luanda and the Malanje Plateau. In 1905 he studied the indigenous plant sources of rubber of the Ganguela and Bié Plateau regions and collected many novel plants along the Okavango River.

Phyllanthus cocumbiensis, Jean F. Brunel. Holotype at Herbarium Berolinense. Collected by John Gossweiler, 6 December 1946 at Cocumbi, Luanda, Angola. Leg.: J. Gossweiler 13937 (BD)

The 'Cazengo Colonial Garden', the botanical garden of which Gossweiler would be director, was finally ready by 1907. Located on the site of an abandoned plantation, Gossweiler stocked it with indigenous species and plants from Sri Lanka, Goa, Malaysia and Tropical America. His collection of pressed specimens steadily grew. In 1915/16 he worked in Subliali, Pango Munga, the rainforest region of Mayombe, and near the source of the Zanza River, where he was accompanied by his wife Martha.

Following World War I Gossweiler worked for the 'Fomento Geral de Angola' from 1919-1926, during which time he made substantial collections along the southern bank of the Congo River, in the Dembos region and at Quiçama. In 1927 Gossweiler rejoined the government service and worked at starting an experimental cotton station in Catete, travelling to Amboim in 1932 to investigate coffee plant diseases. His collections grew with plants from the mist forest south of Cazengo. He then spent some time in Portugal at the University of Coimbra and the Colonial Garden in Lisbon, working on his collections.

Gossweiler embarked on two more collecting expeditions in Angola. In 1937-8 he joined a pair of Portuguese botanists, Luis Carrisso and F.A. Mendonça of Coimbra University, and Arthur Wallis Exell of the British Museum, on an extensive expedition covering some 13,000 km. On this expedition Carrisso suffered a fatal heart attack. Despite his death, work carried on, the results adding considerably to the 'Conspectus Florae Angolensis' of which the first volume, consisting of 55 parts, was published between 1937 and 1951.[10] The other expedition was in 1947 when he collected in the forests of Dundo in the far north-east of Angola.

Gossweiler's collections amounted to some 14,000 specimens, and are housed at some of the world's important herbaria. "J. Gossweiler 14685 (BM)", a specimen of Anticharis aschersoniana, may be the last he collected (July 1950) that is preserved.[11]

In 1936 Gossweiler's services were recognised by the Portuguese government, which awarded him the 'Comenda da Ordem do Imperio Colonial'. In 1950 he was elected a Foreign Member of the Linnean Society of London for his contributions to systematic botany.[12][13]

Gossweiler died 1952 in Lisbon. In 1960, the Portuguese government granted his widow Marthe Gossweiler a life pension in recognition of his service to the country and for ceding his works to the country.[14]

A statue of Gossweiler is located in the park next to the regional museum of Dundo.[15] Two portraits of him were published in the 1950s.[16][17]

Collections in herbaria

Specimens Gossweiler collected can be found in the following herbaria:

Specimens collected by J. Gossweiler in herbaria
Abbr Name Location Country Specimens [18] Specimens online [19] Notes Refs
LUAI, LUA Luanda Herbarium Angola ? 0 Herbarium of the Instituto de Investigação Agronómica (LUA) transferred from Huambo Province to Luanda in 1995 Duplicates of specimen collected [20] [21]
LISC Herbário do Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical Lisbon Portugal 10800 Herbarium of Jardim Colonial (Lis.JC) or Centro de Botânica da Junta de Investigações Coloniais [22]
LISU Herbarium of Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciência Lisbon Portugal ? 0 The herbarium of Jardim Botanico da Universidade (Lis.U) or Herbário da Universidade de Lisboa (LISU) [23] [24]
BM British Museum of Natural History herbarium London United Kingdom 1500 Botany collection database of the Natural History Museum (now separated from the British Museum) [25]
COI University of Coimbra, Herbarium of the Department of Botany Coimbra Portugal 1200 [26]
K Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew herbarium Kew United Kingdom 800 [27]
National Herbarium of the Netherlands  (wd) Leiden Netherlands 650 [28]
Hérbier du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris Paris France 300 [29]
US United States National Herbarium Washington, D.C. United States 200 [30]
National Herbarium of Belgium Belgium 150 specimens from BM [31]
BD Herbarium Berolinense Berlin Germany 70 part of Berlin-Dahlem Botanical Garden and Botanical Museum [32]
MO Missouri Botanical Garden herbarium St. Louis, Missouri United States 60 [33]
GIBF-Sweden Sweden 10 [34]
Z, ZT Herbaria of the University and ETH Zurich Zürich Switzerland 6 [35]
Harvard University Herbaria  (wd) Cambridge, Massachusetts United States 5 [36]

The table includes the number of specimen viewable online, either directly or through JSTOR.[37]

Publications
  • Gossweiler, John (1918). Contribuição para o estudo da flora do Maiombe português: apontamentos sôbre algumas madeiras comerciais (in Portuguese). Luanda: Imprensa nacional de Angola.
  • Gossweiler, John; Arthur Wallis Exell; Ronald Good; Spencer Le Marchant Moore; S. Greves; Edmund Gilbert Baker (1926). Mr. John Gossweiler's Plants from Angola and Portuguese Congo. London: R. Hardwicke.
  • Alston, Arthur Hugh Garfit (1934). Mr. John Gossweiler's Plants from Angola and Portuguese Congo: Pteridophyta.
  • Gossweiler, John; Mendonça, F.A. (1939). Carta fitogeográfica de Angola : Memória descritiva dos principais tipos de vegetação da colónia determinados pelos seus aspectos fisiográficos e caracteres ecológicos segundo a nomenclatura de Rübel (in Portuguese). Ed. do Government Geral de Angola.
  • Gossweiler, John (1950). Flora exótica de Angola: nomes vulgares e origem das plantas cultivadas ou sub-espontâneas (in Portuguese). Luanda: Imprensa nacional.
  • Gossweiler, John (1953). Nomes indígenas de plantas de Angola (in Portuguese). Luanda: Impr. Nacional.

Archive materials are held by:

Eponymy

Further reading

Notes and references
  1. "Collector J. Gossweiler". Archived from the original on 2015-12-08. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  2. "Edit History: Letter from Johannes Gossweiler to Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; from Launda, Angola; 26 May 1911; one page letter comprising one image; folio 428 on JSTOR". plants.jstor.org. Retrieved 2017-10-20.
  3. "In Memoriam: John Grossweiler" (PDF). The Journal of the Kew Guild. 7 (59): 246–247. 1954. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-02-23.
  4. Gossweiler Johannes, von Regensdorf, gestorben am 19. Februar 1952 in Lissabon, 1955-1955 (archives of the Swiss department of Justice)
  5. The herbarium of Jardim Colonial (Lis.JC) or Centro de Botânica da Junta de Investigações Coloniais, became the Herbário do Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical (LISC).
  6. The herbarium of Jardim Botanico da Universidade (Lis.U) or Herbário da Universidade de Lisboa (LISU), now part of the Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciência.
  7. Botany collection of the Natural History Museum, London (now separated from the British Museum)
  8. The herbarium of the Department of Botany, University of Coimbra
  9. Now part of the Luanda Herbarium
  10. Conspectus Florae Angolensis. 1. Lisbon: Junta de Investigações Coloniais. 1937.
  11. BM000999744 in the Botany collection database of the Natural History Museum, London
  12. A.W. Exell, 1952, "John Gossweiler", Taxon, 1(6): 93-94
  13. A. Fernandes, 1954, "John Gossweiler (1873-1952)", Vegetatio, 4(5): 334-335
  14. "Decreto-Lei n.º 42833: Concede uma pensão vitalícia à viúva do botânico John Gossweiler". Archived from the original on 2014-02-22. Retrieved 2014-02-09.
  15. Tim Harris (2013): Botanical surveys in Angola Archived 2014-02-22 at the Wayback Machine. With photo.
  16. "À memória de John Gossweiler 1873 - 1952: Homenagem da Sociedade Broteriana" [Portrait of John Gossweiler] (PDF). Boletim da Sociedade Broteriana. 2 (in Portuguese). XXVI: 6. 1952. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-02-22.
  17. "Portrait of John Gossweiler". Conspectus Florae Angolensis (in Portuguese). 2. Lisbon: Junta de Investigações Coloniais. 1956. Frontispicio.
  18. Number of specimens physically held
  19. Records on specimens can be viewed online, numbers rounded
  20. Biorepository: Instituto de Investigação Agronómica
  21. Luanda Herbarium Archived 2009-04-16 at the Wayback Machine
  22. Specimens collected by J. Gossweiler in LISC
  23. Herbário das 'Ex-Colónias Portuguesas' (inclui Herbário de Gossweiler)
  24. Universidade dde Lisboa - Collections - Botânica
  25. Specimens collected by J. Gossweiler in the British Museum in the Botany collection database of the Natural History Museum, London
  26. Specimens collected by J. Gossweiler in the herbarium of the Department of Botany, University of Coimbra
  27. Specimens collected by J. Gossweiler in the Herbarium Catalogue of the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew
  28. Specimens collected by J. Gossweiler in the Nationaal Herbarium Nederland
  29. Specimens collected by J. Gossweiler in the Hérbier du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris
  30. Specimens collected by J. Gossweiler in the United States National Herbarium
  31. National Herbarium of Belgium Collector Search
  32. Digital specimen images at the Herbarium Berolinense
  33. Collector J. Gossweiler at Tropicos.org (Missouri Botanical Garden)
  34. Specimens collected by J. Gossweiler in GIBF-Sweden
  35. Specimens collected by J. Gossweiler in the Herbaria of the University and ETH Zurich
  36. J. Gossweiler in the database of Harvard University Herbaria
  37. Specimens collected by J. Gossweiler in JSTOR
  38. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-02-22. Retrieved 2014-02-08.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  39. Likely about him: John Gossweiler, 1899 (archives of the Swiss representation in London)
  40. Possibly about his wife: Martha Vieira Gossweiler. Régularisation de sa situation et acte de naissance., 1942-1946 (archives of the Swiss Representation in Lisbon) and Biens délaissés: Gossweiler Marta, 1977-1979 (archives of the Swiss Representation in Luanda)
  41. Correspondence with John Gossweiler in the Natural History Museum Archives, London.
  42. IPNI.  Gossw.
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