botany

Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) in the Indian Ocean is a biodiversity hot-spot, with over 3,000 endemic species of plants – not just native, but known only on the island. New to European science in the 1700s and 1800s, they are the focus of this university dissertation written by Professor Carl Peter Thunberg. In 18th- and 19th-century Europe, professors wrote the dissertations; the student’s job was to explicate and defend it and pay for its publication.

Cubeb, native to Java and Sumatra, is cultivated for its berries and oil and has been used for centuries in herbal medicine and as a flavoring⁠—similar to allspice or pepper⁠—in gin, chewing gum, and various other products. Mentioned in ancient Greek and Roman texts, as well as in the Arabian One Thousand and One Nights and The Travels of Marco Polo, the species is the focus of this university dissertation written by Professor Carl Peter Thunberg.

Named for the water nymph in Greek myth who was turned into a laurel tree, daphnes are a genus of 50-60 species of flowering shrubs native to Asia, Europe, and north Africa. Highly scented, they are a favorite garden plant, although the berries are poisonous. They are the focus of this university dissertation written by Professor Carl Peter Thunberg. In 18^th- and 19^th-century Europe, professors wrote the dissertations; the student’s job was to explicate and defend it and pay for its publication.

Figs form an ancient pan-tropical genus of over 850 species of trees and shrubs that are keystone species in rainforest ecosystems. They may have been the first plant cultivated by humans and play an important role in all of the major religions of the world. They are the focus of this university dissertation written by Professor Carl Peter Thunberg. In 18th- and 19th-century Europe, professors wrote the dissertations; the student’s job was to explicate and defend it and pay for its publication.

In 18th- and 19th-century Europe, it was standard practice for university professors to write their students' dissertations; the student's job was to explicate and defend the thesis. At the University of Uppsala (Sweden), first Linnaeus and then Thunberg, wrote hundreds of these botanical papers, usually focused on taxonomic and systematic matters — either describing and naming genera and species, or analyzing basic issues of classification. The Cullman Library holds dozens of the small, individually published papers, many of them housed in old acidic pamphlet-binders.

In 18th- and 19th-century Europe, it was standard practice for university professors to write their students' dissertations; the student's job was to explicate and defend the thesis. At the University of Uppsala (Sweden), first Linnaeus and then Thunberg wrote hundreds of these botanical papers, usually focused on taxonomic and systematic matters — either describing and naming genera and species or analyzing basic issues of classification. The Cullman Library holds dozens of the small, individually published papers, many of them housed in old acidic pamphlet-binders.

In 18th- and 19th-century Europe, it was standard practice for university professors to write their students' dissertations; the student's job was to explicate and defend the thesis. At the University of Uppsala (Sweden), first Linnaeus and then Thunberg wrote hundreds of these botanical papers, usually focused on taxonomic and systematic matters — either describing and naming genera and species or analyzing basic issues of classification. The Cullman Library holds dozens of the small, individually published papers, many of them housed in old acidic pamphlet-binders.

Hermann, a physician and botanist, traveled to Africa, India, and Ceylon in the service of the Dutch East India Company and later served as the director of the famous botanic garden at the University of Leiden. In this work he published detailed descriptions and illustrations of the garden's plants, organized in accordance with the classification system of the great pre-Linnaean systematist Joseph Tournefort, under whom Hermann had studied in Paris.

Burkart's Sammlung contains a brief text on European species of trees, including pines, firs, yews, oaks, willows, fruit woods, and others, but its glory is the 40 plates — one per species — consisting of actual wood samples in thin transverse, radial, and tangential cross-sections, held between layers of stiff-card boards with cut-outs so that one can see the wood grain when held up to the light. It is extremely scarce, with only 3 copies in U.S. libraries.