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214 A LANKESTERIANA C D Figure 61. A — Dora Emilia Mora de Retana (1940-2001). In Dressler, 2001: 1076. B — Joaquín Bernardo García Castro (1944-2001). Courtesy of Eduado Bitter. C — Marie Selby (1885-1971). Courtesy of Wesley Higgins, Marie Selby Botanical Gardens. D — The Marie Selby Botanical Gardens. In Luer, 1983: 13. LANKESTERIANA 9(1—2), August 2009. © Universidad de Costa Rica, 2009. B
ossenbaCh — Orchids and orchidology in Central America Rica’s most important orchid illustrator is therefore still unknown to the scientific community. Rafael Lucas named Odontoglossum hortensiae in 1979 in honor of his wife Hortensia Sevilla. Rebecca Tyson Northen (1911-2004) (Fig. 60C) played a vital role in the future preservation of Lankester Garden in Costa Rica, an institution that has become the leading research station for Orchidaceae in our region. She had made the acquaintance of Charles Lankester in the 1950s and was the leader of the campaign that led to the purchase of the garden by the Stanley Smith Horticultural Trust and the American Orchid Society, to be later donated to the University of Costa Rica. Unquestionable one of the most recognizable and popular personalities in the orchid community, Rebecca was friend and educator to countless individuals throughout our fraternity. A trained biologist, Rebecca traveled extensively with her husband Henry in Central and South America, studying and collecting orchids in the wild (Anonymous, 2004: 410). During the 1st World Orchid Conference, held in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1951, Gordon Dillon introduced her as “the mother and father of beginning orchid growers” (Watson, 2002: 12). Myth and reality: Costa Rica during the years of Dora E. Mora and Joaquín García. Dora Emilia Mora de Retana (1940-2001) (Fig. 61A) was for many years, after Rafael Lucas Rodríguez, the only Costa Rican orchidologist with a scientific training in Botany. She went her first steps in the field of Botany at the side of don Rafael Lucas. Soon however she began to shine with her own light until she became this almost mythical figure (although often controversial, especially because of her almost dictatorial way to conduct the affairs at Lankester Garden) that we will always remember. With the blessing of Rafael Lucas Rodríguez, she took over as Director of the Lankester Garden in the year of 1979, and kept that post until she retired in the year 2000. During the 22 years in which she was the Director, Dora Emilia had the merit of converting Lankester Garden in an obligatory meeting point for orchidologists from all over the world who visited Costa Rica. Slowly but surely, the Lankester Botanical Garden was transformed from a small farm of 10,7 hectares to a botanical garden of world fame. To the old farm of Charles Lankester came important 215 scientists such as Calaway Dodson, Robert Dressler, Carlyle Luer, Eric Hágsater, John Atwood, Rudolf Jenny, Henry Oakeley and many others. Knowledge about Costa Rican orchids increased enormously: Ames, in 1937, had registered for Costa Rica 133 genera and 959 species (Standley, 1937). In the Lista actualizada de las orquídeas de Costa Rica (1992), published by Dora Emilia Mora and Joaquín García, these numbers increased to 179 genera and 1,416 species. From 1984 on, Dora Emilia organized courses in orchidology at the University of Costa Rica. The first of these courses was given by Dr. Robert L. Dressler, who at the request of Dora Emilia spent several months in Costa Rica as an invited professor. The projects which resulted from the collaboration between Dora Emilia and Dr. John T. Atwood where the most important contributions to the international projection of the name of the Lankester Botanical Garden. Together with him she published fascicles 15 and 16 of Icones Plantarum Tropicarum, on the orchids of Costa Rica (1992-93), and the treatise about Maxillariinae y Oncidiinae in the Flora Costaricensis of the Field Museum of Chicago (1999). Her friends were always loyal and dedicated five new species to Dora Emilia Mora de Retana. Eric Hágsater named in her honor Epidendrum moraretanae, Günter Gerlach Kefersteinia retanae, Robert Dressler Sobralia doremiliae, Carlyle Luer Stelis morae and Calaway Dodson and Rodrigo Escobar Telipogon retanarum.Dora Emilia Mora de Retana’s scientific contributions remained on a domestic level. Her greatest achievement was to maintain during long years a botanical garden amidst enormous financial difficulties and to convert it into a research center to which she was able to attract the world’s leading orchidologists. The year 2001 was not a good one: barely six weeks after the death of Dora Emilia, Dr. Joaquín Bernardo García Castro (1944-2001) (Fig. 61B) passed away in San José. A good friend and collaborator of Dora Emilia Mora, we read about him in the words of Jorge Warner: “Dr. García had a great influence on the development of orchid cultivation as a hobby. He was always willing to share his knowledge with the beginners. He was a master among the orchid growers, who listened carefully as he explained, with in-depth experience and in a very simple form, such complicated LANKESTERIANA 9(1—2), August 2009. © Universidad de Costa Rica, 2009.
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LANKESTERIANA 9(1-2): 1-268. 2009.
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ut we believe that they resemble th
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