Jiří Neustupa:
Two hundred years of Prodromus of plant systematics

Abstract

The year 2024 marks the 200th anniversary of the commencement of the publishing of one of the most fundamental works of plant systematics, namely Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis. The spiritual father and founder of this series was the Genevan botanist Augustin Pyramus de Candolle (1778–1841). The present study briefly examines his intellectual development and his relationships with Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744–1829). It also discusses the concept of a “natural system” in De Candolle’s conception. It then examines the process of publishing the successive volumes of Prodromus, especially after the leadership of the series was taken over by Augustin’s son, Alphonse Louis Pierre Pyramus de Candolle (1806–1893), and eventually by his grandson, Anne Casimir Pyramus de Candolle (1836–1918)

Language: czech

Keywords: Augustin De Candolle; Geneva herbarium; history of botany; plant systematics