orchids and orchidology in central america. 500 ... - lankesteriana.org

ossenbaCh — Orchids and orchidology in Central America
Spiranthes pringlei var. minor Greenm., Spiranthes
nelsonii Greenm., and Spiranthes tenuiflora Greenm.
“Without any doubt, Carlos Alberto Purpus [1851-
1942] figures among the most productive of collectors
who have been in our country. His collections in
Mexico possibly exceed 17,000 examples…” (Sousa
Sánchez, 2002). After having completed his studies
in Pharmacy, Purpus traveled in 1887 to the United
States, to collect plants for a nursery in Darmstadt,
Germany, the city where he had studied. He visited
Mexico for the first time in 1898, collecting on the
peninsula of Baja California and in 1905 he arrived
at Veracruz, at the Hacienda El Mirador of Florentino
Sartorius in Zacuapam, Veracruz. Zacuapam would
be his residence and center of operations for the rest
of his days. In 1907, Purpus was named a botanical
collector, without pay, of the University of California,
Berkeley. His collections of Mexican plants would be
in charge of Townshend Stith Brandegee, who would
make the determinations. The collections by Purpus
led to a series of articles published by Brandegee,
between 1909 and 1912, under the title of Plantae
Mexicanae Purpusianae. The Mexican Revolution
broke out shortly after Purpus had settled in Veracruz.
Purpus wrote: “Because of the conditions of insecurity
that prevail in many states, I could only explore in
Veracruz and part of Puebla. Thus, I visited Tehuacán
and Esperanza. It would have been very risky to
make more distant excursions. The Zapatistas were
everywhere” (In a letter to Brandegee, 1914). The
year 1908 was one of the pleasantest of Purpus’ life in
Mexico: he was visited by his brother, Joseph Anton,
who worked as an inspector of the Botanical Garden
of Darmstadt (Germany) in the company of his chief,
director of said garden, and by his friend Brandegee.
“In 1913 he made a series of trips to Chiapas, a state in
which there are data [from his collections] until 1925.
His localities in Chiapas are always related to coffee
plantations, property of Germans who emigrated from
Guatemala during the 1890’s, especially to the region
of Soconusco” (Sousa Sánchez, 2002). In 1915 a period
of recession begins, owing to lack of communication,
and to the dangers implicit in the Revolution. During
this period the letters of Purpus are a series of dreams
that the normal lines of communication may return
soon, of unrealized plans of future visits to Chiapas
and even to South America. Otto Nagel, of whom
179
we will talk later and who became a good friend of
Purpus, came to Veracruz in 1925 and stayed at his
house for several years (Hartmann, 1968: 191). But
Purpus never left El Mirador. There he died, in the
hacienda that will always have a place of honor in
the history of the orchids of northern Mesoamerica,
on January 17, 1941, being 90 years of age. Purpus
collected many orchids, among them the following
ones, new to science. Many of them carry his name:
Encyclia purpusii Schltr. (Purpus s.n.), Epidendrum
incomptoides Ames (Purpus 299), Govenia purpusii
Schltr. (Purpus 2613), Lepanthes congesta R. E.
Schultes (Purpus 1355), Odontoglossum purpusii
Schltr. (Purpus s.n.), Pleurothallis purpusii Schltr.
(Purpus s.n.), Sarcoglottis purpusiorum Schltr.
(Purpus s.n.), Scaphyglottis purpusii Schltr. (Purpus
2153), Stanhopea purpusii Schltr. (Purpus s.n.),
Stelis confusa Schltr. (Purpus 2122), and Stelis
purpusii Schltr. (Purpus 2111). His friend and mentor
Brandegee honored him with a genus of the Rosaceae:
Purpusia.
Johann Heinrich Rudolf Schenck (1860-1927) had
collected in Namibia (German West Africa) in 1885
and Brazil (1885-1887), from where we know of his
collection of the type of Pogoniopsis schenckii Cogn.
(Schenck 2765, Rio de Janeiro). In 1908-1909 he
collected in Mexico in the company of Joseph Anton
Purpus, brother of C. A. Purpus. During a short time
they coincided at the hacienda El Mirador with T. S.
Brandegee. Schenck was known for his Text Book of
Botany at High Schools (1894), that was used until the
second half of the XX century, and for the publication
of the famous Vegetationsbilder (=‘Images of nature’),
that were published between 1902 and 1920.
While the intention of Brandegee was to prepare
herbarium specimens, J. A. Purpus and Dr. Schenck
collected primarily living plants, especially succulents,
that were to form part of the collection of the Darmstadt
Botanical Garden. The work rhythm to which C. A.
Purpus was accustomed, plus the hardships of the
regions through which they traveled, were too much
for the European botanists; J. A. Purpus fell ill with
malaria and Dr. Schenck with intestinal problems.
On October 14, 1909, they embarked in Veracruz
for the return journey to Europe (Sousa Sánchez,
2002). Among his Mexican collections Schlechter
discovered the type of Epidendrum subuliferum Schltr.
LANKESTERIANA 9(1—2), August 2009. © Universidad de Costa Rica, 2009.