Insula Borboniae

[Gillis Een]

I would very much appreciate if TAXACOM could help me to find a
second "Insula Borboniae", preferably in Central or South
America.

Schwaegrichen (1816 p. 11) reported Fissidens grandifrons
Bridel, and some other mosses, from Reunion - "In insula
Borboniae lectum Richard".

There is a snag however. Crosby (1970 pp. 347-349), - in
discussing Phyllodrepanium falcifolium (Schwaegr.) Crosby -
pointed out that there probably has been a mix-up between Louis
Claude Marie Richard (1754-1821), who collected in South
America, and Jean Michel Claude Richard (1784-1868), who
collected in Reunion, but only after 1820, when he became the
director of the local Jardin Botanique. See also Vegter (1983
pp. 756-767). Thus the specimen reported by Schwaegrichen
probably came from South America and not from Reunion.

The royal family of Bourbon has ruled both in France and Spain.
It is thus very probable that there is one or several islands
with the name Borbon (Bourbon) in South America. All I have
found so far is a place called Borbon on the river Orinoco. Has
L.C.M. Richard collected in that area?

Gillis Een
kbo-gillis at nrm.se