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Collecting localities

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

(Source: Flora Malesiana ser. 1, 8: Cyclopaedia of collectors, Supplement II)

Born: 1869, Bühler, SSE of St Gallen, Switzerland. Died: 1948, Reinach, Switzerland.

career:

Horticulturist-botanist at Reinach near Basel, pupil of Prof. Schröter. Evidently for some time Professor at the Technical College at Saõ Paulo, Brazil. He made a voyage to the Philippines in 1902/03; he himself¹ erroneously mentions autumn 1903 as the time he got the invitation (l.c. p. v). This is without doubt a mistake, as Merrill already mentioned his collecting in the Philippines (in 1902-03) in a paper which was published in Sept. 1903 (cf. Bull. Philip. Bur. Agric. no 4, 1903, p. 42). Besides, his visit to the Buitenzorg Gardens is mentioned in the report of that institution for 1903. He graduated on the results of his voyage. Later living at Reinach once more.

Selaginella usteri Hieron. (cf. Backer, Verkl. Woordenb., 1936), and some other plants were named after him.

Collecting localities:¹

End of 1902-03. Island of Labuan near NW. Borneo (half a day); Philippines, Luzon: Manila, and small trips in the environs; Cebu, making a trip to a small hill (the Lahu); proceeding by boat to Panay: Iloilo and trips to La Paz, Jaro, Pavia, Molo, Manduriao, Are valo and visit to Guimaras by boat; Negros: St Carlos, Talabe River, to the Val Hermoso (by boat), Castellana at the foot of Calaon Volcano; embarked at Pontevedra, sailing to Panay: Iloilo, making another 1-day trip to Guimaras; Luzon: Manila; Singapore, collecting in the Botanic Gardens and near the Kalang River; W. Java: Buitenzorg, Tjiapoes Kloof (G. Salak), Telaga Warna (lake), Sindanglaja, G. Gede-Pangrango, G. Tangkoeban Prahoe; voyage home via Penang and Colombo; in Oct. 1903 or previously, back in Switzerland.

collections:

 In ‘Museum Jpirange’, Saõ Paulo, Brazil [SP]; according to the collector himself duplicates might be present at Kew [K]; Herb. Manila [PNH]: dupl. Philip. plants (pres. 1903/04); Herb. Techn. Coll. Zürich (poor material). In total 1467 nos have been collected, evidently numbered after study. He identified them himself at Kew, assisted by the staff; they include many cryptogams, of which the Algae were especially elaborated.²

Also dupl. in Herb. Bot. Gard. Zürich [Z].

literature:

(1) A. Usteri: ‘Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Philippinen and ihrer Vegetation, mit Ausblicken auf Nachbargebieten’ (Thesis, Zürich 1905, p. 1-166, 2 pl., 29 fig.); ‘Beobachtungen über tropische Märkte’ (non vidi).

(2) By W. Schmidle in Hedwigia 43, 1904, p. 414-415 and in the cited thesis l.c. p. 136-139.

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