The early botanical exploration of Albania (1839-1945)

Abstract

The botanical exploration of Albania in its modern sense started in the mid-nineteenth century with the collections and publications of A. Grisebach, E. Weiss and C. Grimus von Grimburg, who followed the road from Prizren to Shkoder or were active in the hinterland of the harbours on the Adriatic Sea. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, A. Baldacci, N. Kosanin and I. Dorfler laid the foundations of the floristic knowledge of Albania, focusing their attention on northern Albania and the coastal regions. A considerable amount of collecting was undertaken during the First World War by people commissioned by or active for the foreign powers occupying the country, with the major results published by A. Hayek in Vienna and S. Javorka in Budapest. In the interwar period, F. Markgraf concentrated his floristic research on central Albania, although his work remained uncompleted. Even during the Second World War, collecting and publishing on the flora of Albania did not come to a stop. However, in the mid-twentieth century considerable areas of Albania remained totally unknown botanically, in particular in the southern part of the country. This contribution gives a detailed and critical overview of the botanical exploration of Albania from 1839 until 1945 with emphasis on the collecting routes, the widely scattered herbarium record and the interdependence of field work and the political (and military) situation in the country.