Botanical Geography in Galicia: The Early History

Botanical geography (or phytogeography as it would later be termed) was a science that came to prominence in the nineteenth century that studied the distribution of plants across the earth's surface. In these early phases of their works, practitioners of botanical geography were governed more by practical considerations than by consistent theory or methods. Having emerged from collection practices, the goal to exhaustively catalogue a territory’s species outweighed systematic explication of the patterns of distribution. 

During the Urban Seminar, Jared Warren will present his research project that revolves around the emergence of the science of botanical geography in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century in the Habsburg Monarchy and its successor states. The researcher will focus on the early decades of this science in Austrian Galicia, where an interest in botanical geography began to emerge in the aftermath of the 1848 revolutions, and seek to contextualize this material against the larger aims of the project.

Analyzing the work of three Habsburg naturalists active in Galicia—Felix Berdau, Franciszek Herbich, and Jan Jacek Hiacynt Łobarzewski—researcher will demonstrate how the study of different geographies and collections produced differing practices of botanical geography.

This Seminar will be held in a workshop format. Researchers are invited to discuss scholarly projects, research at various stages of development, and completed research that is being prepared for publication.

Participation in the Urban Seminar requires preliminary reading and discussion of the researcher's text. If you would like to join the Seminar, please email Maryana Mazurak (m.mazurak@lvivcenter.org), and we will send you the materials in advance.

Credits

Cover Image: Szarotka alpejska, 1905 / Polona