From livestock farming to amateur Botany in the Rio de la Plata: the case of the uruguayan Mariano B. Berro (1838–1919)

Abstract

This paper focuses on the formation of an herbarium and the botanical exchanges conducted by a Uruguayan landowner, Mariano B. Berro (1838–1919), by analysing his archive deposited in the National Archives of Uruguay, which has been neglected as a source for the history of science. This case illustrates the relationship between animal husbandry and the observation and collection of local vegetation, especially the identification of forage plants. In particular, this paper analyses the correspondence between Berro and the Swiss pharmacist and landowner Teodoro Stuckert (1852–1932), who settled in the province of Córdoba, Argentina. Both of them began to assemble botanical collections in the 1890s, and maintained an intense correspondence for nearly 20 years, which provides insights into the practices of a vocational botanist from a rural area in the Rio de la Plata and the role of the network created to exchange specimens, data, and publications within South America as well as with Europe.