Student+Subjects+Ethnobotany+2014-2015

Student's subjects in Historical Ethnobotany at Naturalis, Leiden University, Huygens ING

Several student subjects are available for the period 2014 and 2015 for MSc and BSc students Biology. Candidates must have successfully passed the course Plant Families of the Tropics (starts at Monday 5 January 2015). All subjects are in the field of Botanical History, which means that during this internship you will be:
 * deciphering historic texts on plant collections
 * identifying century-old plant collections or drawings
 * analyzing 17th to 19th century traditional uses and vernacular names

The following subjects are available: The Hermann Ceylon collections, The Ceylon Icones, The Herbaria of Simone D'Oignies, and the correspondence of Clusius on the Leiden Hortus Botanicus. The Clusius project should be done by a Dutch-speaking student. Interested in one of the subjects? contact Tinde.vanAndel@naturalis.nl See below for more information per project


 * The Hermann Ceylon collection at Leiden: two 17th century herbaria of Sri Lankan plants. ** Naturalis / Leiden University

Background and context: Paul Hermann (1646-1695) made one of the earliest scientific collections of plant specimens from Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon), where he was medical officer to the Dutch East India Company between 1672 and 1677. Although largely restricted to plants from the area around Colombo, and including a number of foreign introductions in gardens, the collection is nevertheless of great scientific importance. Hermann’s Ceylon collections were studied by Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) and formed the basis of his Flora Zeylanica (1747). The collection contained many plants new to Linnaeus, and thus the Hermann Ceylon herbaria are very rich in Linnaean type material. After his return to Europe, Hermann took up the chair of Botany at the University of Leiden in 1679 where he spent the rest of his life. Most of Hermann’s Ceylon collections are kept at the Natural History Museum in London, and available in digitized form on the web.

Naturalis also houses a substantial collection of Hermann's Sri Lankan material, which was never studied directly by Linnaeus, but undoubtedly contains many isotype specimens for Linnaean names. One volume is kept at the treasure room of Naturalis, the other at the Boerhaave Museum. Many of the ca. 150 collections are accompanied by a text in Latin and/or a vernacular name in 17th century Singalese. The two volumes will soon be digitized in the framework of the Time Capsule project. A description of Hermann’s Ceylon collection in Leiden was provided by van Ooststroom (1937), but not all plants were identified and many scientific names are now outdated. No research was done on the Latin texts, the vernacular names and uses that accompanied the collections.

Methods and aims: By using the digitized herbarium vouchers, historical and modern literature, this MSc project aims to identify the plants in the two volumes of the Hermann herbarium and trace back their current use in Sri Lanka. A website will be constructed with all digital files of the Hermann herbarium.

Research questions: 1) Which plants are present in the two volumes of the Hermann herbarium? 2) To what extent do they reflect the collections kept at the Natural History Museum in London? 3) Do the species in the two herbaria represent useful plants? 4) Are the species still known under the 17th century vernacular names and used in Sri Lanka today?

The outcome of this MSc project will be a manuscript written in English for publication in a scientific journal (e.g., Taxon or Economic Botany).

Requirements: Course Plant Families of the Tropics, Naturalis / UL, January 2015. Familiarity with Sri Lanka or Singalese language is appreciated.

Literature: van Ooststroom, S.J. 1937. Hermann's collection of Ceylon plants in the Rijksherbarium (National Herbarium) at Leyden. Blumea, Suppl. 1: 193-209. Rice, A.L. 1999. Voyages of Discovery: three centuries of natural history exploration. Chapter 2: Surveying Ceylon 1672-1757. Paul Hermann, Johan Gideon Loten & Pieter de Bevere, pp. 56-89. London. Jayaweera, 1981–1982. Medicinal plants (indigenous and exotic) used in Ceylon, Parts 1-5 National Science Council of Sri Lanka, Colombo. Trimen, Henry. "Hand-book to the flora of Ceylon." (1895). van Andel, T., Veldman, S., Maas, P., Thijsse, G., & Eurlings, M. (2012). The forgotten Hermann Herbarium: A 17th century collection of useful plants from Suriname. Taxon, 61(6), 1296-1304. [] [] [|http://medicinalplantsofsrilanka.blogspot.nl] []

======================================================================================================================


 * The Ceylon Icones ( ****//Plantarum Malabaricarum icones// ****)** **in the Leiden University library ** BSc / MSc project Naturalis / Leiden University

The University library of Leiden University houses a collection of over 200 drawings of medicinal plants (hand-painted watercolor) made by an anonymous artist. All drawings a digitized. They depict medicinal plants from Sri Lanka, probably from the northern part of the island Next to the drawings, there are hand-written texts on local names and uses of these plants (in Dutch, fairly good readable).

Methods and aims: By using the digitized drawings, modern plant collections from the Naturalis herbarium, historical and modern literature, this BSc project aims to identify the plants in the two volumes of Ceylon icones and trace back their current use in Sri Lanka.

Research questions: 1) Which plants are present in the drawings? 2) What type of medicinal uses are described for these plants? 3) Are these species still known under the 17th century vernacular names and used in Sri Lanka today?

The outcome of this project will be a manuscript written in English for publication in a scientific journal (e.g., Taxon or Economic Botany).

Requirements: Course Plant Families of the Tropics, Naturalis / UL, January 2015. Familiarity with Sri Lanka or Singalese language is appreciated.

One of the plant drawings of the Ceylon Icones.


 * The Herbarium of Simone D’Oignies (1870). MSc internship Biology ** Naturalis / Leiden University

Background and context: The botanical treasure room of Naturalis Biodiversity Center houses a six-volume herbarium, made by a certain Simone D’Oignies (1870). Although the first page of the book mentions that D’Oignies was an army doctor, we know very little about this 18th century amateur botanist. His books, however, contain hundreds of well-preserved herbarium collections, probably made in Dutch botanical gardens, given the high proportion of ornamental plants Several species, however, are of American, South African or Asian origin. These were probably grown by botanical gardens as exotic medicinal plants.

Scientific names are listed under the majority of these species, probably by D’Oignies himself, but most names are outdated and it is also likely that many species are also misidentified. The historic herbaria of Naturalis have recently been cleaned and restored. The entire six volumes of the herbarium D’Oignies will soon be digitized by Naturalis in the framework of the Time Capsule project, in order to make it available for scientific research.

Methods and aims: By using the digitized herbarium vouchers, archives, historical and modern literature, this MSc project aims to identify the plants in the six volumes of the D’Oignies herbarium and trace back its origin. A website will be constructed will all digital images of the six volumes.

Research questions:

1) Which plants are present in the six volumes of the herbarium of Simone D’Oignies? 2) Which of these species are of tropical origin? 3) Do the tropical species in the D’Oignies herbarium represent medicinal plants? 4) Who was Simone D’Oignies are where did he collect his specimens?

The outcome of this MSc project will be a manuscript written in English for publication in a scientific journal (e.g., Taxon or Economic Botany). Requirements: Course Plant Families of the Tropics (Naturalis / UL), January 2015.

Literature: [] [] Gravendeel, B., Baas, P. & Smets, E. 2012. Herbaria In Nederland: van blijvend belang voor het behoud van biodiversiteit. // GEWINA/TGGNWT //, // 30 // (3), 153-161. Thijsse, G. 2007. ‘Historische herbaria van het National Herbarium Nederland’, Teylers Magazijn, 94. van Steenis-Kruseman, M. J. (1979). The collections of the Rijksherbarium'. // Blumea //, // 25 // (1), 29-55. Scott, G, and M L Hewett. 2008. “Pioneers in Ethnopharmacology: The Dutch East India Company (VOC) at the Cape from 1650 to 1800.” Journal of Ethnopharmacology 115 (3): 339–360. []

=
=======================================================================================================
 * Stagiaire (masterniveau) voor publicatieproject rondom de zestiende-eeuwse botanicus Carolus Clusius aan het [|Huygens ING] (dus niet bij Naturalis)**

Omschrijving project: Het Huygens Instituut voor Nederlandse Geschiedenis (Den Haag) en de Hortus botanicus Leiden zijn op zoek naar een stagiaire die gedurende 3 maanden (in deeltijd is langer mogelijk) wil meewerken aan een publicatieproject rondom de zestiende-eeuwse botanicus Carolus Clusius. In 2015 bestaat de Hortus botanicus van de Universiteit Leiden 425 jaar. Dit vormt de aanleiding om een jaar lang aandacht te besteden aan de oprichter van de tuin, de geleerde Carolus Clusius (1526-1609).

Aan het Huygens ING, afdeling wetenschapsgeschiedenis, wordt gewerkt aan de digitale publicatie van de correspondentie van Clusius. Deze brieven zijn geschreven door tientallen personen uit verschillende sociale lagen, van vorsten tot apothekers, van geleerden tot tuinlieden, mannen en vrouwen. De bedoeling is om begin 2015 een deelpublicatie van de brieven online te zetten en om die in (12) maandelijkse blogs op de websites van het Huygens ING en de Leidse Hortus te belichten. Je taken zijn dus tweeledig:

1. Assisteren bij het klaarmaken van de digitale publicatie van een deel van de Clusiusbrieven: - Meedenken over de selectie van de brieven - Systematisch nakijken van de metadata van de brieven - Meeschrijven aan de teksten voor de website bij de digitale publicatie - Je werkt daarvoor in een door het Huygens ontwikkelde digitale editietool (eLaborate) en in Wordpress.

2. Zelf samenstellen van 12 blogs voor de websites van de Hortus botanicus Leiden en het Huygens ING. -In overleg met de projectleden bepalen van interessante onderwerpen (planten, brieven, correspondenten). -Onderzoek doen voor die stukjes. -Schrijven van 12 blogs.

Je wordt bij je werkzaamheden geholpen door de wetenschapshistorici van het Huygens ING en medewerkers van de Leidse Hortus. medewerkers van de Leidse Hortus. De werkzaamheden vinden plaats aan het Huygens ING in Den Haag. Bij voorkeur tussen november en maart 2015.

Eisen:

-Interesse in vroegmoderne (wetenschaps-)geschiedenis -Interesse in digitale tools-Goede passieve talenkennis; de brieven zijn o.a. in het Latijn, Frans, Duits, Spaans. -Vlotte pen

Meer informatie bij de projectleider: Dr. Esther van Gelder: esther.van.gelder@huygens.knaw.nl