Charles Joseph La Trobe collected plant specimens on his travels in Europe, North America, Mexico, West Indies and Port Phillip (now known as the State of Victoria). He sent the specimens to the Neuchâtel Museum and to his friend Pastor Studer in Erlenbach, Switzerland.
Today the specimens are held by the following institutions:
University of Neuchâtel (NEU) website specimens
During his extended visits to Neuchâtel from 1824 La Trobe was in contact with members of the scientific community who were interested in developing the collections at the Neuchâtel Museum. The items he provided during his travels were recorded in ‘New acquisitions to the Museum’ in the Mémoires of the Société des sciences naturelles de Neuchâtel. The plant specimens were transferred to the Herbarium of the Institute of Biology of the University of Neuchâtel (NEU) in 1918. (Only a small proportion of the large collection is indexed.)
New York Botanical Garden (NY) website specimens
The specimens in the Herbarium of the New York Botanical Gardens (NY) were sent by La Trobe to his friend Pastor Studer, who forwarded them to Carl Meissner in Basel. The Meissner Herbarium was acquired by the New York Botanical Garden in 1895.
Geneva Botanical Gardens (G-DC) website specimens
The specimens in the Herbarium of the Geneva Botanical Gardens (G-DC) were sent by La Trobe to his friend Pastor Studer. Studer wrote to Alphonse de Candolle in Geneva in September 1845, sending plants.
Natural History Museum, London (BM) website specimens
The specimens in the Natural History Museum, previously the British Museum (Natural History), are part of the Shuttleworth Collection which was acquired by the museum in 1877. Two of the specimens were collected by La Trobe in America in 1832-3 and may have been given by La Trobe to Shuttleworth when he visited Studer’s parsonage at Erlenbach with Shuttleworth in 1835.
Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne (MEL) website specimen
There is only one specimen collected by La Trobe held by the Herbarium at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne – Veronica perfoliata. Ferdinand Mueller wrote on the specimen sheet that it was collected by the ‘illustrious Governor La Trobe’.
Australian National Herbarium, Canberra (CANB) website specimen
| Current Botanical Name | Location & Date Collected |
Current Location & Reference |
Image click to enlarge |
Notes |
| Acacia acinacea | Port Phillip 1842 |
NEU 294565 |
 |
To Studer who forwarded it to Neuchâtel Museum. Named Acacia latrobei by Meissner, but it had previously been classified Acacia acinacea by Lindley. |
| Acacia acinacea | Australia | NEU 294568 |
 |
Named Acacia latrobei by Meissner, but it had previously been classified Acacia acinacea by Lindley. |
| Acacia melanoxylon | Port Phillip | NEU | Mentioned by Meissner in Plantae Preissianae, Vol.1, p.18. | |
| Bossiaea endlicheri | Port Phillip | NEU | Mentioned by Meissner in Plantae Preissianae, Vol. 1, p.84. | |
| Commelina verginica | North America (amer.Sept) 1832-1833 | NEU 227719 |
 |
To Neuchâtel Museum 1835. |
| Correa cordifolia | Port Phillip (Nov. Holl.) 1843 | NEU 342751 |
 |
|
| Daviesia virgata | Port Phillip | NEU | Mentioned by Meissner in Plantae Preissianae, Vol.1, p.56. | |
| Dillwynia (Xeropetalum) cinerascens | Port Phillip | NEU | Mentioned by Meissner in Plantae Preissianae, Vol. 1, p.63. | |
| Dillwynnia filifolia | Port Phillip | NEU | Mentioned by Meissner in Plantae Preissianae, Vol. 2, p.215. | |
| Dillwynnia peduncularis | Port Phillip | NEU | Mentioned by Meissner in Plantae Preissianae, Vol. 2, p.215. | |
| Ervum hirsutum | Port Phillip | NEU | Mentioned by Meissner in Plantae Preissianae, Vol. 1, p.89. [Syn Vicia hirsuta (Tiny vetch), an environmental weed in Victoria and Western Australia. Meissner comments this is undeniably imported from Europe.]. | |
| Eupatorium altissimum | North America (amer.Sept) 1832-1833 |
NEU 236833 |
 |
To Neuchâtel Museum in 1835. |
| Eupatorium aromaticum | North America (amer.Sept) 1832-1833 |
NEU 236819 |
 |
|
| Eupatorium diffusum | Les Antilles 1837 |
NEU 236935 |
 |
To Studer. Forwarded to Neuchâtel Museum in 1850. |
| Eupatorium sinuatum | St Domingue Ameriq 1838 |
NEU 236994 |
 |
To Neuchâtel Museum. |
| Goodia lotifolia | Port Phillip | NEU | Mentioned by Meissner in Plantae Preissianae, Vol. 1, p.88. | |
| Grevillea ilicifolia | Port Phillip | NEU | Mentioned by Meissner in Plantae Preissianae, Vol. 2, p. 259. | |
| Grevillea latrobei | Port Phillip (Nov. Holl.) 1842 |
NEU 60730 |  |
Named by Meissner. |
| Hakea ulicina | Port Phillip | NEU | Mentioned by Meissner in Plantae Preissianae, Vol.1, p.575. | |
| Heliotropium fruticosum | Jamaica 1837 |
NEU 205926 |
 |
To Studer. Forwarded to Neuchâtel Museum 1850. |
| Kennedya ovata | Port Phillip | NEU | Mentioned by Meissner in Plantae Preissianae, Vol. 1, p.94. | |
| Kennedya prostrata | Port Phillip | NEU | Mentioned by Meissner in Plantae Preissianae, Vol. 1, p.90. | |
| Latrobea genistoides | NEU | To Neuchâtel Museum. | ||
| Liatris pycnostachya | USA 1832 |
NEU 242585 |
 |
To Neuchâtel Museum 1835. |
| Pimelea cluytioides | Port Phillip District 1843 |
NEU | |
Mentioned by Meissner in Plantae Preissianae, Vol. 2, p.271. |
| Pimelea curviflora | Port Phillip | NEU | Mentioned by Meissner in Plantae Preissianae, Vol. 1, p.607. Listed with Pimelea myriantha. | |
| Pimelea glauca | Port Phillip | NEU | Mentioned by Meissner in Plantae Preissianae, Vol. 1, p.607. Listed with Pimelea myriantha. | |
| Pimelea octophylla | Port Phillip 1844 |
NEU 354300 |
 |
To Neuchâtel Museum. |
| Pimelea phylicoides | Port Phillip 1843 |
NEU | Mentioned by Meissner in Plantae Preissianae, Vol. 2, p.271 | |
| Platylobium obtusangulum | Port Phillip 1842 |
NEU 244741 |
 |
Classified by Meissner. Originally Platylobium macrocalyx. |
| Tecoma latrobei | NEU 204818 |
 |
Named by Mueller, but previously named Tecoma australis (Brown 1810). Now Pandorea pandorana (Steenis 1928). | |
| Viminaria denudata | Port Phillip | NEU | Mentioned by Meissner in Plantae Preissianae, Vol. 1, p.57. | |
| Zichya latrobeana | NEU | Mentioned by Meissner in Plantae Preissianae, Vol. 1, p.94. Named by Meissner. | ||
| Acacia acinacea | Australia, Victoria | NY 1646 |
 |
To Studer who forwarded it to Meissner in 1852. Named Acacia latrobei by Meissner. Label mentions that it had been named A. acinacea by Lindley. |
| Aotus virgata | Victoria (Nov.Holl; austr) | NY 5151 |
 |
To Studer who forwarded it to Meissner in 1852. Specimen on left of sheet. |
| Bossiaea prostrata | New Holland, Australia | NY 6228 |
To Studer who forwarded it to Candolle in 1845. | |
| Caladenia patersonii | Victoria (N. Holland) | NY 4012579 |
 |
To Studer who forwarded it to Meissner in 1852. |
| Drosera peltata | Victoria (Nov.Holl; austr) | NY 3839580 |
 |
To Studer who forwarded it to Meissner in 1852. |
| Drosera planchonii | Victoria (New Holland) | NY 3839597 |
 |
To Studer who forwarded it to Meissner in 1852. |
| Glossodia major | Victoria (N. Holland) | NY 4092568 |
 |
To Studer who forwarded it to Meissner in 1852. |
| Glossodia minor | Victoria (N. Holland) | NY 4092572 |
 |
To Studer who forwarded it to Meissner in 1852. |
| Hakea ulicina var. macrocarpa | Victoria, Port Phillip | NY 1043326 |
||
| Helichrysum leucopsideum | Victoria (Nov.Holl; austr) | NY 179181 |
 |
To Studer who forwarded it to Meissner in 1852. Specimen on left of sheet. |
| Liatris punctata var. nebraskana | America, Arkansas | NY 3043181 |
 |
Forwarded to Meissner by Charpentier in 1839 |
| Pimelea phylicoides | Port Phillip 1843 |
NY 386351 |
 |
To the Neuchâtel Museum. Godet then sent it to Meissner in 1845. |
| Amperea spartioides | Port Phillip | G-DC G00313962 |
 |
To Studer who forwarded it to Candolle in 1845. Specimen on right of sheet. |
| Geranium solanderi | G-DC G00304522 |
To Studer who forwarded it to Candolle in 1845. | ||
| Grevillea buxifolia | Port Phillip | G-DC G00327635 |
 |
To Studer who forwarded it to Candolle in 1845. Specimen at bottom right of sheet. |
| Grevillea latrobei | Port Phillip | G-DC G00327616 |
 |
To Studer who forwarded it to Candolle in 1845. Mentioned by Meissner in Plantae Preissianae, Vol. 1, p.539. |
| Grevillea latrobei | G-DC G00389257 |
 |
To Studer who forwarded it to Candolle in 1845. Label: ‘Gathered by M Latrobe. Given to the Botanical Conservatory by Pastor Studer‘. | |
| Hardenbergia violacea | G-DC G00087620 |
To Studer who forwarded it to Candolle in 1845. | ||
| Kennedia prostrata | G-DC G00087937 |
To Studer who forwarded it to Candolle in 1845. | ||
| Pimelea glauca var. major | Port Phillip | G-DC G00130616 |
 |
To Studer who forwarded it to Candolle in 1845. Specimen on left of sheet. |
| Ricinocarpus pinifolius | Port Phillip | G-DC G00313798 |
 |
To Studer who forwarded it to Candolle in 1845. |
| Wissadula rostrata | Australia | G-DC G00163059 |
To Studer who forwarded it to Candolle in 1845. | |
| Gompholobium huegelii | Victoria 1844 |
BM BM000550619 |
 |
Possibly direct to Shuttleworth. Acquired by British Museum in 1877. |
| Liatris scariosa | America, Missouri 1832 |
BM BM000810222 |
 |
To Studer. La Trobe may have given it to Shuttleworth in 1835. Acquired by British Museum in 1877. Specimen on right of sheet. |
| Phaseolus diversifolius | America, Louisiana 1832/33 |
BM BM013710137 |
 |
To Shuttleworth in 1835. Acquired by British Museum in 1877. |
| Unknown | Unknown | BM BM000567376 |
||
| Veronica perfoliata | Port Phillip, Loddon 1850 |
MEL MEL21691 |
 |
|
| Glycine latrobeana | Port Phillip 1841 |
CANB on loan from NY |  |
To Neuchâtel Museum. Forwarded by Godet to Meissner in 1845. Classified by Meissner as Zichya latrobeana. Renamed Glycine latrobeana by Bentham. |
Studer
Pastor Samuel Studer lived with his family in a parsonage in Erlenbach south of Neuchâtel on Lake Thun. La Trobe stayed with the family while in Switzerland and throughout his travels he sent seeds and plants to Pastor Studer. Studer forwarded these specimens to scientists in Switzerland, including many to the botanist Meissner.
Meissner
Carl Meissner, Professor of Botany for nearly forty years at the University of Basel, studied La Trobe’s collections in Basel, Neuchâtel, and Geneva. He had a great interest in Australian flora, describing and classifying hundreds of Australian species. As well as naming some specimens collected by La Trobe after him, Acacia latrobei and Grevillea latrobei, Meissner created and named a new genus ‘Latrobea’ after ‘the honorable Mr Latrobe, governor of the colony of Port Philipp, an energetic explorer of its Flora which was hitherto unknown to Botany.’ [1] Studer sent many La Trobe specimens to Meissner, whose personal herbarium was transferred on permanent loan to the New York Botanical Garden in 1895.
De Candolle
Alphonse Pyramus de Candolle was a French-Swiss botanist, professor of natural history at the University of Geneva. Samuel Studer sent some seeds collected by La Trobe in the West Indies to de Candolle in Geneva in April 1839, and in September 1845 Studer sent ‘plants, from Melbourne or from Port Philipp – plants I owe to the friendship of Monsieur Latrobe’. [2]
Shuttleworth
La Trobe met British-born but Bern-based botanist Robert James Shuttleworth, at Studer’s house in June 1835. [3] Shuttleworth’s personal herbarium of more than 150,000 specimens of flowering plants was acquired by the British Museum in 1877. [4]
Mueller
Ferdinand Mueller was appointed Victorian Government Botanist by La Trobe in 1853 and was later Director of the Melbourne Botanic Gardens. A great botanical collector and writer, he travelled widely in Victoria. He wrote that La Trobe’s ‘love for science’ that ‘the botanical department under my administration owes its origin’. [5]
Charpentier
Jean de Charpentier was a German-Swiss geologist who studied glaciers. He was in contact with Louis Agassiz, scientist of Neuchâtel, in the early 1840s and also with Shuttleworth at around that time – both contacts of La Trobe. Studer sent some of La Trobe’s West Indies seeds to Charpentier in April 1839 [6]. It is not clear why de Charpentier would have held a specimen of La Trobe’s American travels.
Godet
Charles-Henri Godet was a Swiss botanist well-known within the scientific community in Neuchâtel. He was a member of the Société des science naturelles de Neuchâtel- he wrote about the plants of the Canton of Neuchâtel [7] For a time he was deputy to Louis Agassiz, who had just left for America, at the Academy of Neuchâtel.
Plantae Preissianae
This two-volume work published in 1844 and 1847 [8], with an extended title (translated) A List of the Plants collected in Western and South Western Australia, collected in the years 1838-1841 by Ludwig Preiss, includes notes by Meissner to twenty-one of the entries, [9] saying that specimens of these plants had also been collected by La Trobe in Port Phillip and that most of these were held at the Herbarium at the Museum of Neuchâtel.
[1] Johann Georg Christian Lehmann (ed.), Plantae preissianae sive enumeratio plantarum quas in australasia occidentali et meridionali-occidentali annis 1838-1841, collegit Ludovicus Preiss, Vol. 2, Hamburg, Meissner, 1847, p.219
[2] Samuel Studer to Alphonse Pyrame de Candolle, Geneva, 27 September 1845, Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de la Ville de Genève.
[3] La Trobe Neuchâtel Archive, Australian Manuscripts Collection, State Library Victoria, MS 13354, Box 4, Folder 31, Private Memoranda, 18-22 June 1835.
[4] Global Plants, https://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.person.bm000153993 (accessed 22 November 2021).
[5] Ferdinand Mueller, Report on the Plants Collected during Mr. Babbage’s Expedition into the North West Interior of South Australia in 1858, Melbourne: John Ferres, Government Printer, 1859, p.17.
[6] Samuel Studer to Alphonse Pyrame de Candolle, Geneva, 24 April 1839, Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de la Ville de Genève.
[7] Description des plantes vénéneuses du canton de Neuchâtel. Charles-Henri Godet 1845. Enumération des
végétaux vasculaires qui croissent dans lecanton de Neuchâtel de C. Godet (1839)
[8] Lehmann, Vol.1 (1844) https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/9227#page/5/mode/1up,
Vol 2 (1847) https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/9228#page/1/mode/1up
[9] Ibid, Vol.1, pp.10, 18, 56, 57, 63, 73 ,81-82, 84, 88, 89, 90, 94, 228, 539, 575, 607;
Vol.2, pp.215, 219, 220, 259, 271.
Compiled by Helen Botham, presentation by John Botham. Comments to helen@latrobesociety.org.au