AUTHOR: Boerhaave, Herman (1668-1738) TITLE: Index alter plantarum quae in Horto academico Lugduno-Batavo aluntur conscriptus ab Hermanno Boerhaave... IMPRINT: Lugduni Batavorum: J. Vander Aa, 1727. COLLATION: 2 v.: 39 pl.; 24 cm. HOLDINGS: v. 2 only. NOTES: Reissue of 1720 ed. with new t.p. First published in 1710. “Boerhaave’s first catalogue of plants in the Leiden botanic garden. When Boerhaave took over as professor of botany at Leiden in 1709, he found that there was no catalogue of plants in the garden. He therefore hastily compiled [the first edition of] the above index, which contains about 4000 species.” — Watson, Plants and Gardens: a spring miscellany, 1995 “Boerhaave's great catalogue of plants in the leiden botanic gardens, in which some 5,846 species are described. The work is the sequel to the 1710 catalogue, which contained descriptions of ca 3700 plants. The work is prefaced with a brief history of the gardens, which Boerhaave became curator of in 1709. Between his appointment and the appearance of the present work he added some 2000 new species of plants, many being South African and North American. The Hunt catalogue describes the Index as ‘a monumental work... provided with generic descriptions, correlated polynomial specific names, detailed synonymy and engraved plates. The general arrangement derives from Hermann, Ray and Tournefort but has its own features... of interest as the last comprehensive work with generic descriptions published before Linnaeus’ Genera plantarum of 1737’ (Hunt Catalogue II part I pp. liv-lv). The plates depict newly discovered species, including 24 proteas. These were based on paintings Boerhaave had obtained from Jan Hartog, superintendent of the Company’s garden at the Cape. These were later used by Weinmann in his Phytanthoza iconographia (Ratisbon 1737-45). The paintings are now in the Rijksherbarium, Leyden (see M. Gunn and L. E. Codd, Botanical exploration of South Africapp. 41-43).” — William Patrick Watson, Catalogue 12: Science, Medicine, Natural History, 2002 “Boerhaave's second catalogue of plants in the Leiden botanical garden at the University of Leiden, superseding the provisional version published in 1710. The Index alter was ‘...a monumental work of very different character, provided with generic descriptions, correlated polynomial specific names, detailed synonymy and engraved plates... Historically the Index alter is of interest as the last comprehensive work with generic descriptions published before Linnaeus's Genera Plantarum of 1737.” (Hunt II/1, pp. liv-lv) Many species from North America and South Africa were added to this work. 24 of the plates are of proteas.” — Raymond M. Sutton, Jr., Bulletin 154: Natural History REFERENCES: Bibliographia Boerhaaviana 413; Stafleu & Cowan 593; Veendorp and Baas Becking. The development of the gardens of Leyden University 1937, chapter V, and no. 36; Lindeboom 436; Nissen BBI 186; KEYWORDS: 1. Rijksuniversiteit te Leiden. Hortus botanicus. LOCATION: QK77.R5B672 1727