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ossenbaCh — Orchids and orchidology in Central America
He followed the bulldozers through country hardly
explored botanically and still unlumbered and the
trees being knocked down by the road gangs made for
extremely rich collecting. Pollard’s collection became
very important, with many rare plants, and turned
soon into a focus of interest for orchid enthusiasts
and specialists, who came often to visit, among them
Louis O. Williams, Calaway H. Dodson and Robert L.
Dressler. All became friends and Dressler’s interest
in Mexican plants led to collaboration and to the joint
authorship of The Genus Encyclia in Mexico (Dressler
& Pollard, 1974), Pollards most important contribution
to Mexican orchidology. Although he published some
eighteen papers on Mexican orchids, Glenn Pollard
regarded The Genus Encyclia as his outstanding effort,
and the vindication of his hard work and long studies.
A loner by nature, his poor health in later years
reinforced his dislike for people in groups. Despite this,
he was friendly and warm with people he liked, though
not everyone met with his approval (Greenwood, 1978:
4). His friends named in his honor Encyclia pollardiana
(Withner) Dressler & Pollard, Malaxis pollardii L.O.
Williams, Lepanthes pollardii H.A. Hespenheide and
Oncidium pollardi, Dodson & Hágsater. Withner and
Harding honored him with the new genus Pollardia.
As a founding member of the Mexican Association of
Orchidology, Pollard took an active role in attempts to
widen Mexican interest in the orchids of the country.
Pollard died in Oaxaca, on March 27, 1976.
“The Greenwoods of the Canadian Embassy in
Washington have just left. You may have heard of them,
their main interest is in the cacti and in photography,
but they also have an interest in orchids and quite a
bit of knowledge of them” (R. Oberg in a letter to R.
Dressler, August 11, 1960) (Fig. 58D). Edward Warren
Greenwood (1918-2002) first came to Mexico with his
wife Mary in 1958-1959, when they spent two weeks
in Mexico City. There they met plant explorer Tom
MacDougall, and Drs. Helia Bravo and Eizi Matuda.
During this same vacation, Ed met Glenn Pollard and
Ruth Oberg when he went to Oaxaca. At that time, the
Greenwoods decided to eventually retire to Mexico.
Ed Greenwood worked with the Canadian Embassy, in
Washington D.C., from 1959 to 1962. He kept in touch
with the Mexican botanists of the National University,
and a close relationship was established with Helia
Bravo. Helia had been invited by the Greenwoods to
205
stay at their apartment in Washington, during her stay
studying the cactus collections at the United States
National Herbarium. Helia always remembered him as
a good friend and a very good cook. “He had a keen
sense of humor and was a superb raconteur” (Dressler,
2002). Many of Ed’s pictures of cacti illustrate Helia
and Hernando Sánchez-Mejorada’s work on Mexican
cactii (1991). It is to be remembered that Greenwood,
at that time, followed mainly his interests in the
Cactaceae (Reddoch, 2002: 251). After completing
the Washington assignment, Ed returned to Ottawa
where he started the Native Orchid Location Survey of
the Ottawa District, which he later extended to all of
Canada. The Greenwoods continued to spend annual
leave in Mexico, except during the couple of years when
Ed was working in Great Britain. “While on vacation in
Oaxaca, in the summer of 1963, Eric Hágsater came
through on his way to Chiapas, meeting Ed and Mary
at Pollard’s place, starting an enduring friendship and
collaboration. In July 1964, Ed and Mary traveled with
Ruth Oberg, the orchid and cacti lover living in Oaxaca,
to Jalisco and Colima, where they met Eric Hágsater
and collected together for a couple of weeks”. “In 1969,
Ed Greenwood moved to London, England, where he
was attached to the Canadian High Commission. On his
weekends he spent time in the Kew Herbarium and in
the libraries at Kew and the British Museum. During
his stay in London he amassed an incredible amount of
literature about Mexican orchids, mostly photocopies of
original descriptions, books on the subject, pictures of
type and critical specimens, and became very familiar
with the historical collections housed in European
herbaria” (Light et al., 2002: v). He also took the
opportunity to travel to Vienna: “In early May I shall be
in Vienna for a few days working in the Reichenbach
Herbarium. Perhaps there may be some items there
which I might look up for you…” (In a letter to R.
Dressler, March 23, 1973). Ed Greenwood returned
to Canada and retired in 1973. At the end of that year
he departed with Mary to Mexico, where he stayed
for the next 20 years. When the Greenwoods decided
to set up their home in Oaxaca, the most productive
period in Mexican orchidology began. Shortly after
the Greenwoods moved to Mexico permanently, Eric
Hágsater revived the old orchid society “Amigos de las
Orquídeas”. They began publishing Orquídea (Mex.),
where Ed became one of the editors.
LANKESTERIANA 9(1—2), August 2009. © Universidad de Costa Rica, 2009.