Page 13
Friedrich
Ritter was born on May 9, 1898 as son of a parson at Quentel, a
lonesome village in the forest about four hours‘ walking distance
from Kassel, Hessen, Germany (1,
2).
Ritter had seven brothers and sisters
(2).
The family lived in Quentel, later in Frankenberg (Eder), and in
Heckershausen near Kassel; Ritter went to High School
(Gymnasium) in Bad Hersfeld and studied six semesters of
biology, geology, and palaeontology at the university of
Marburg.
In
1920 Ritter‘s parents, together with Friedrich and some of his
brothers and sisters, emigrated to Mexico. They departed from
Amsterdam on the steamship Frisia‘ to Veracruz. In Mexico the
parents participated in a dubious settlement company in which
they soon lost their fortune
(2). Through contacts to
Germans in Mexico Friedrich Ritter got a job as an ore assayer
in a lead, silver and goldmine of the Ortiz family, installed in
February 1921 at Campo Morado, near Pezuapan, Guerrero. He
stayed there from 1921 to 1924.
From
May 1922 onwards Ritter made excursions around Campo Morado in
his free time. He also prospected abandoned mines. In September
1922 he was in Mexico City to apply for a mining concession to
exploit a gold prospect at Pericotepec, Guerrero. In November
1924 he participated in the ascent of the Popocatepetl together
with members of the German colony in Mexico. In September 1925
he went to Iguala, Guerrero, to apply for a mining concession
for a claim at Cacalotepec, which he had prospected in summer
1925. Until March 1927 Ritter lived most of the time alone in a
wooden hut on this prospect. Adventures, the dangers of life,
and his personal view of the people and civiization in these
remote mining areas were later described in his published diary
(2).
At
the age of 29, Ritter went to Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico
(2),
where he became interested in cacti. From 1928 to 1932 he
explored several regions of Mexico in search of Cactaceae
together with his brother Elmar and a companion (Lorenz Werner),
collecting cacti and cactus seeds for amateurs and nurseries in
Germany (2).
Numerous interesting new cacti were discovered by Friedrich
Ritter. He became a member of the German Cactus Society (DKG) in
1928
(4).
In 1929 Ritter‘s sister Hildegard Winter of Frankfurt-Fechenheim,
Germany, advertised in the monthly joumal of the German Cactus
Society cacti exported by Ritter, including his own discovenes
such as Ariocarpus scapharostrus, Aztekium ritteri and
attractive species like Mammillaria hahniana and M. herrerae
(3). Importation of field-collected cacti boomed in these years
in Germany, as the advertisements and catalogues of numerous
dealers show
(3).
From
November 1930 to May 1931, Ritter made a journey to South
America. Upon arrival at Callao, Peru, he travelled by tram to
Lima, Chosica, Matucana, and Oroya. His itinerary on the way to
coffee plantations on the eastern slope of the Andes and to
mission stations in the lowland tropical forest included Tarma,
..
Page 14
...
San Ramön, Rio Oxabamba (Oxapampa), La
Merced, San Luis de Shuaro, San Juan, Metraro, and Suchiqui.
Retuming to Tarma, Oroya, and Lima, he suffered from a malaria
attack. At Callao Ritter boarded the steamship "Mapocho“ to
Mollendo. From there he visited Arequipa and Puno by train and
continued to La Paz, Bolivia
(2). In February 1931 he
was in Tupiza, Bolivia, and continued to Argentina and Chile,
arriving back at Callao, Peru, in May 1931. On the Japanese
steamship "Heiyo-Maru“ he returned to Mexico
(2).
The seed collections of Ritter‘s trip to South America were
advertised by H. Winter in Germany in the same year
(3).
In
October 1931, back in Saltillo, Ritter made an exploration and
collecting trip to Sonora and Baja Califomia together with his
later brother-in-law Heinrich Berghoff. The seed collections
went again for sale in Germany
(3). On the return trip
through Califomia and Arizona, Ritter had a car accident. In
1931 an advertisement of a "Cactus and Seed Exporting
Association“ based in Saltillo, Coahuila, appeared in Germany
(3),
without name but possibly related with Ritter‘s activities. A
strong competition occurred at that time between German cactus
nurseries and dealers importing thousands of field-collected
plants and large quantities of seeds. According to Haage
(7),
seeds were advertised by H. Winter as cactus seed sale in favor
of poor emigrants. Ritter sent plants to specialists in Germany
for identiflcation, the globular species to Friedrich Bödeker,
the columnar to Wilhelm Weingart and the opuntias to Alwin
Berger
(12).
In
1932 Ritter obtained the right to exploit a mine near Campo
Morado, Guerrero, and from July 1933 onward he managed the mine
alone and later with his brother-in-law and employee Hermann
Schutz. The mine was operated with workers from Campo Morado in
three daily shifts. The ore was transported on donkey and
mule-back to the nearest train station and shipped to a foundry
in Monterrey in northern Mexico.
In
1936 Ritter decided to close his mine, which at the end had
employed 170 workers. From December 1936 to January 1937 he made
a 37-day vacation tour alone on horseback through the remote
areas of the Sierra Madre del Sur and the lower Balsas basin in
Guerrero, including the ascent of the Teotepec mountain
(2).
Due to problems and social unrest resulting from the closing
down of the mine, he secretly left Campo Morado in August with
his belongings and returned to Saltillo
(2).
After
an excursion to the Sierra de Paila, Ritter travelled to Mexico
City by bus and from there by train to Veracruz, where he
boarded the steamer "Iberia“. He arrived in Hamburg, Germany, on
October 20, 1937.
According
to bis own biographical notes,
he lived in Germany from 1937 to 1952. In "Berlin, Tübingen, and
in Baden-Baden in the Black Forest“ he passed many years
pursueing thorough studies on the basic questions of life“
(1).
The result of these studies were privately published by Ritter
in 1951/52 in a threevolume work in German "Das offenbarte
Leben“ (The revealed life) with the subtitles "Lebensschöpfung
und Vernunftfrevel“ (creation of life and violation of reason),
"Schmarotzerzüchtung und Erbopferung“ (breeding of parasitism
and sacriflcation of heritage), and "Nietzsche, der
gerechtfertigte Seher“ (Nietzsche, the vindicated prophet). In
the last years of World War II he served in France and Italy for
the German army
Page 15
According
to H. Winter (8), Ritter lived in his own house in Baden-Baden,
Germany, but lost his property due to the war. Even though there
are no autobiographical notes on the time between 1937 and 1952,
the strong and persisting influence of the German political
ideology of that time remains evident in his later publication
(2).
In
1952 Ritter emigrated to South America, according to his own
notes, almost without personal funds. On December 7, 1952, he
left Marseille (France) on the steamer "Provence“ with 1150
passengers third class and arrived in Rio de Janeiro on December
18, where he made his first seed collection numbered in the FR
number series, Rhipsalis baccifera (FR 1) from a tree in a
private garden in a residential area of Rio de Janeiro
(2).
On December 23, he arrived in Buenos Aires, from where he
started his exploration and collecting trips through Argentina,
Bolivia and Chile, which he personally described as "three years
of gypsy-like life“ without permanent residence (1).
The
itinerary of this and the following journeys
is taken from Ritter‘s published extracts of his diary
(2)
and, where possible or necessary, complemented by data available
from the herbarium labels of the collections listed in the main
part of this work. A complete chronology of Ritter‘s fleld
activities was neither attempted nor possible for the purpose of
this study. This would have to be based on his 74 note books
with over 5000 manuscript pages (kept in the archives of the
Kassel Branch of the German Cactus Society).
From
December 1952 to February 1953 Ritter was in Argentina, in the
provinces of San Luis, Mendoza, San Juan, Catamarca, Salta,
Jujuy (7. 2. 1953 La Quiaca),
from February to July 1953 in Bolivia:
7. 2. Villazón; Tarija;
13. 2. Chorcoya -Villazón;
14. 2. Curque (a "cactus paradise“ visited by Rittter 22 years
before),
23. 2. Carrizal - Oroya - Montes - Mal
Paso,
24. 2. Camargo,
27. 2. Las Carreras;
7. 3. Chiguana - Ollagüe,
10. 3. Chiguana, Cerro Chiguana;
19. 3. Charaña - Río Mauri - (Rio Desaguadero) 4000 m,
19. 3. Caripe - Charaña,
21. 3. La Paz;
2. 4. Palca (Illimani), Hacienda Calchani; end of April in
Sorata;
10.5. Palca - Hacienda Iquico, Chunuavi - Lambate,
7. 6. Chulumani - Ocobaya (Sud-Yungas);
22. 6. Unduavi;
4. 7-8. 7. La Paz gorge - Angostura,
9. 7. La Paz
- Hacienda Tirata;
11-17. 7. Consata-basin, Ayata,
Consata-valley, Río Llora -Sorata; in La Paz application for a
visa to Peru;
20. 7. La Paz - Charaña;
23. 7. Arica.
From July to
November 1953 Ritter made numerous collections in southern and
central Peru. The diary mentions:
5. 9. Acoria (train station, Dept. of Huancavelica) - Acobamba -
Marcas - Río Llircay - Marcas,
13. 9. Mantaroriver - La Mejorada,
15. 9. Huancayo,
1. 12. Chala - Quicacha. In December
1953 Ritter was in northern Chile.
From
January to August 1954 Ritter travelled extensively in Chile:
in January from Antofagasta to Ovalle,
in February he visited the Maule-gorge and
Mina Dolomita east of Talca and continued south to Puerto Montt,
where he boarded a steamship taking him to Puerto Aisén.
On March 12, 1954, he was in Chile Chico
and Puerto Ibañez. In the dry Patagonian area around Lago Buenos
Aires he hoped to locate the southemmost cacti of Chile (which
are still unconfirmed).
In April 1954 he visited Laguna del Laja,
Chacay, and Los Angeles (Bio Bioregion, south central Chile)
(2).
In the same month, Ritter exchanged letters from Valparaiso with
Hans Krainz of the Municipal Succulent Collection Zürich,
...
Page 16
...
concerning evaluation and identification of
his collections, and he mailed specimens to the same institution
(8,
13).
In May 1954 Ritter collected in central
Chile and in June he travelled north through Vallenar and Taltal
to Antofagasta, from where he again mailed specimens to H.
Krainz. From Arica (23. 6. 1954) he wrote to Krainz that he was
going to leave Chile to search for cacti in Peru, giving a
temporary address in Lima, Peru and pointing out that he was
travelling without car and without taxi (13).
The itinerary of his
trip to northern Peru in August and September 1954 included:
6. 8. Tumbes,
7. 8. San Carlos, Matapolo (on the frontier to Ecuador),
8. 8. Olmos,
5. 9. Trujillo.
Other
localities in the north were Huancabamba and Jaén. From Lima
(10. 9. 1954), Ritter wrote again to Krainz, mentioning a
shipment of living plants from Peru and asking for cooperation
and identification of specimens (13).
In
1954, the H. Winter cactus nursery in Frankfurt am Main, Federal
Republic of Germany, issued the first (undated) seed catalogue
based primarily on Ritter collections
(9a).
The seeds of a broad variety of taxa from South America
collected by Ritter allowed collectors in Germany and other
countries to rebuild the collections, of which many had been
lost or damaged during the war.
Because
of the bureaucratic problems Ritter encountered in trying to
obtain the necessary visa for travelling from one country to
another during this journey, his sister in Germany tried to
provide him with letters of recommendation from Krainz and from
university professors, providing argument that Ritter was poor
since due to World War II he had lost his considerable property
acquired m his mining operations (27. 11. 1954,
8).
Ritter‘s sister asked Krainz to dedicate new species of cacti to
some of her customers, a request, which prompted irritations in
the beginning cooperation between Ritter and Krainz (Krainz to
Ritter, 21. 2. 1955,
8), in which Krainz was to
identify material, search for literature and edit publications
of new species based on the notes provided by Ritter.
From
September 1954 to March 1955 Ritter travelled in Bolivia and
Argentina. The itinerary in Bolivia included:
28. 9. La Paz,
2. 10. Irupana - La Plazuela -Irupana,
9-19. 10. Consata-basin - La Paz - Ayata - Bacobamba - Ayata -Mollopampa
- Río Llora - Mollopampa - Río Palhuaya - Chacajahuira -Achacachi,
26. 10. Inquisivi,
22. 11. Uncia,
12. 12. Sucre - Totora - Aiquile -(Rio Grande) - Surina
(Zurima?) - Chuquichuqui,
14. 12. Sucre.
From
September 1954 to January 1955, localities in all departments
from La Paz and Santa Cruz southward are mentioned. At the end
of January 1955 Ritter was in Salta, Argentina, reporting to
Krainz (31. 1. 1955) that he had mailed specimens of Peruvian
and Bolivian cacti from La Paz to Zürich
(13). He had great
difficulties in mailing
a parcel with seeds, which was not accepted in the post offices
in Jujuy, SaIta, Tucuman, and Córdoba. Ritter therefore
travelled to Buenos Aires (8. 2. 1955), where he could mail the
parcel, and from where he travelled on to visit the provinces of
San Luis, La Rioja, Córdoba, Catamarca (1. 3. 1955), Mendoza,
and Neuquén before returning to Chile.
On
April 20 and 22, Ritter was in Valparaiso, Chile, reporting to
Krainz on collections made in Chile between 28o
and 40o
S latitude
(13). In a letter to Krainz
dated April 25, 1955, Ritter commented on problems of
cooperation, e.g. differing views on the circumscription of
species or interpretation of names, and stated his goal:
Page 17
...
"to solve, as far as possible, the
classification of cacti, which is only possible through
travelling to the countries of origin and by careful studies of
the occurrence in situ“ (8).
Ritter decided to do the taxonomic treatment alone (12,
p. 1). In May and June 1955, Ritter made nearly one hundred
collections (particularly of Pyrrhocactus) in central Chile.
In
the same year, Ritter obtained a modest room as permanent
residence in the house of the German family Neuermann
in Arica, Chile
(1). In August 1955, Ritter
was in Santiago to buy a Ford, model 1931, in his own words
almost a museum piece, which he used for collecting trips. The
delays caused by breakdowns approached in total time nearly that
spent for driving
(1). Nevertheless, it
enabled him to be independent of public transport. From
September to December 1955, Ritter explored central Chile from
San Fernando and Santiago to El Tofo, north of La Serena.
In
January and February 1956 he visited numerous localities and
made over 70 collections in north central and northern Chile,
many at Caldera and Chañaral. The diary mentions:
7. 1. Totoral - Castilla,
22. 1. Copiapó - the salt basin of Maricunga - El Salado,
17. 2. Paposo,
19. 2. Antofagasta.
In
March and April 1956 several collections were made in northern
Chile. A joumey to Peru by car followed in June 1956:
13. 6. Atico - Chala,
28. 7. Chilete - San Pablo.
About
60 collections were made in various departments from Arequipa to
Cajamarca. At the end of 1956, Ritter ordered a new Ford truck
model 1956 directly from the United States to the free port of
Arica. On Christmas 1956 Ritter was in Saucache near Arica with
the Nevermann family, and on the same day he left for a joumey
by train to Bolivia. The itinerary included:
26. 12. La Paz,
8. 1. 1957 Molinos - Cruce - Oruro;
15. 1. Uyuni - Tupiza,
17. 1. Villazón on the frontier to Argentina,
20. 1. Tupiza - Uyuni - Chiguana.
Returning
to Chile, Ritter stayed in Saucache near Arica, and in April
received the new car at Arica. For his first journey by car to
Peru, a guarantee of the equivalent of 10,000
German marks was necessary at Chilean customs
(2).
On this collecting trip to Peru from April to July 1957 Ritter
was accompanied by his nephew, Dr. Wigbert Winter of Frankfurt,
Germany (2).
Numerous provinces from Arequipa to Amazonas were visited during
this journey, and places mentioned in the diary are:
20. 5. Bellavista - Paita - Pucará,
10. 6. Recuay -Rahuapampa (collection of Espostoa ruficeps),
13. 6. Chavin - Recuay,
8. 7. Cuzco,
13. 7. Saxahuanän.
From
August to December 1957 Ritter was back in Chile. In October
1957 he mailed herbarium specimens from Arica to Zürich
(8)
and visited localities in northern Chile:
15. 10. Saucache near Arica - Chaca,
17. 10. Quillagua,
18. 10. Antofagasta,
19. 10. Cerro Coloso.
In
November and December 1957 he made numerous collections in north
central Chile. Proceeding further south, on December 18, 1957,
he made a trip from Talca to the Campanario (Rio Maule)
searching for Austrocactus. Localities visited thereafter
in northern Chile were:
28. 12. Castilla,
29. 12. Chañaral.
In the first two
months of 1958, Ritter visited few localities in northern Chile:
11. 1. Puritama, Calamá,
12. 1. Chuquimata,
13. 1. Guanillos (Iquique).
Page 18
At
the end of February 1958 Ritter was in Arica and planned a
journey to Bolivia, which he made without his car for economic
reasons. Localities mentioned in his itinerary, mainly in
southem Bolivia but some also in the departments of La Paz,
Cochabamba, and Santa Cruz are:
13. 3. Las Carreras - Palos Blancos,
4. 4. Pilcomayo-river,
8. 4. Tacuarandi (Tacuayandi?),
10. 4. Narvais (Narvaez),
14. 4. Junacas - Cajas - Río Pilayo (affluent
of upper course of Río Pilcomayo), Colpana,
20. 4. Tarija,
27. 4. Hacienda Oroya near Carrizal (Potosi) - El Monte -Torata
- Impora,
29. 4. Las Carreras (note that Ritter suffered from malaria),
3. 5. Las Carreras - La Tone - Las Carreras,
4. 5. Villa Abecia;
12. 5. Culpina -Ingahuasi - Culpina,
15. 5. Salitre - Cueva (Rio Pilaya), Challamarca-river,
18. 5. Camargo,
19. 5. Camargo - San Pedro - Culpina - Camargo,
20. 5. Camargo -Potosi,
22. 5. Sucre,
29. 5. La Paz - Irupana - Plazuela (Rio La Paz),
1. 6. La Paz;
7. 6. Sorata,
9. 6. Mecapaca - La Paz;
21. 6. Santa Rosa - Santa Rosa-river -Independencia,
23. 6. Río Santa Rosa - Río Sacambaya,
28. 6. Tuini -Quillacollo,
29. 6. Cochabamba;
11. 7. Valle Grande,
12. 7. lower course of Río Mizque, Juntas, Marqueza;
16. 7. Santa Ana - Vallegrande; Saipina - Pérez,
23. 7. Aiquile, Yamparaez;
14. 8. Hacienda Sotomayor on the Pilcomayo-river;
22. 8. Oruro
- La Paz. From this joumey of five months, about 200 herbarium
samples are extant.
In
1958 Ritter published privately a review of Backeberg‘s
publication on new cacti from Peru
(14),
in which he criticized the lack of careful field
studies.
In November 1958,
Ritter visited southem Peru in his own car:
6. 11. Tacna -Montalva, Tambo-gorge,
17. 11. Arequipa - Puno.
He then spent a
month in Bolivia:
21. 11. Desaguadero,
27. 11. Plazuela - La Paz-river,
29. 11. Irupana -La Paz,
12./13. 12. Chullas - Mizque-river - Aiquile, Lecori,
24. 12. Camargo.
In
January 1959, Ritter continued to NW Argentina, where he spent
two months. Numerous herbarium samples were collected in the
provinces of Salta and Catamarca some also in Jujuy and Tucumán.
The itinerary included:
29. 1. Belén, mountains to the West,
5. 2. La
Puerta - Varela,
8. 2. Tafí del Valle;
13. 2. Cerrillos - Cachi,
16. 2. Cachi,
17. 2. Salta,
19. 2. Salta - Campo Quijano - Salta
- Jujuy - Purmamarca,
20. 2. Tres Morros - San Antonio de los Cobres,
21. 2. Puerta Tastil,
23. 2. San Antonio - Tres Morros - Purmamarca,
25. 2. Jujuy -Pocitos.
Ritter
returned to Bolivia and arrived in Villa Montes on February 28,
where he left his car and from where he continued to Santa Cruz
(Bolivia) by air plane. Then he travelled by bus to Cochabamba
and back to Santa Cruz and by plane to Corumba, Brazil (18. 3.
1959). From there he travelled to Ponta Porä and crossed the
border to Paraguay and visited the nearby Sierra de Amambay.
Ritter
spent the following four weeks in eastern and southeastern
Brazil.
On March 27 he took a train from Rio de Janeiro to Corinto and
Diamantina (Minas Gerais), and on March 31 a bus to Itamarandiba.
From Itamarandiba he went to the Serra do Ambrosio, Penha da
França, and Merces, returning to Diamantina, where he took an
air plane to Montes Claros.
On April 4 he was at Januaria, on April 5
at Montes Claros. His return trip was through southeastern
Brazil,
19. 4. Canela,
20. 4. Rolante near Porto Alegre (Rio Grande do Sul), from where
he continued through the province of Corrientes (Argentina) to
Resistencia in the province of Chaco, Argentina.
In
his diary Ritter complained on bad train connections for his
return trip to Bolivia. His itinerary was:
5. 5. Resistencia,
6. 5. Anatuya,
7. 5. Tucumán - Jujuy,
9. 5. Jujuy - Pocitos, crossing over to Bolivia. From Villa
Montes, Ritter returned by car to Chile via Llallagua, Huanumi,
Oruro.
Page 19
In May
1959 he made some collections in Peru on the way from Tacna to
Charaña.
For
the period between July and December of 1959 nothing definite is
known about Ritter‘s journeys.
There are solitary collections recorded to have been made in
July in Argentina, in September in Chile, and in December in
Bolivia, but these data may be erroneous.
From
December 1959 to February 1960,
Ritter stayed in northern Chile.
Localities visited were, e.g.:
9. 12. La Serena - Juan Soldado,
27.12. Cachita, Taltal,
30.12. 1959 Taltal - Paposo,
6. 1. 1960 Antofagasta.
On
February 12, 1960 Ritter left Arica for another joumey by car to
Peru. His itinerary included: 21. 2.
Lima - Chosica;
6. 4. El Pallar - Cajabamba,
7. 4. Rio Crisnejas,
13. 4. Cajamarca - Celendín,
14. 4. Balsas; Jaén, Hacienda Valor on the Marañón - Milagro -
Aramayo - Milagro;
28. 4. Quebrada Honda,
29. 4. Hacienda Valor,
5. 5. Trujillo, Santa, Chimbote (car accident, delay),
28. 5. Yaután,
13. 6. Trujillo,
19. 6. Chimbote.
In
September and November 1960, Ritter was in Chile. Arica - Zapiga
and Saucache are places mentioned, and collections exist from
Chapiquiña in northern Chile.
In
1961, only localities in Chile occur among his collections,
which he made particularly in October in north central Chile. In
the same year (as well as in 1962) the catalogue of H. Winter in
Frankfurt contained not only seeds but also plants imported from
Peru (9b, p. 19; 9c, p. 19). Numerous publications of new
species discovered by Ritter appeared from 1961 onward (to 1970,
and again in 1977) in the journal "Kakteen und andere
Sukkulenten“ in Germany.
In
March 1962 Ritter made a seed collecting trip by car to Bolivia
and Argentina. Localities visited according to his diary were:
20. 3. Villazón,
21. 3. Tupiza,
24. 3. Las Carreras - Mal Paso,
28.-3 1. 3. Impora (there, he spent two and a half days
harvesting and cleaning seed of Oreocereus trollii).
Nearly
50 collections made between March and May 1962 exist from
northwestern Argentina, the provinces of Jujuy, Catamarca, La
Rioja, San Luis, and Mendoza. According to the address change in
his publications, Ritter changed his residence or at least his
postal address from Arica, c/o Nevermann, to Correo Olmué in
Central Chile in May 1962.
In October 1962, Ritter was in northern Chile, spending 13 days
around Antofagasta.
In November 1962 he left Chile by car for a joumey of more than
four months through Bolivia. His itinerary included:
1. 11. Chiguana, San Juan - Colchac (Nor-Lipez),
2. 11. Colchac -saltbasin - Colchani - Uyuni,
3. 11. Uyuni;
21.11. Cotagaita,
23.11. Tupiza -Mal Paso; La Paz;
8. 12. San Antonio - Paicho-gorge - Caña Cruz - San Antonio;
29. 12. Tarija;
5. 1. 1963 Palos Blancos - Villa Montes,
6. 1. Villa Montes;
17. 1. Boyuibe - Camiri - Villa Montes,
22. 1. Villa Montes - Tihuipa - Tarija - Junacas
- Polla - (Cajas-gorge),
4. 2. Tarija, Salitre - Cueva;
22. 2. Culpina,
7. 3. Potosi,
9. 3. Potosi, 10. 3. Challapata. 12. 3. Sevaruyo, 13.
3. transport of the car on the train from
Sevaruyo to Uyuni and onwards to Chile.
In 1963 Ritter undertook a longer journey
(without car) to Paraguay and Brazil. Dates and places mentioned
for Paraguay are:
18. 9. Asunción - Filadelfia, Cerro León,
3.10.
Concepción - Sierra de Amambay, Guazü,
9. 10. Ypane-river
- Aquidaban-river,
14. 10. Cerro Corá,
16. 10. Concepción - Arroyo Aceite,
29.10. Yhû,
6. 11. Asunción,
16. 11. Asunción - Nueva Italia,
19. 11. Asunción.
Page 20
From there he travelled
to eastern Brazil via Goiänia on December 4; from Brasilia he
flew to Carolina (Maranhäo) on December 7, and to Floriano (Piauí)
on December 15. In January 1964 he explored Bahia :
5. 1.
Iaçú,
7. 1. Urandí,
11. 1. Mutäs,
13. 1. Palma de Monte Alto - Mutás,
16. 1. Guanambí
and northern Minas Gerais:
3. 2. Montes Claros,
10. 2. Belo Horizonte
On February 12 he was in
Rio de Janeiro, and in March 1964 in Rio Grande do Sul. The
collections are mostly from Bahia, Minas Gerais, and Rio
Grande do Sul, few from the states of Goiás, Maranhäo, Mato
Grosso, Pernambuco, Piauí, and Rio de Janeiro.
In the same year (1964),
Ritter became a honorary member of the German Cactus Society (DKG).
The society honoured Ritter for his restless exploration of
cacti and seed collecting in South America and for the
numerous new taxa he had found and described. A bibliography
was planned but postponed for its numerous entries
(15).
A report on his life, written by Ritter himself
on request of the society, was published in the journal
"Kakteen und andere Sukkulenten“(1).
From July to September
1964, Ritter took off by car for another seed collecting trip
to central and northern Peru:
27. 7. Cajamarca,
16. 8. Rahuapampa,
21. 8. and 22. 8. Catac (near Recuay).
Local children were
contracted to collect fruit of Thrixanthocereus, and
Ritter himself commented on the difficulties
and dangers involved (2
p. 293).
From November 1964 to February 1965
Ritter was collecting in eastern and south eastern Brazil:
4. 11. Belo Horizonte - Penha da
França,
16. 11. Merces,
1. 12. Montes Claros,
3. 12. Bom Jesus,
11. 12. Caetité - Tanhaçü, three day
walking tour through the Serra da Sincorá,
17. 12. Brumado,
19. 12. to 25. 12. Ourives (an area particularly rich in
cacti);
15. 1. 1965 Caratinga; Arraial do Cabo-Sacarema;
22. 1. Niteroi - Rio de Janeiro,
23. 1. Rio de Janeiro; Ilhabela -Säo José dos Campos,
31. 1. Säo José dos Campos,
4. 2. Piedade (Säo Paulo) -
Säo Paulo,
7. 2. Itapoa,
8. 2. Porto Alegre,
7. 2. Itapoa,
15. 2.
Montenegro.
According to his
collections, he also visited Uruguay (Rivera, on the border to
Brazil) in 1965. A visit to Paraguay (without any known
collections) in the same year is mentioned in his adventure
book (2,
p. 304), where he states that, on April 11,
1965, he arrived back in Chile returning from a journey to
Paraguay and Brazil. In Granizo near Olmué, where he lived, he
was locally known as "Don Federico“. Visitors described his
home as solitary, on dry hills not far from Villa Alemana, on
the south slope of Cerro de la Campana
(10).
His journeys in 1966 are
unknown, but dated collections exist from Argentina (1
collection), Bolivia (5), Chile (1) and Brazil (numerous
collections from Rio Grande do Sul).
In 1967 Ritter published
a theoretical article on the definition of the ranks of
species, variety (termed 'race'),
and form, as used by him in Cactaceae. He also
commented on general problems encountered with the
delimitation of taxa, the insuffiency
of old descriptions for diagnostic use in taxonomical studies,
and on the exaggerated production of names in this family.
Also in 1967, Ritter published new species
in the Dutch journal "Succulenta“. In the same year, he was in
Bolivia again (8. 3. Villa Abecia - Río Pilaya - Villa Abecia)
and later spent some time in an area without cacti in south
central Chile ...
Page 21
... (1 1-16. 4. Río Puelo, Prov.
Llanquihue). Very few herbarium collections dated 1967 exist,
mainly from Chile but including one each from Brazil and
Argentina; however, these dates may be erroneous.
At the end of December
1968, A. F. H. Buining and his wife stayed with Ritter in
Granizo. Buining noted the cacti planted around Ritter‘s house
at Granizo. In January and February 1969, they undertook a two
months‘ trip through Chile and Peru with Ritter, on which
Buining later reported
(6).
The itinerary of this journey in 1969 included in Chile:
9. 1. Granizo - La Serena - Copiapó -Chañaral - Taltal;
19.1. the locality of Copiapoa hypogaea - Antofagasta -Tocopilla
- Iquique - Arica, and in Peru: Tacna - Moquegua - Arequipa -
Puno -Cuzco - Urcos;
19.2. Ocoña - Atico - Chala - Nazca -
Ica - Pisco-valley - Cañete
- Chosica - Rimac-valley - Eulalia-valley.
On this collecting trip,
living plants were collected, which were shipped to the
Netherlands
(6, p. 39). One single
herbarium sample dated 1968 from Peru has been recorded (FR
1308a).
In 1969, A. Lau visited
Ritter at Granizo
(10). Some collections
dated 1969 are known from Chile, and few from Peru.
In 1970 Ritter went to
northern Peru. Localities mentioned are:
1. 6. Chocope, north of Trujillo - Contazuma,
4. 6. Trujillo. No collections made in 1970 in Peru have been
recorded, and only few from southeastern Brazil.
The single collection (FR
1471 loc. 2) reported from 1970 from Bolivia may have an
erroneous date, although it appears on the original seed sample
at ZSS.
In 1971, Ritter travelled
for the last time to Brazil. On November 25, he searched without
success for flowers and seeds of one of his earlier discoveries,
Coleocephalocereus flavisetus. From the locality 11 km
south of Engeneiro Caldas he had to walk back all the way in the
rain without obtaining transport. lt was during this waik that
he decided to give up cactus collecting. According to his diary,
he concluded that, after so many years of risking his life for
the discoveries to the benefit of the cactophiles of the world,
this was to be his last day to run after cacti (2, p. 309).
Ritter himself calculated
the total time in South America spent exclusively travelling and
making fleld studies to be 6 years and ten months. He had spent
28 months travelling in Chile, 21 in Bolivia, 18 in Peru, more
than 7 in Argentina, more than 5 in Brazil, and 2 in Paraguay
(1).
In 1972, Ritter for
political reasons left Chile with all his belongings, except his
herbarium, and took residence in Paraguay until 1976 (5). He
deposited his herbarium specimens in the Museo Nacional de
Historia Natural in Santiago de Chile (11, 2, p. III). Two
herbarium samples dated 1973 from Paraguay are known (FR 1006
loc. 10, and FR 1490).
In 1976, Ritter returned
to Germany, and lived with his sister in Spangenberg, south of
Kassel (5). In 1977, he published a book in German, "40 Jahre
Abenteuerleben und die wilde Weisheit“ ("40 years of adventure
and the wild wisdom“), a compilation of extracts from his diary
with comments added between 1974 and 1976. Although this book
was eagerly awaited by cactophiles, Ritter‘s principal aim,
besides providing an autobiographical adventure story depicting
his restless, self-disciplined and ascetic life as a plant
hunter, was apparently to convey his world view. A strong racial
point of view accompanied and even dominated both his
observations made during his journeys as well
as ...
Page 22
...
his comments added later (1, 2). A subject
index at the end of his book concentrates exclusively on his
view of civilization, customs, human character, race and
heredity (2).
In Spangenberg, Ritter
worked on his four-volume publication on the Cactaceae of South
America, which appeared between 1979 and 1981 (12 a-d). He had
left practically all his herharium collections in Santiago de
Chile in 1972 with the exception of (holo-)types, which had been
deposited at Utrecht in the sixties. lt has to be assumed that
Ritter had no collections other than seed samples available for
re-examination during the preparation of the final manuscript.
Ritter deposited a small number of additional type specimens at
Utrecht in 1980 following correspondence on material missing
there (11). Ritter‘s comprehensive work with the subtitle "Ergebnisse
meiner 20jährigen Feldforschungen "("Results of my 20 years of field
studies“) is a taxonomic synthesis on the cacti of Brazil,
Paraguay, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru, providing
detailed descriptions of many taxa, comments and photographic
illustrations, but no keys. lt is based primarily on his very
detailed fleld notes (often with data from literature added in
parenthesis) and also contains a certain amount of polemic
comments on the work of contemporary cactologists, particularly
Backeberg, Buxbaum, and Rauh. Like his earlier books, Ritter
published this work privately and distributed it mostly through
cactus book dealers and nurseries.
In 1981, Ritter sent a
large part of his slides on loan to the editors of the journal
Literaturschau Kakteen in the German Democratic Republic (GDR),
where his books could not be obtained. An edited list of his
FR-numbers was published and illustrated by numerous colour and
black and white illustrations (16,
17,
18).
In the same year, the Nordhessische Kakteenfreunde (Kassel)
(North Hessian Cactus Friends), a local branch of the German
Cactus Society (DKG) changed their name in honour of Ritter to "Kakteenfreunde
Friedrich Ritter Nordhessen“(4).
In 1982, Ritter left
Germany for a new residence on the Canary Islands, in Puerto de
la Cruz, Tenerife. There, he dedicated himself exclusively to
the philosophical question "space and mankind“
(4).
In October 1982, Ritter donated his field
notes, various lists and documents, as well as his complete seed
collection (now received at ZSS for permanent custody), to this
local branch of the society.
Friedrich Ritter died on
April 9, 1989 at the age of nearly 91 years
(4).
-
Ritter, F. 1964: Uber mein Leben und meine Forschungs- und
Sammeireisen. — Kakt. and. Sukk. 15: 224-226.
-
Ritter, F. 1977: 40 Jahre Abenteuerleben und die wilde
Weisheit. —Friedrich Ritter Verlag, Spangenberg.
-
Anon. 1929-1931: (advertisements) — Monatsschrift der DKG
1(4):
outside back cover,(7/8): outside back cover, (11): 238; 2(2):
outside back cover; 2(3/4) inside front cover; 3(6): outside
back cover, (4): inside back cover.
-
Müller, W. 1989: Friedrich Ritter — Kakt. and. Sukk. 40:
137.
-
Wittau, H.-J. 1982:
Geburtstagsgrüsse an Friedrich Ritter. — Kakt. and. Sukk. 33:
107.
-
Buining, A. F. H.
1971/1972: Eine Kakteenreise durch Chile und Peru mit
Friedrich Ritter. — Kakt. and. Sukk. 22: 191-195, 213-216,
232-237; 23:
20-22, 38-39.
-
Haage, W. 1988: Ein Leben mit Kakteen — Erinnerungen von
Walther Haage. — Kakt. and. Sukk.
39: 230-233.
-
Letters of Ritter to
Krainz, H. Winter to Krainz, and Krainz to Ritter
(copies received from Krainz in
archive B. Leuenberger): Krainz to H.
Winter 21. 4. 54/Ritter to Krainz
10. 9. 54 /
Winter to Krainz 27. 11. 54/Krainz to Ritter 21. 2. 55 I
Krainz to Ritter 1. 4. 55 /
Ritter to Krainz 25. 4.55 /
Ritter to Krainz 14. 10. 57 /
Krainz to Ritter 8. 10. 65.
-
a) Winter, H.
(undated, 1954): Kakteen, Cacti, Cactées.
Samen - seed -semence. — Frankfurt
a.M.-Fechenheim.
b)
Winter, H. 1961: Kakteen, Cacti,
Cactées. 1961. Samen - seed - semence.
- Frankfurt a.M.-Fechenheim
c)
Winter, H. 1962:
Kakteen, Cacti, Cactées. 1962. Samen -
seed - semence. -
Frankfurt a.M.-Fechenheim.
-
Doffing, C. 1992: Erinnerungen an Friedrich Ritter. —
Kakt. and. Sukk.
43: 225.
-
Letters of Ritter
to Leuenberger, 10. 6. 1980, 19. 3. 1981 (archive B.
Leuenberger).
-
a) Ritter, F. 1979:
Kakteen in Südamerika 1. Brasilien/Uruguay/Paraguay.
—Friedrich Ritter Selbstverlag, Spangenberg.
b)
Ritter, F. 1980:
Kakteen in Südamerika 2. Argentinien/Bolivien. —Friedrich
Ritter Selbstverlag, Spangenberg.
c)
Ritter, F. 1980:
Kakteen in Südamerika 3. Chile. — Friedrich Ritter
Selbstverlag, Spangenberg
d)
Ritter, F. 1981:
Kakteen in Südamerika 4. Peru. — Friedrich Ritter
Selbstverlag, Spangenberg.
-
Letters
and/or appended manuscript notes of F. Ritter on shipments
of cacti to H. Krainz (ZSS archives): Ritter to Krainz, 11.
4. 1954 / Anlage zum Brief gleichen
Datums. Santiago, 11. 4. 1954 (20 pp.) / Ritter to Krainz, 23.
6. 1954 / Anlage zum Brief gleichen Datums. Arica, 23. 6. 1954
(26 pp.) / Anlage zum Brief gleichen Datums. Lima, 10. 9. 1954
(34 pp.) / Anlage zum Brief gleichen Datums. Salta, 31. 1.
1955 (30 pp.) / Angaben über die 5. Sendung Kakteen. Buenos
Aires, 12. 2. 1955 (34 pp.) / Angaben über die 6. Sendung
Kakteen. Valparaiso, 20. 4. 1955 (16 pp.), 22. 4. 1955 (15
pp.).
-
Ritter, F. 1958: Die von Curt Backeberg in "Descriptiones
Cactacearum novarum veröffentlichten Diagnosen "neuer“
peruanischer Kakteen nebst grundsätzlichen Erörterungen über
taxonomische und nomenklatorische Fragen. — Friedrich Ritter
Verlag, Hamburg.
-
Anon.
1964: Friedrich Ritter Ehrenmitglied der DKG. — Kakt. and.
Sukk. 15:
223.
-
Neumann, K. 1982: Einige Anmerkungen zu Ritter‘s "Kakteen
in Südamerika“. — Literaturschau Kakteen 5:170-172.
-
Neumann, K. 1982:
Friedrich Ritter: Kakteen in Südamerika. 4 Bände.
—Literaturschau Kakteen 5: X-XI.
-
Anon.
1982: Verzeichnis der FR-Nummern. — Literaturschau Kakteen
[6]: 3-84.
-
Ritter, F. 1966: Die systematischen Kategorien der Art,
der Rasse (Varietät) und der erblichen Form, am Beispiel der
Kakteen. — Taxon 15:
295-306.
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