On December 15, 1868,Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius (1794 1868), Professor of Botany at the University of Munich and director of the Royal Botanic Garden, was carried to his grave in a coffin covered with fresh palm leaves. The fronds were a reference to his groundbreakingNatural History of Palms: a work in three volumes, published between 1823 and 1853.This encyclopedic treasury of240 exquisite chromolithographic illustrationswas based on von Martius s expeditions through Brazil and Peru. From 1817 to 1820, he traveled over2,250 km (1,400 miles) through the Amazon basinto investigate natural history and native tribes with zoologist Johann Baptist von Spix.The result was anunrivaled catalogue of all known genera of the palm family, outlining the modern classification of palms, describing all the palms of Brazil, and producing thefirst maps of palm biogeography. Von Martius s folio is unusual in its inclusion of cross-sectioned diagrams, conveying the architecture of these mighty trees, which central Europeans would have found hard to imagine accurately. Equally remarkable are the color landscapes showing various palms often standing alone insimple and elegant beauty.
