LedermannCL

Career

Collecting localities

Collections

Literature

Biographical data

Ledermann, Carl Ludwig

(Source: Flora Malesiana ser. 1, 1: Cyclopaedia of collectors)

(Source: Flora Malesiana ser. 1, 5: Cyclopaedia of collectors, Supplement I)

Born: 1875, Cernier near Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Died: 1958, in hospital at Volkach near Würzburg, buried at Untereisenheim, Germany.

career:

Horticulturist, was educated at Heidelberg and in the Netherlands, and was trained in gardening. From 1904-09 he stayed in West Africa (Congo and Cameroons), in the employ of the Botanic Garden at Victoria (Cameroons West); botanist attached to a German expedition (see below) under command of A. Stollé, the expenses being paid by the ‘Reichskolonialamt’ (Dept of Colonies), by the Berlin Royal Museum and by the ‘Deutsche Kolonial-Gesellschaft’. In the following years (1913-14) he travelled in the Carolines and the Palau Islands. In 1914 he returned to Europe and, although of Swiss nationality, he volunteered in the German army. After World War I he lost his savings as a result of the inflation. For some time advisor on cotton culture to Pascha Mohammed Ali in Egypt. In the thirties he was taken in by a befriended family with whom he moved to Untereisenheim near Würzburg in 1939.

In 1930, when having a severe depression he destroyed his correspondence, diaries, etc., as being too personal. What was left, including two collecting books from the South Sea and some unfinished MSS, will be sent to the Herbarium Berlin-Dahlem now.

Litsea caroli Tesch. and other plants were named in his honour.

Collecting localities:

Kaiserin Augusta-Fluss Expedition (or Sepik Expedition), 1912-13,¹ in former Kaiser-Wilhelmsland, NE. New Guinea: Madang (Friedrich-Wilhelmshafen) (mid-Febr. 1912); ascending the Kaiserin Augusta River or Sepik in the ‘Komet’ (end of Febr.), making bivouac above Main (March 3); Peilungsberg (coll. nos 6881-6939); march to Zuckerhut (Apr. 16-22) (nos 7031-7127); setting out (Apr. 28) to Pioniers bivouac of Leonh. Schultze’s expedition, with the intention to explore the southern tributaries of the Sepik; Maifluss (= Mai River), 9-day tour by motor-launch, ascent of the Pfingstberg (400 m alt.); Friedafluss and ascent of a hill of 300 m alt.; Aprilfluss (June 9-19) and ascent of the Pyramide (500 m alt.); navigation on Leonhard Schultze-Fluss (June 21-29) and ascent of the Schichtberg; headquarters at Malu (July); ascending the Sepik and the ‘Schwarze Flüszchen’ (= black rivulet) to the ‘Seerosensee’ (Water-lily Lake), from where passing a steep ridge in Hunstein Valley to the base of Hunsteinspitze; Hunsteinspitze (1350 m alt.) (nos 8150-8534); environs of Malu and Aprilfluss (Sept. 3-23) (nos 8536-8843); passing the Kamelsrücken (24) to the Etappenberg (850 m alt.), staying a month (nos 8864-9595); passing the Bambusberg (600 m) to bivouac 18 (165 m alt., on a tributary of the Aprilfluss) (Nov.); a fortnight-stay in bivouac 18 (nos 9602-9854); Lordberg (1000 m alt.) (Dec.) (nos 9861-10378); headquarters at Malu (Christmas-Febr. 10, 1913) (-no 10906); march to Hunsteinspitze (Febr. 1 ]-March 17), 17 days’ stay on the summit (nos 10907-11526); ill (March 29-May 20), transported to Friedrich-Wilhelmshafen; from Malu to the Töpferfluss, from where to the Lehmfluss; Regenberg, Schraderkette (_= Range), Hollrungberg (1500 m) (between 1800 and 2200 m alt. coll. nos 11577-12220); back at Malu (end of June); Hügellager (= hill bivouac) Sepik (nos 12252-12350) and Felsspitze (nos 12352-13131) (July 8-Aug. 29), ascending the Sepik to above Mdanderberg; breaking camp (early in Sept.) and back to Friedrich-Wilhelmshafen and Europe, visiting Tjibodas (W. Java) in April 1914.

collections:

Herb. Berl. [B]: 6639 nos of siphonogams ‘Sepik Exp.’ (nos 6469-13134; partly specified in the itinerary), Algae,² Fungi, lichens, Musci, and 39 nos of material in alcohol in the Show Mus. Berl.

His collection was the main basis for the ‘Beiträge zur Flora von Papuasien’ (Engl. Bot. Jahrb. 1912→).³

Duplicates in Herb. Leiden [L]: 494 nos from New Guinea; Herb. Kew [K]: N.G. plants (pres. 1923); Herb. Sing. [SING]; some dupl. of grasses in U.S. Nat. Herb. Wash. [US]. Evidently also dupl. in Herb. Edinb. [E].

Besides in New Guinea, he made collections in the Congo (1904-06), Cameroons (1908-09), in the Carolines and Palau Islands (1913-14).

literature:

(1) C.L. Ledermann: ‘Einiges von der Kaiserin Augusta Fluss Expedition 1912’ (Engl. Bot. Jahrb. 55, 1919, Beibl. 4, Ber. Freien Ver. f. Pflanzengeogr. u. syst. Bot., p. 33-44).
cf. also Zeitschr. Ges. Erdk. 1912, p. 377-379, 457-459; l.c. 1913 p. 138-145, 298-301, 561-563, 638-640, 713-719; l.c. 1914, p.249-277, with maps; l.c. 1924, Erg. Heft 1, with maps; Tijdschr. K.N. A.G. 1913, p. 543-547; Mitt. Deutsch. Schutzgeb. 1917, Erg. Heft 12, with map.
(2) Cyanophyceae by P. Frémy in Ann. Crypt. Exot. 5, 1932, p. 190-197, 10 fig.
(3) cf. also E. Ulbrich: ‘Zwei neue Hibiscus-Arten aus Neu Guinea’ (Notizbl. Berl. Dahl. 14, 1939, p. 367-368).

biographical data:

Backer, Verkl. Woordenb., 1936 (sub caroli); H. Hirsch, Bot. Inst., Würzburg, in litt., 21.2.’58.

	Career Collecting localities Collections Literature Biographical data
	Ledermann, Carl Ludwig
	(Source: Flora Malesiana ser. 1, 1: Cyclopaedia of collectors) (Source: Flora Malesiana ser. 1, 5: Cyclopaedia of collectors, Supplement I)
	Born: 1875, Cernier near Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Died: 1958, in hospital at Volkach near Würzburg, buried at Untereisenheim, Germany.
	career: Horticulturist, was educated at Heidelberg and in the Netherlands, and was trained in gardening. From 1904-09 he stayed in West Africa (Congo and Cameroons), in the employ of the Botanic Garden at Victoria (Cameroons West); botanist attached to a German expedition (see below) under command of A. Stollé, the expenses being paid by the ‘Reichskolonialamt’ (Dept of Colonies), by the Berlin Royal Museum and by the ‘Deutsche Kolonial-Gesellschaft’. In the following years (1913-14) he travelled in the Carolines and the Palau Islands. In 1914 he returned to Europe and, although of Swiss nationality, he volunteered in the German army. After World War I he lost his savings as a result of the inflation. For some time advisor on cotton culture to Pascha Mohammed Ali in Egypt. In the thirties he was taken in by a befriended family with whom he moved to Untereisenheim near Würzburg in 1939. In 1930, when having a severe depression he destroyed his correspondence, diaries, etc., as being too personal. What was left, including two collecting books from the South Sea and some unfinished MSS, will be sent to the Herbarium Berlin-Dahlem now. Litsea caroli Tesch. and other plants were named in his honour.
	Collecting localities: Kaiserin Augusta-Fluss Expedition (or Sepik Expedition), 1912-13,¹ in former Kaiser-Wilhelmsland, NE. New Guinea: Madang (Friedrich-Wilhelmshafen) (mid-Febr. 1912); ascending the Kaiserin Augusta River or Sepik in the ‘Komet’ (end of Febr.), making bivouac above Main (March 3); Peilungsberg (coll. nos 6881-6939); march to Zuckerhut (Apr. 16-22) (nos 7031-7127); setting out (Apr. 28) to Pioniers bivouac of Leonh. Schultze’s expedition, with the intention to explore the southern tributaries of the Sepik; Maifluss (= Mai River), 9-day tour by motor-launch, ascent of the Pfingstberg (400 m alt.); Friedafluss and ascent of a hill of 300 m alt.; Aprilfluss (June 9-19) and ascent of the Pyramide (500 m alt.); navigation on Leonhard Schultze-Fluss (June 21-29) and ascent of the Schichtberg; headquarters at Malu (July); ascending the Sepik and the ‘Schwarze Flüszchen’ (= black rivulet) to the ‘Seerosensee’ (Water-lily Lake), from where passing a steep ridge in Hunstein Valley to the base of Hunsteinspitze; Hunsteinspitze (1350 m alt.) (nos 8150-8534); environs of Malu and Aprilfluss (Sept. 3-23) (nos 8536-8843); passing the Kamelsrücken (24) to the Etappenberg (850 m alt.), staying a month (nos 8864-9595); passing the Bambusberg (600 m) to bivouac 18 (165 m alt., on a tributary of the Aprilfluss) (Nov.); a fortnight-stay in bivouac 18 (nos 9602-9854); Lordberg (1000 m alt.) (Dec.) (nos 9861-10378); headquarters at Malu (Christmas-Febr. 10, 1913) (-no 10906); march to Hunsteinspitze (Febr. 1 ]-March 17), 17 days’ stay on the summit (nos 10907-11526); ill (March 29-May 20), transported to Friedrich-Wilhelmshafen; from Malu to the Töpferfluss, from where to the Lehmfluss; Regenberg, Schraderkette (_= Range), Hollrungberg (1500 m) (between 1800 and 2200 m alt. coll. nos 11577-12220); back at Malu (end of June); Hügellager (= hill bivouac) Sepik (nos 12252-12350) and Felsspitze (nos 12352-13131) (July 8-Aug. 29), ascending the Sepik to above Mdanderberg; breaking camp (early in Sept.) and back to Friedrich-Wilhelmshafen and Europe, visiting Tjibodas (W. Java) in April 1914.
	collections: Herb. Berl. [B]: 6639 nos of siphonogams ‘Sepik Exp.’ (nos 6469-13134; partly specified in the itinerary), Algae,² Fungi, lichens, Musci, and 39 nos of material in alcohol in the Show Mus. Berl. His collection was the main basis for the ‘Beiträge zur Flora von Papuasien’ (Engl. Bot. Jahrb. 1912→).³ Duplicates in Herb. Leiden [L]: 494 nos from New Guinea; Herb. Kew [K]: N.G. plants (pres. 1923); Herb. Sing. [SING]; some dupl. of grasses in U.S. Nat. Herb. Wash. [US]. Evidently also dupl. in Herb. Edinb. [E]. Besides in New Guinea, he made collections in the Congo (1904-06), Cameroons (1908-09), in the Carolines and Palau Islands (1913-14).
	literature: (1) C.L. Ledermann: ‘Einiges von der Kaiserin Augusta Fluss Expedition 1912’ (Engl. Bot. Jahrb. 55, 1919, Beibl. 4, Ber. Freien Ver. f. Pflanzengeogr. u. syst. Bot., p. 33-44). cf. also Zeitschr. Ges. Erdk. 1912, p. 377-379, 457-459; l.c. 1913 p. 138-145, 298-301, 561-563, 638-640, 713-719; l.c. 1914, p.249-277, with maps; l.c. 1924, Erg. Heft 1, with maps; Tijdschr. K.N. A.G. 1913, p. 543-547; Mitt. Deutsch. Schutzgeb. 1917, Erg. Heft 12, with map. (2) Cyanophyceae by P. Frémy in Ann. Crypt. Exot. 5, 1932, p. 190-197, 10 fig. (3) cf. also E. Ulbrich: ‘Zwei neue Hibiscus-Arten aus Neu Guinea’ (Notizbl. Berl. Dahl. 14, 1939, p. 367-368).
	biographical data: Backer, Verkl. Woordenb., 1936 (sub caroli); H. Hirsch, Bot. Inst., Würzburg, in litt., 21.2.’58.