German botanist and horticulturist Hugo Baum took part in a pioneering expedition along the Cunene and Zambezi rivers in southern Africa, where he made significant botanical collections.
Baum was born in Forst (Laustiz) and grew up in Guben, on the Neisse River. He trained as a gardener and pomologist at the ducal palace in Rothenbusch, Nettkow (Silesia, Poland). He then worked in Crossen before undertaking military service in Magdeburg.
Returning to horticulture, Baum took up a position at the Botanic Gardens in Berlin. He spent ten years at the gardens, where he was responsible for palms, succulents and aquatic plants.
In 1899 Baum was chosen to participate in the Cunene Zambezi Expedition mounted by the Kolonial Wirtschaftlichen Komitee (Colonial Economic Committee) in collaboration with the Portuguese Companhia de Mossamedes and the South West Africa Company, London. With expedition leader Pieter van der Kellen, he spent from August 1899 to June 1900 travelling through the interior of tropical central Africa, exploring the resources available in southern Angola and gathering significant botanical and zoological collections. An account of the expedition was published under the title Kunene-Sambesi-Expedition (1903), edited by Baum and Otto Warburg.
Following the expedition, Baum took up a position at the Botanical Garden of the University of Rostock, where he played an important part in the development of the institution.
In 1925 Baum made another expedition, this time to Mexico, where his collections included many new taxa. He was especially interested in succulents at this time and gathered numerous cacti.
Baum remained in Rostock for the rest of his life. Many plants are named in his honour, including the genus Baumia Engl. & Gilg. (Scrophulariaceae). He is also commemorated in the fungus Baumiella and the names of several insects.
Sources:
E. Figueiredo, M. Soares, G. Seibert, G.F. Smith and R.B. Faden, 2010, "The botany of the Cunene-Zambezi Expedition with notes on Hugo Baum (1867-1950)", Bothalia, 39(2): 185-212
P.A. Mansfeld, 2012, Hugo Baum - die Lebensgeschichte eines deutschen Botanikers.
