Daniel Gottlieb Messerschmidt on cultivated plants in Russia in the first third of the XVIII century

UDC 581.9(571)

Abstract

Daniel Gottlieb Messerschmidt (1685–1735), who was sent to Siberia by personal decree of Tsar Peter the Great, explored the nature of Asian Russia to the borders with China for 8 years. He collected extensive materials on the flora, fauna, archeology, and linguisti of Siberia. Messerschmidt’s observations on the geographical distribution of species are set out in his final essay “Sibiria perlustrata” (1727). In the section “Pinacis simplicium Regnum vegetabile...” Messerschmidt listed 430 plant species that he observed during a trip to European and Asian Russia. He marks the boundaries of the distribution of species by the valleys of large rivers, which seems to be an innovation that laid the foundation for one of the basic principles of the botanical and geographical method. This trend developed in the research of Academic expeditions in the XVIII century. Differentiation into native and alien species allowed us to identify 86 names of plants that grew in the gardens of the Moscow Region and in Siberia in the first third of the XVIII century. A special role in the cultivation of gardens beyond the Urals belonged to Swedish prisoners of war interned in Siberia during the Great Northern War (1700–1721). The list of introduced plants is analyzed. The polynomial names of species characteristic of pre-Linnean botany have been identified with the actual names of species. The composition of adventitious plants and the timing of their naturalization are commented on.