LAUSR

In his News story “Global warming has made iconic Andean peak unrecognizable” (11 September, ), T. Appenzeller describes current scientific work based on Alexander von Humboldt's 1807 illustrated map of plant species found on Ecuador's Mount Chimborazo. Some of this work has pointed out inaccuracies in the map, but it is important to remember that Humboldt was well aware of these imperfections [([ 1 ][1]), p. 44]. The recent scrutiny that the Tableau has received is puzzling. The illustration's legend clearly reads that it is a summary of all of the observations by Humboldt and fellow botanist Aime Bonpland in the Andes and neighboring countries [([ 1 ][1]), p. 156]. It seems a stretch to draw too fine conclusions from an illustration that aimed to synthesize observations over a distance of 20° latitude (approximately 2200 km) and a vertical extent of about 6.3 km (the top of Chimborazo is 6268 m) flattened into a two-dimensional drawing (the central panel of the illustration is 40 by 50 cm with a vertical scale of 18 mm for each 500 m) [([ 1 ][1]), p. 156]. The legacy of the Tableau from a botanical point of view is the amazing number of new plant species amassed during the 5-year voyage and the contribution to our knowledge through publications. Two hundred years later, we are still using and updating names of the species Humboldt observed. His timeless Tableau should be considered as originally intended by the author: an innovative depiction and a clever summary of the colossal information his team gathered during their exploration of South America's equatorial regions. 1. [↵][2]1. A. von Humboldt, 2. A. Bonpland , Essai sur la geographie des plantes; accompagne d'un tableau physique des regions equinoxiales (Chez Levrault, Schoell et Compagnie, Libraires, Paris, 1805 [1807]); [www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/9309#/summary][3] [in French]. [1]: #ref-1 [2]: #xref-ref-1-1 "View reference 1 in text" [3]: http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/9309#/summary