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been the first to collect in the island of Cozumel (1885-
1886), collections that were described by Hemsley
(Hemsley, 1887b). Besides the types of Triphora
yucatanensis Ames (Gaumer 1008, Yucatán) and
Epidendrum yucatanense Schltr. (Gaumer 588), we
find numerous other orchids among the specimens
collected by Gaumer, such as: Ionopsis utricularioides
(Sw.) Lindl. (Gaumer 23305), Rhyncholaelia digbyana
(Lindl.) Schltr. (Gaumer 23357), Leochilus scriptus
(Scheidw.) Rchb. f. (Gaumer 23358), Harrisella
porrecta (Rchb. f.) Fawc. & Rendle (Gaumer 23359),
Oncidium sphacelatum Lindl. (Gaumer 23664),
Lophiaris oerstedii (Rchb. f.) R. Jiménez & Carnevali
(Gaumer 23813), Encyclia belizensis (Rchb. f.) Schltr.
(Gaumer 23916), and Psygmorchis pusilla (L.) Dodson
& Dressler (Gaumer s.n.).
The Czech Eduard Klaboch (1852-1915), a nephew
of Benedikt Roezl, collected mostly in Ecuador but
was in Guatemala in 1885, from where we know of
his collections of Epidendrum elegans (Knowles &
Westc.) Rchb. f. and Spiranthes acaulis (J. E. Sm.)
Cogn. He was killed in Mexico.
John Hinckley Hart (1847-1911), an Englishman
who worked for the Department of Botany in Jamaica,
visited Bocas del Toro (Panama) between November
and December of 1885, where he collected extensively
in a region that had been scarcely explored. We know
of only one specimen of Orchidaceae among his
collections: Brassavola nodosa (L.) Lindl. (Hart 111).
Edward Shuttleworth (1829-1909) (Fig. 44D)
collected in 1873 for William Bull in Colombia. He
collected several new species of Masdevallia and was
successful to bring them back to England alive. After
his return from South America he founded, together
with John Carder (-1908), another of Bull’s collectors,
his own company under the name of Shuttleworth
and Carder. Like Shuttleworth, Carder was a gardener
by training and like him, worked for William Bull’s
nursery in Clapton, England, and collected plants in
South America. There are no accounts of Shuttleworth
or Carder traveling to Costa Rica, but the database of
the Missouri Botanical Garden lists two species as
collected by them in this country: Masdevallia astuta
Rchb. f. (Costa Rica, Shuttleworth & Carder, s.n.) and
Masdevallia demissa Rchb. f. (Costa Rica: collected
by Mr. Carder, and grown by Messrs. Shuttleworth
& Carder). Several orchid species were dedicated
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LANKESTERIANA 9(1—2), August 2009. © Universidad de Costa Rica, 2009.
to the two partners: Stanhopea shuttleworthii Rchb.
f., Restrepia shuttleworthi Rolfe, Masdevallia
shuttleworthi Rchb. f., Masdevallia carderi Rchb. f.
and Oncidium carderi Rchb. f. (Jenny, 2003: 36-37).
In the meantime, Carl Thieme collected in Honduras
between 1887 and 1890 (Fig. 45A). He sent his
specimens to Donnell Smith for identification. “The
collections of Dr. Thieme, now in the U. S. National
Herbarium, are the only important ones I know of from
Honduras before 1900. No Honduran, as far as I know,
became interested in the native flora until the 1940’s.”
(Williams, L.O., 1972). To him we owe Pelexia
hondurensis Ames (C. Thieme 785) and Physurus
vaginatus Hook. (C. Thieme 681).
“Shortly after his death, his collections of insects and
his manuscripts, which must be very important..., were
sent to Germany... (Pérez Estrada, 1952: 153).” A
man with a strange character, Thieme never admitted
women in his house. “Although a real man of science,
the rarities of his social life were not those of a scientist
but those of a human being who carries in his soul an
emotional disturbance and a grief that only death can
bring to an end. Through vague accounts of his fellow
countrymen it was known that he had been married and
that his wife, in whom he had set all of his confidence,
failed her duties in such a manner that the affronted
husband was brought to the brink of madness” (Pérez
Estrada, 1952: 152).
Reverend Heinrich Theophile Heyde and his nephew
Ernesto Lux collected extensively in Guatemala
between 1889 and 1894. Amongst their over 6,000
collections there are hundreds of orchids, mentioned in
Orchids of Guatemala and Belize by Ames & Correll
(1985). Oakes Ames described several new species
among their specimens: Habenaria macroceratitis
Willdenow var. brevicalcarata Ames (Heyde & Lux
6383, 1894), Odontoglossum majale (Heyde & Lux
3502, 1892), Sarcoglottis zamororae Ames (Heyde &
Lux 4625, 1893), and Sarcoglottis orbiculata Ames
(Heyde & Lux 3504, 1892).
John Donnell Smith (1829-1928) (Fig. 45B), a
retired captain of the Confederate Army and botanist at
the Johns Hopkins University worked with Anastasio
Alfaro and Pittier and made two trips to Costa Rica
in the 1890s” (Eakin, 1999: 141). Although he had
no special interest in orchids, his work as a botanist
was important and he collaborated with Pittier in his