Matskási István (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 84. (Budapest 1992)

Szujkó-Lacza, J.: Botanical legacy of Lajos Haynald (1816-1891) in the Hungarian Natural History Museum

ANNALES HISTORICO-NATURALES MUSEI NATIONALIS HUNGARICI Tomus 84. Budapest, 1992 p. 199-204 Botanical legacy of Lajos Haynald (1816-1891) in the Hungarian Natural History Museum by J. SZUJKÓ-LACZA, Budapest SZUJKÓ-LACZA, J.: Botanical legacy of Lajos Haynald (1816-1891) in the Hungarian Natural History Museum. -Annls hist.-nat. Mus. natn, hung. 1992, 84: 199-204. Abstract - More than 100,000 herbarium sheets and numerous botanical books were legated to the Museum by L. HAYNALD in his testament in 1882. Almost 20 percent of the collection was gathered by HAYNALD himself. The herbaria of J. HEUFFEL from Transylvania, Th. KOTSCHY (including type specimens) H. SCHOTT and H. W. SCHOTT (except the Araceae) and L. SODIRO (from Ecuador) was purchased by Haynald and incorporated in the Herbaria Haynaldiana. With 1 figure. L. HAYNALD'S botanical legacy marked a new epoch in the life of the Botanical Department of the Hungarian National Museum. One hundred years after his death, we try to evaluate his bequest. HAYNALD'S legacy was legated to the Museum by his testament in 1882. The Herbaria Haynaldiana arrived to the Museum after the death of the cardinal archbishop in 1891. "I leave my herbaria, botanical books, cabinets to the National Museum" wrote HAYNALD in his testament (1882). Besides an extraordinary ecclesiastic career and public life, HAYNALD was, to a certain extent, an educated botanist. KANITZ (1889) appreciated and praised his botanical collection, books, cabinets and benefactor activity. His father was his first teacher, not only in the latin language but in the botany as well. ISTVÁN HAYNALD had his own herbarium too. HaYNALD called himself a dilettante, before he met L. I. ENDLICHER (1804-1849) and E. FENZL (1808-1879) in Vienna in 1839; FENZL was the authentic botanical guide of L. HAYNALD during the seminarist years. Soon after they met, they became good friends. When HAYNALD was the bishop of Gyulafehérvár he collected numerous plant specimens, often together with the botanists of Transylvania, for example with V JANKA (1837-1890). JANKA was an officer in the army but he became a famous plant collector and taxonomist at the same time. The connection remained continuous between HAYNALD and JANKA because HAYNALD established a position for a botanist (for Janka) in the Hungarian National Museum in 1870. JANKA and HAYNALD made a joint trip to the Banat in 1872. The appointment of JANKA was the first and most important organizational step toward the separation of the botanical department from the zoological and mineralogical collections in the Museum. HAYNALD'S foundation included 12,000 golden crowns for collecting trips and for development of the botanical library. The second important step of HAYNALD was the donation of the botanical legacy for the Museum.