Karl Mortitz Schumann (1851-1904)

No copyright (public domain)

This is the original edition of 1899 (supplement of 1903 not included). The first monograph devoted to cacti. 832 pages and 117 illustrations of various quality.

• Read online
• Download :
  • The pdf file containing both the original and an “interpreted text” (poor quality) can be downloaded from Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL)¹⁾ under the name mobot31753002553771.pdf (135 MB)²⁾.

Right: Leuchtenbergia principis, page 471.

No copyright (public domain)

This is one of the articles of Flora Brasiliensis by Martius, written by Schumann in 1890. 69 pages of descriptions in Latin together with 25 beautiful black and white plates. Although written 9 years before Gesamtbeschreibung der Kakteen, the plant descriptions are often more detailed, and the plates are much better.

• Read online in the reading room
• Download:
  • Interpreted file: Schumann_FloraBras.pdf (11.1MB; 2012-04-15)
  • Original file: Schumann_FloraBras_O.pdf (51.5MB; 2012-04-15)

Right: Opuntia brasiliensis.

No copyright (public domain)

On the occasion of a visit at Kew garden, Karl Schumann met Charles Darrah who proposed to publish an English translation of the key to the Cactaceae already published in German in Gesamtbeschreibung der Kakteen in 1898 (pages 46 to 56). The translation was made by Schumann himself and some “germanisms” are found here and there. However, this translation may be very helpful for non-German-speaking readers. All my thanks to Roberto Kiesling who scanned his original and cleaned the images. OCR was carefully done because of the numerous odd symbols that were used by Schumann.

• Read online in the reading room.
• Download (pdf with OCR): Schumann_KeysCactaceae.pdf (16.8 MB; 2022-04-12)