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Ames’ approaches. Ames always wanted Brenes to
collect for him but complained to Lankester: “Brenes is
as dumb as a turtle and behaves like one. He belongs,
I imagine, to that human group that is characterized
by an unlimited capacity to take offense at well meant
attentions...” (Letter to Lankester, May 2, 1925). Pittier
complained also: “I must state that when I departed from
Costa Rica in 1900, I left a herbarium of several thousands
of plants [...] In 1939, [...] this collection still existed in
perfect conditions. Therefore, I cannot understand the
title of ‘founder of the Costa Rican Herbarium’, which
Mr. Brenes attributes to himself in several publications.
I say this without diminishing his merits as an active
collector, but making clear that this does not constitute
a botanist...” (Letter to Mariano Montealegre, October
13, 1943). Brenes taught at the best schools of Costa
Rica and wanted to retire to Switzerland, where he
planned to write a great flora of Costa Rica. According to
Echavarría Campos, he had a girlfriend in Switzerland,
Edda by name, and he had promised to marry her and
bring her to Costa Rica once he had made enough
money. However, he lost everything in the earthquake
of Cartago (1910) and told his friend afterwards that
“he wanted Edda to believe him dead, because he had
nothing more to offer…” (Echavarría Campos, 1966: 21,
61). His name is still respected in the country. Brenesia,
the scientific journal of the Department of Natural
History of the National Museum, was named after him.
Schlechter praised Brenes’ collections, because they
contained not only precise references as to the localities
of collection, but also indications of the color of the
flowers, an information of great value for the scientist.
According to Schlechter, this data gives us “for the first
time a more precise image of the plants in question,
since previous collectors considered this indications to
be superfluous” (Schlechter, 12923: 159). We conclude
with Standley: “How fortunate botanical science would
be if only there were more collectors of equal industry
and discrimination!” (Standley, 1937: 53).
Costa Rican fine arts during the first decades of the
century were equally attracted by the magic of orchids.
The famous poet Lisímaco Chavarría (1878-1913)
wrote in 1913 his romantic poem Manojo de Guarias 36
(= ‘A handful of Guarias’): “To you I offer the delicate
bouquet of fresh native parasites…” Chavarría incurs
LANKESTERIANA
LANKESTERIANA 9(1—2), August 2009. © Universidad de Costa Rica, 2009.
in the popular error of confusing epiphytes with
parasites. The German painter Emilio Span (1869-
1944) came to Costa Rica in 1906, after having spent
several years in Guatemala. A teacher at the Faculty
of Fine Arts, Span traveled through Costa Rica’s
countryside, portraying the beauties of nature, among
them many orchids (Loaiza, 1973: 41) (Fig. 48C). As
Lankester wrote to Ames in 1927: “…Emilio Span,
an elderly artist who has recently made with Brade’s
help a really fine collection of ‘botanical’ orchids…”
Together with Enrique Echandi and Tomás Povedano,
Span was chosen, in 1925, to represent Costa Rica at
the Panamerican Art Exposition, sponsored by the Los
Angeles Museum.
We know very little about Guillermo Acosta
Piepper (1878-1955) (Fig. 48D). He was a farmer,
merchant, miner and Political Chief of San Ramón.
His grandfather, August Piepper, had arrived in Costa
Rica in 1854 on board of the Antoinette, together with
Hoffmann, von Frantzius, and Carmiol, to form part
of the German colony which Baron von Bülow had
founded in La Angostura. He had been sent by his family
to London, where he studied business administration,
returning to San Ramón to manage the family’s fortune,
which was considerable. Acosta sporadically collected
orchids and sent a small collection to Schlechter, who
described it in his Additamenta ad Orchideologiam
Costaricensem (1923) under the title of Orchidaceae
novae et rariores collectorum variorum in Costa Rica
collectae. In this collection, Schlechter found a new
genus, that he dedicated to don Guillermo: Acostaea.
It is surprising that Reichenbach made no reference
whatsoever to this species, having seen the magnificent
illustration and detailed description that had been sent
to him by Endrés (Fig. 49A). Other species were also
dedicated to Acosta by Schlechter: Dichaea acostaei
Schltr., Lepanthes acostaei Schltr., Maxillaria acostaei
Schltr., Pleurothallis acostaei Schltr., Scaphyglottis
acostaei (Schltr.) C. Schweinf., and Stelis acostaei
Schltr. We don’t know how Acosta made contact with
Schlechter. It might have been through Alberto M. Brenes
(who was also a native of San Ramón), or through his
family’s contacts in Germany (Acosta’s mother, Adelina
Piepper, was a German citizen, and don Guilermo
married another German, Herminia Beer). Acosta was
36 ‘Guaria is in Costa Rica the vernacular name for orchids, especially Cattleyas. Guarianthe skinneri Dressler & W. E. Higgins,
Costa Rica’s National flower, is commonly known as ‘Guaria Morada’, the ‘Purple Guaria’.