Paläobotanik

By the reorganisation of the Academy of Science in 1968 two old and high-ranked collections were fused to one of the most important paleobotanical collections in Europe. On the one hand there was the University with the important collections of i.e. Schlotheim, Cotta, Schönlein, on the other hand one find all the material collected by the mining-officials of Prussia since the beginning of the century (Geological Survey of Prussia) mainly formed by great Paleobotanists like Ch.E. Weiss, H. Potonié and W. Gothan. Therefore only one main paleobotanical collection exists in Berlin (there are minor collections in the Botanical Museum Dahlem and in the Geological Survey in Berlin-Spandau) in contrary to i.e. Vienna, Paris, London where you find the University-, National Museum- and Survey-collections. After world war II the collections were enlarged by some very valuable collections from the variscic basins of central Germany (collection Güldner, Gimm, Nindel a.o.) so you can find now big collections of carboniferous, cretaceous and tertiary fossil plant compressions in addition to an important collection of petrified wood. Moreover there is the most extensive collection of lower Permian plants in Germany. The Mesophytic plant collection of the Museum of Natural History, Berlin, consists of plant remains from the Triassic through the Late Cretaceous and is stored in about 30 cabinets of various sizes. In about 900 drawers, roughly 22,000 to 25,000 specimens, including many type and figuered specimens, are filed. Most of the material comes from middle Europe, especially Germany, but also from neighbouring countries, such as Poland, Czech Republic and Austria. The best represented time intervals, with large numbers of specimens, are late Triassic as well as early and late Cretaceous. Some parts of the collection date back to the early 19th Century. In the past, most of the indivi dual collections which had been acquired, were incorporated in the general collection, and filed by geological, geographical and taxonomic criteria. However, there have been some individual collections preserved, such as the "Schoenlein-Collection", the collection of Ruehle von Lilienstern, of the geographer Baron F. v. Richthofen (which comprises also Paleozoic materi al), and the more recent collection of H. Knappe. Last not least there is one of the most multifaceted collections of extant seeds in the world (carpological collection Mai).

1833-1836 F.A.Quenstedt created a catalogue of all the collections which is still available in our museum. 238 of the 429 listed Schlotheim-specimens are still existing, including 33 types (from 69 published in 1804 and 1820), and housed together in a special unit of the collection. Some of the types ever created in Paleobotany are preserved in the collections of the Museum: Asterophyllites equisetiformis, Alethopteris lonchitica, Callipteridium pteridium, Dicksonites pluckenetii, Ernestiodendron filiciforme, Lebachia piniformis, Lyginopteris bermudensiformis, Mastixia amygdaliformis, Nemejcopteris feminiformis, Odontopteris osmundaeformis, Scole copteris arborescens, Scolecopteris cyathea, Sphenopteris adiantoides, Ullmannia frumentaria. Since he was very interested in natural sciences in general, Schlotheim's collection comprises mainly paleozoological objects (with many originals) which are incorporated into the taxonomi cally cassified collections of the palaeozoological unit of the museum. History: Minister in the duchy Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha (today part of Thüringen) Ernst Friedrich von Schlotheim (1764-1832) was together with Kaspar count Sternberg looked upon as the founder of modern paleobotany. They were the first scientists who scientifically described the mor phology of fossil plants used consequently binomials, introduced by Linné 1753. Appointed to many offices - even he was the first postmaster of the duchy - Schlotheim was interested in many aspects of sciences, what is also shown in his publication 1820. Since 1827 he tried to sell his collections to the prussian government, but only after his death in 1833 the collection was bought by the prussian King for the collections of the very young University in Berlin by intervention of Alexander von Humboldt and Leopold von Buch, and was fused with the royal cabinet collection, founded by the minister of finance (also responsible for mining affairs) von Heinitz in 1781.

In one of the most important and valuable collections of our Museum - the collection Cotta - you will find specimens from different places all around middle Europe and Antigua. Many specimens come from Thüringen (mainly compressions from Manebach) and Sachsen (mainly polished petrified axes from theErzgebirge-basin), but also there are impressions from Hungary and northern Bohemia many of the latter became types by Rossmässler 1840. 49 Originals from 60 to 70 still remained, were revised by Knobloch, Konzalová and Kvacek in 1996 and are still available for further research. Further 32 types and figured specimens from Cotta, B. 1832 remained, a polished counterpart of every original described by Cotta, B. was sold by the Cotta family in the last century and is now stored in the collections of the Museum of Natural History, London. 7 types from Stenzel, K.G. 1864/65 and Felix, J. 1883 are preserved. Heinrich Cotta (1763-1844) was a high-ranked forest-officer in the Kingdom of Saxony who founded a famous academy of forestry. There he established a system of industrial forestry. By the way he was an enzyclopaedically educated scientist. Hardly interested in geological science he intensively collected, bought and exchanged fossils not only in Germany but also from England. He was acquainted with Ernst Friedrich von Schlotheim, who got some specimens from Cotta for his collection. Even specimens in the paleontological collection of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe are collected and donated by Cotta. In 1840 E.A. Rossmässler, professor of natural history at Cotta's academy and later very engaged liberal deputy in the National Assembly at the Pauls Church in Frankfurt 1848, examined the bohemian items from Staré Sedlo (Altsattel) in the collection and published "Die Versteinerungen des Braunkohlensand steins aus der Gegend von Altsattel in Böhmen". Therefore Rossmässler established the scienti fic Tertiary paleobotany in Germany. 1845 the "Königliche Petrefacten-Sammlung des Königli chen Mineralogischen Cabinets" bought the collection - once mare by intervention of Alexander von Humboldt - with nearly 5000 items (plants and animals). His paleontological collections from Tertiary to Carboniferous specimens - especially his excellent collection of silicified woods from the lower Permian of Germany - you will find in our museum.

The collection Mahr contains a multitude of excellent Rotliegend-specimens from Mane bach/Thüringen (before 1921 named "Kammerberg"), collected from the 4 or 7 different coal- seams with their slightly different back swamp association. Many of the specimens became the basis of the publications of Ch.E.Weiss and H.Potonié. Mahr J.C. himself or his son (K.H.Ph.B. Mahr, a mining-official like his father) - nobody knows - published 1869 Sphenophyllum thonii, a worldwide spreaded species from the lower Permian. The type and many interesting fossils from his Rotliegend-collection are still remained. History: The lokal mining-official of the Duke of Sachsen-Weimar Johann Christian Mahr (1787-1869) was very interested in Geologie and in the interpretation of fossils. 1821 for the first time he correspondended with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, by sending him some plant fossils, followed by 10 sendings in the next years always supported by the very interested Goethe. Indirectly by Goethe he collaborated on Sternberg's "Versuch einer geognostisch-botanischen Darstellung der Flora der Vorwelt" (1820). After Goethe's death 1832 we don't know anything on the history of the collection. But in 1876 we find Mahr's specimens in the collections of the mining academy Berlin (since 1872 incorporated in the Geological Survey of Prussia), where Ch.E. Weiss described some of them. Later they were an important basis on H. Potonié's "Flora des Rothliegenden von Thüringen" (1893).

This collection comprises about 150 -170 specimens, including about 10 type specimens of plant fossils from the late Triassic of northern Bavaria (Southern Germany) and is of historic, regional and taxonomic importance. It was one of the first well documented collections of Triassic plant material ever described scientifically from Germany (by Schenk, in Schönlein and Schenk 1865) and contains the description/discussion of two new horsetail taxa Calamites schoenleinii (now: Neocalamites schoenleinii) and Equisetites platydon (today considered synonymous to E. conicus.), as well as the new combination E. arenaceus, the most common fossil in the early Late Triassic strata of Southern Germany. History: Dr. Johann Lukas Schönlein (1793 -1864) was one of the most prominent doctors of the 1830s to 1840s in Germany, and was very interested in natural sciences in general. While studying and working at the Würzburg University (1813-1833), Schönlein collected many geological items, especially plant fossils from late Triassic strata of the Würzburg area. In order to publish part of his collection, he asked the artist C. Hohe to produce lithographic plates. These were of such excellent quality that the illustrations were used also by other authors (Brogniart, 1828-1837 and Seward, 1898). He donated his plant fossils partly to the University of Würzburg, but also to the University of Berlin, where he became Professor in 1839 and the personal doctor of the Prussian royal family. The fossils of the Würzburg collection did not, with very few exceptions, survive World War II. In Berlin the collection is still preserved, but has to be partly restored.

Brongniart, A. (1828-1837): Histoire des végétaux des fossiles.- 2 Vol., Paris, Amsterdam.- Reprint 1965, 572 p., 200 pl., Amsterdam.

Schoenlein, J. L. and Schenk, A. (1865): Abbildungen von Fossilen Pflanzen aus dem Keuper Frankens.- 22 p., 13 pl., Kreidel's Verlag, Wiesbaden.

Seward, A. C. (1898): Fossil plants for students of botany and geology.- Vol. I, 452 p., 111 ill.; Cambridge (University Press).

These fossil remains are nearly exclusively from the Triassic period of Thuringia, central Germany. Highlights of these collections are dinosour skeletons and other paleozoological objects, now all housed at the Museum of Natural History, Berlin. A large part of the collections are fossil plants from the late Triassic. Among these, the earliest Late Triassic period ("Lettenkohlenkeuper") is especially well represented. Overall, the plant collection includes approximately 1,500 pieces, some of extraordinary quality. History: Dr. R. von Lilienstern was a doctor at Bedheim (Thuringia) who collected and described many fossils by himself (v. Lilienstern, 1934 etc.).

Lilienstern, v. Rühle, H. (1934): Die Pflanzenwelt des unteren Keupers.- Mitteilungen der Gemeinde der Steinsburgfreunde, 2. Bd., 1933-1937, S. 12 - 22.

This collection had been gathered during the 1960s and 70s by H. Knappe, who studied this material in his Ph.D. thesis (1974) and later in cooperation with L. Rüffle (Knappe & Rüffle 1975a und b). It comprises exclusively late Cretaceous plant fossils from the area north of the Harz Mountains (Germany) near Quedlinburg. These plant fossils, some 2,500 pieces, including about 30 type and pictured specimens of mid Late Cretaceous (Santonian) age, are mostly twigs, leaves, flowers, cones and wood from ferns, cycads gymnosperms and angiosperms. Those plant remains, preserved in clay, show remarkable details of their anatomical structures, such as stomata of gymnosperm and angiosperm leaves.

Knappe, H. (1974): Beiträge zur Oberkreide-Flora von Mitteleuropa mit strukturbietenden Resten aus dem Subherzyn (Santon).- Dissertation, 90 S., 38 Taf., Humboldt-Universität, Berlin.

Knappe, H. & Rüffle, L. (1975a): Beiträge zu den Platanaceen-Funden und einigen Ham amelidales der Oberkreide.- Wissensch. Zeitschr. d. Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Math.-Nat. R. 24(4): 487-492, Berlin.

Knappe, H. & Rüffle, L. (1975b): Neue Monimiaceen-Blätter im Santon des Subherzyn und ihre phytogeographischen Beziehungen zur Flora des ehemaligen Gondwana-Kontinents.- Wiss. Zeitschr. d. Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Math. Nat. R. 24 (4): 493-499.