Микология и фитопатология, 2021, T. 55, № 1, стр. 67-70

MYCOLOGICAL HERITAGE OF JOHANN BUXBAUM. 1. FUNGI DESCRIBED IN THE FIRST “CENTURIA” ISSUE (1728)

I. V. Zmitrovich 1*, A. K. Sytin 1**

1 Komarov Botanical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences
197376 St. Petersburg, Russia

* E-mail: iv_zmitrovich@mail.ru
** E-mail: astragalus@mail.ru

Поступила в редакцию 1.09.2020
После доработки 10.10.2020
Принята к публикации 19.11.2020

Полный текст (PDF)

Аннотация

The mycological heritage of Johann Christian Buxbaum is still little explored, but this issue has not only a great historical interest. In recent taxonomy, there is a tendency to splitting of “linneones” species complexes and in some cases it becomes justified even to appeal to pre-Linnean authors. The corpus of remarkable Buxbaum’s drawings is still waiting for monographs in mycology field. The purpose of opened notices series is draw an attention of mycologists to figures of Buxbaum’s “Centuria”. In the first “Centuria” issue (1728) we can find descriptions and illustrations of five fungal species: 1) Agaricus barbatus flavescens, 2) Agaricus gelatinosus, parte prona erinaceus, 3) Fungus erinaceus parvus in conis Abietis deiectis nascens, 4) Fungus parvus albus deiectis abietis nascens, 5) Lycoperdon magnum globosum, pulpa granulata, radice crassa. The analysis of descriptions and original drawings made it possible to correlate these descriptions with 5 modern agaricomycetes species: Hericium cirrhatum, H. erinaceus, Auriscalpium vulgare, Baeospora myosura, and Lycoperdon excipuliforme. The nomenclature of these taxa is presented and their homogeneity is preliminary estimated in the light of current data.

Keywords: Auriscalpium, agaricomycetes, Baeospora, botanists of the 18th century, drawings of fungi, Hericium, Lycoperdon, morphology, nomenclature

Johann Christian Buxbaum (1693–1730), naturalist and explorer of southeastern Europe, Asia Minor, and the Caucasus, was the first academician botanist of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. He was born in Merseburg (Saxony). In 1721, under the direction of Heinrich Bernhard Ruppius (1688–1719), J.C. Buxbaum published in Halle his pioneering work entitled “Enumeratio plantarum precision in agro Hallensi locisque vicinis crescentium”. This essay was commended by experts, and therefore, when Peter the Great turned to the venerable German physician Friedrich Hoffmann with a request to recommend a botanist capable of studying the Russian flora, J.C. Buxbaum was named the most worthy. Invited by the Medical College to St. Petersburg in the same 1721, the 28-year-old scientist took an active participation in organizing the botanical garden, lectured on botany to medical students, and made extensive botanic excursions collecting plants and fungi in St. Petersburg vicinities.

As a physician and naturalist, Buxbaum went to Constantinopolis in 1724 as part of the Russian embassy under the command of Count Alexander Rumyantsev. According to the instructions by great physician Laurence Blumentrost, he had to carry out thorough research, paying particular attention to medicinal plants. The full-time draftsman, painter Johann Christian Mattarnovi with his assistant apprentice was assigned to him. J.C. Buxbaum’s reports were published in the proceedings of the Academy of Sciences “Commentarii Academiae Scientiarum Petropolitanae”.

The report of the Academy of Sciences of August 27, 1727, proclaims: “Johann Christian Buxbaum, Professor of botany, the first centuria of new herbal species collected in his Turkish foray submits under Academy of Sciences attention; he also puts in order other things and began to write the natural history of Prussia, Livonia, and Ingria, concerning specially to the proper herbs”.

A total of 5 “Centuria” (sets on 100 species) under the title “Plantarum minus cognitarum centuria circa Byzantium et in Oriente observatos” were published by the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Basically, they describe and well illustrate the vascular plants associated with various habitats of North Africa, the Eastern Mediterranean, and South Russia. But among these several species of mosses, lichens, algae, and fungi were scattered, whereas their drawings were made with amazing for their time and sometimes almost photographic accuracy.

The archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg contains materials that formed the sources material for Buxbaum’s “Centuria” engraving. First of all, these are drawings made directly during the expedition by Johann Christian Mattarnovi. They are made in watercolors on paper without watermarks and have a preliminary outline drawn in pencil. The image of a shadow falling from a natural object is very characteristic. Some of the sources were made in the form of copies after the expedition. They are done in watercolors using tempera and other pigments, usually on paper already with watermarks. Apart from Johann Christian Mattarnovi, this work could also have been done by Dorothea Maria Gzell. The engravings from these drawings on a copper plate, due to the imperfection of this technique, in no way conveyed all the charm of the original drawings when replicating, but they also accurately captured the shape of objects of the plant world (Sytin, 2004).

The mycological heritage of Johann Christian Buxbaum is little explored till now, but this has not only a great historical interest. In recent taxonomy, there is a tendency splitting of “linneones” species complexes and in some cases it becomes justified even to appeal to pre-Linnean authors. The corpus of remarkable Buxbaum’s drawings is still waiting for monographs in mycology field.

The purpose of the presented notice series is to draw an attention of monographs to the corpus of drawings of Buxbaum’s “Centuria”. In the first “Centuria” issue (Buxbaum, 1728) we can find descriptions and illustrations of 5 species of fungi (in pre-Linnean polynomial nomenclature). This notice is devoted to the analysis of these descriptions and illustrations (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1.

Engravings from drawings to Buxbaum’s “Centuria” I (Buxbaum, 1728) published within a book tables: a – Agaricus barbatus flavescens (Hericium cirrhatum in modern taxonomy); b – Agaricus gelatinosus, parte prona erinaceus (Hericium erinaceus in modern taxonomy); c – Fungus erinaceus parvus in conis Abietis deiectis nascens (Auriscalpium vulgare in modern taxonomy); d – Fungus parvus albus ex conis Abietis deiectis nascens (Baeospora myosura in modern taxonomy); f – Lycoperdon magnum globosum, pulpa granulata, radice crassa (Lycoperdon excipuliforme in modern taxonomy).

1. Agaricus barbatus flavescens – p. 35, tab. LVI, Fig. I.11

“Adnascitur castaneis mollis et spongiosus, interior substantia albicans, superficies vero tota innumeris aculeis concavis instar Fungi erinacei, multo tamen longioribus flavescentibus cingitur. Cordiformis fere figurae barbar aliquatenus refert, hinc nomen barbati imponere plaquit. In Thracia prope pagum Belgrad collegi Autumno”.

Сurrent status. Based on figure shape and description (laterally attached lingulate fruit body, covered with teeth not only from the side of the hymenophore, but also from the upperside, spongy consistency and surface and tissue color), the hydnoid agaricomyete Hericium cirrhatum (Agaricomycetes, Hericiaceae, Russulales), without any doubts, is presented here.

Post-linnean synonymy: Hericium cirrhatum (Pers.) Nikol., Acta Inst. Bot. Acad. Sci. USSR Plant. Crypt., Ser. II 6: 343, 1950. ≡ Hydnum cirrhatum Pers., Neues Mag. Bot. 1: 109, 1794. = H. corrugatum Fr., Observ. mycol. 2: 269, 1818. = H. diversidens Fr., Syst. mycol. 1: 411, 1821. = H. paradoxum Schultz, Prodr. Fl. Starg.: 492, 1806.

Modern monograph: Stalpers (1996).

Note. Possessing a known reserve of modification variability, the species is quite stable at the micromorphology level. At present, no prerequisites for this taxon splitting are seen.

2. Agaricus gelatinosus, parte prona erinaceus – p. 36, tab. LVI, Fig. II.

“Noti sunt Agarici lamellati, porosi et utrisque destituti, qui vocantur membranacei. Hic exhibemus aliam Agarici speciem, quae loco lamellarum aut poporum appendiculis aculeatis instar linguae vitulinae exasperatur, et Fungum erinaceum I. B. iuniorem refert. Color est dilute coeruleus aut purpurascens antiquarum Alnorum truncis adnascitur Autumno”.

Сurrent status. The characteristic capitate fruiting body covered with downward-facing teeth, a rather cartilaginous-fleshy-waxy consistency and variations in the base of the marsh coloration (with a blue tinge or purplish-brownish when cut), make it possible to unequivocally identify Hericium erinaceus (Agaricomycetes, Hericiaceae, Russulales).

Post-Linnean synonymy: Hericium erinaceus (Bull.) Pers., Comm. fung. clav. (Lipsiae): 27, 1797. ≡ Hydnum erinaceus Bull., Herb. Fr. 1: tab. 34, 1781. = Martella echinus Scop., Annus hist.-nat. 4: 151, 1770. = Manina cordiformis Scop., Diss. sci. nat., Edn 1: 97, 1772. = Hydnum hystricinum Batsch, Elench. fung.: 113, 1783. = H. caput-medusae Bull., Herb. Fr. 9: tab. 412, 1789. = Clavaria conferta Paulet, Traité champ. 2 (Index): 427, 1793. = Hericium hystrix Pers., Comm. fung. clav.: 27, 1797. = Hericium grande Raf., Ann. Bot. 1: 237, 1813.

Modern monograph: Stalpers (1996).

Note. Like H. cirrhatum, the species is outwardly polymorphic, but micromorphologically rather constant. Many old authors used the noun as a species epithet (echinus, hystrix, erinaceus), and these names were sanctioned by Fries (1821) as separate species. The name Agaricus gelatinosus J.F. Gmel., Syst. Nat. 2 (2): 1429, 1792 is currently is connected to another agaricomycete species, Crepidotus mollis (Schaeff.) Staude, Schwämme Mitteldeutschl. 25: 71, 1857 (Agaricales, Crepidotaceae).

3. Fungus erinaceus parvus in conis Abietis deiectis nascens – p. 36, tab. LVII, Fig. I.

“Fuscus est et hirsutus, cuius pediculus non in mediam insteritur capitulum, sed in margine, spinulae molles albicantes loco lamellarum sub capitulo prominent. Occurrit in cones deiectis Abietis rubrae Autumno”.

Сurrent status. A spiny hymenophore, hard consistency, brown pubescent pileus and stipe, coupled with a characteristic habitat on a fallen cone, undoubtedly indicate on Auriscalpium vulgare (Agaricomycetes, Russulales, Auriscalpiaceae).

Post-Linnean synonymy: Auriscalpium vulgare Gray, Nat. Arr. Brit. Pl. 1: 650, 1821. = Hydnum auriscalpium L., Sp. pl. 2: 1178, 1753. = Hydnum fechtneri Velen., České Houby 4–5: 746, 1922.

Modern monograph: Stalpers (1996).

Note. Till now, no any prerequisites for splitting of this taxon.

4. Fungus parvus albus ex conis Abietis deiectis nascens – p. 36–37, tab. LVII, Fig. II.

“Intra squimas putrescentis coni ex media costa, cui squamae adherent, provenit ex multis radiculis fibrosis, deinde secundum squamae tractum flexus, quando ex illa exit, se erigit, totus albus et tener, creberrimis sultus instructus lamellis. Quae lamellae non statim circa oras capituli incipiunt, sed marginem aliquem relinquunt, nec terminantur in pediculum et triplicis sunt magnitudinis. Color capituli interdum subfuscus, ut et in pediculo. Tortuosus nonnunquam radicibus uncialibus aut longioribus instruitur, quae tamen in cono terra operto radicantur. Occurrit passim Augusto”.

Сurrent status. The small-sized fleshy (not dry, like in Marasmius s.l.) fruiting bodies, the convex, but not bell-shaped (like in Mycena) and not funnel-shaped (like in Omphalina s.l.) brownish pileus, coupled with the habitat on the fallen cone, undoubtedly indicate on Baeospora myosura (Agaricomycetes, Agaricales, Marasmiaceae).

Post-Linnean synonymy: Baeospora myosura (Fr.) Singer, Revue Mycol., Paris 3: 193, 1938. ≡ Agaricus myosurus Fr., Observ. mycol. 2: 129, 1818. = Marasmius varicosus Fr., Epicr. syst. mycol.: 376, 1838. = Collybia friesii Bres., Iconogr. Mycol. 5: tab. 214, 1928.

Modern monograph: Maas Geesteranus, Horak (1995).

Note. According some data (Hutchinson et al., 2012), here can be hidden the species complex.

5. Lycoperdon magnum globosum, pulpa granulata, radice crassa – p. 37, tab. LVIII.

“Radix solida, lutea, multis soveis nigricante mucore repletis distincta, inferius in ramos spongiosos et tandem in reticulum definit. Huic radici insistit globus magnus, coloris nigricantis fusco permixti, valde sordidus, cuius pulpa, si nempe iunior, tota ex granis albicantibus, materia mucida nigro fusco colore digitos inficiente turgidis, constat. Fatiscit tandem in pulverem more reliquorum Lycoperdorum, folidiorem tamen et magis compactum, qui quadantenus pulverem sternutatorium Hispanicum in pyxide adhuc compressum refert. Sub arena primo latet, uti Tubera, deinde prorumpit et cum parte radicie eminet. Scrobium arenosarum margines amat Octobri. Collegi propi Astracanum, occurrit etiam in Ingria”.

Сurrent status. Somewhat swollen base of the fruit body, together with a pronounced head, a characteristic longitudinal depressions, the color range of the medial stages of peridium degradation, clearly indicate on Lycoperdon excipuliforme (Agaricomycetes, Agaricales, Lycoperdaceae).

Post-Linnean synonymy: Lycoperdon excipuliforme (Scop.) Pers., Syn. meth. fung. 1: 143, 1801. ≡ L. polymorphum var. excipuliforme Scop., Fl. Carniol. 2: 488, 1772. = L. boletiforme Batsch, Elench. fung.: 149, 1783. = L. saccatum Vahl, Fl. Danic. 7: tab. 1139, 1794.

Modern monograph: Moyersoen, Demoulin (1996).

Note. This is a moderately variable, rather a good species with stable nomenclature. However its generic position stays unstable till now.

Subsequent notes will focus on mycological material of “Centuria” II–V.

The work was supported by the RFBR grant (N 20-011-42010) and the State Research Task N AAAA-A19-119020890079-6.

Список литературы

  1. Buxbaum J.C. Plantarum minus cognitarum. Centuria I. Plantas circa Byzantim et in Oriente observatos. Typographia Academiae, Petropolis, 1728.

  2. Fries E.M. Systema mycologicum, sistens fungorum ordines, genera et species, huc usque cognitas, quas ad normam methodi naturalis determinavit, disposuii atque descripsit. V. 1. Gryphiswald, 1821.

  3. Hutchinson L.J., Kropp B.R., Hausner G. Baeospora occidentalis, a new snowbank agaric from western North America. Mycoscience. 2012. V. 53. P. 139–143.

  4. Maas Geesteranus R.A., Horak E. Mycena and related genera from Papua New Guinea and New Caledonia. Bibltheca Mycol. 1995. V. 159. P. 143–229.

  5. Moyersoen B., Demoulin V. Les Gastéromycètes de Corse: taxonomie, écologie, chorologie. Lejeunia. 1996. V. 152. P. 1–128.

  6. Stalpers J.A. The aphyllophoraceous fungi II. Keys to the species of the Hericiales. Stud. Mycol. 1996. № 40. P. 1–184.

  7. Sytin A.K. Botanical drawings of the Peter the Great Kunstkamera and J.C. Buxbaum. In: The “Painted Museum” of the Petersburg’s Academy of Sciences. 1725–1760. T. 2. European House, St. Petersburg, 2004. P. 123–125.

  8. Сытин А.К. (Sytin) Ботанические рисунки Петровской Кунсткамеры и И.Х. Буксбаум // “Нарисованный музей” Петербургской академии наук. 1725–1760. Т. 2. СПб.: Европейский дом, 2004. С. 123–125.

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