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ossenbaCh — Orchids and orchidology in Central America
Ames, to say that he would have to leave, with some
regrets, because he and his wife Terua could not get
by on his salary from the Herbarium. He was startled
when Ames flew into a rage and accused Louis of
treachery for even thinking of leaving, pushing the
manuscript of the Orchidaceae of Mexico across the
desk to Louis, saying that Louis was welcome to go,
and to take his draft with him, because it would never
be published by Harvard” (Greenwood, 1992: 128).
During his brief stay at Harvard he finished the first
two parts of the Orchidaceae for the Flora of Panama
that were published in 1946. He collected a great
number of species and many were dedicated to him,
among others: Bulbophyllum williamsii A.D. Hawkes,
Corallorhiza williamsii Correll, Cyclopogon williamsii
C.H. Dodson & R. Vásquez Ch., Cyrtochilum
williamsianum (Dodson) Dalström, Epidendrum
williamsii C.H. Dodson, Lepanthes williamsi Salazar
& Soto Arenas, Malaxis williamsii Ames, Maxillaria
williamsii C.H. Dodson, Pleurothallis williamsii
Ames, Scelochilus williamsii C.H. Dodson, and
Stelis williamsii Ames. He was a leading pioneer in
tropical plant taxonomy, and that interest led him to
return to the tropics in the 1950s. In Honduras, he
helped to establish and direct a large herbarium at
the Escuela Agrícola Panamericana [‘El Zamorano’],
and additionally developed a regional natural history
library and launched the journal Ceiba. It was in
Ceiba where he published his major contributions
to the orchid flora of our region, after his Orchids of
Panama: The Orchidaceae of Mexico (1951) and An
Enumeration of the Orchidaceae of Central America,
British Honduras and Panama (1956).
During his previous travels to Central America and
his ten-year stay in Honduras, Williams also collected
in Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa
Rica, where he became a good friend of Charles H.
Lankester. “A number of times we had the pleasure of
having don Carlos in our house in Honduras and here
in the United States, and to visit him in his home in
Costa Rica” (Williams, 1969: 860). After Ames’ death
in 1950, Williams became the undisputed authority in
Central American orchids. In 1960, he joined the staff
of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago,
and by 1964 had become head of the department
of Botany. Known as a capable and approachable
administrator, he rebuilt the department, revived its
189
floristic programs, and developed grant support. His
botanical collections numbered more than 43,000.
Following his retirement, Williams continued his
research and supervised the completion of the Flora
of Guatemala. Following his death in 1991, his widow,
Terua, wrote the index and final volume of this work.
Williams’ library and private herbarium are now part
of the Marie Selby Botanical Garden.
The ‘great depression’ of Costa Rican orchidology
“During the 1930s, agricultural experiment
stations, natural history museums, and
botanical gardens were shut down or had their
budgets curtailed even further. The National
Museum of Costa Rica was incorporated
into the University of Costa Rica, following
a common pattern in Latin America during
the 1930s and 1940s. Even so, the Museum
remained almost moribund until the 1960s…
(McCook, 1999: 120)”
In the 1930s, Costa Rican orchidology began
to languish. Only Lankester continued with the
exploration of the country, although his legendary
capacity for the discovery of new species seemed to
be coming slowly to an end. Aside from the economic
troubles brought by the Great Depression, it was
simply too much for the small republic to overcome
the departure of Pittier to the United States (1905) and
A. C. Brade to Brazil (1910); the premature deaths of
Biolley (1908), Tonduz (1921), Wercklé (1924), and
Sancho (1929); the retirement of Alberto M. Brenes in
1930, the reduced botanical activity of Otón Jiménez
due to his multiple business affairs and the voluntary
exile of Amparo de Zeledón to Honduras. Although
several collectors visited Costa Rica during that
period, it would take the country until the early 1970s
to recover from such losses.
The Austrian Biological Expedition to Costa
Rica (1930) was perhaps the last attempt to restore
European Botany to the leading role it had played
during the preceding centuries. The expedition
arrived in Costa Rica in March, 1930, after stopping
in Trinidad and Venezuela, where several collections
were made. The group of scientists, which stayed
in Costa Rica until the month of August, was led by
the ornithologist Moriz Sassi (Bauernfeind, 1966:
LANKESTERIANA 9(1—2), August 2009. © Universidad de Costa Rica, 2009.