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

54
The new republIcs
By the law of the seas and the distances,
America can only belong to itself”
Fray Servando Teresa de Mier (1811)
Times of change. After independence in 1821, the
Central American republics joined the ephemeral
Mexican empire of Agustín de Iturbide. The Central
American Federation was constituted in 1825, under
the name of United Provinces of the Center of America.
Mexico became a federal republic in 1824, under the
name of the United Mexican States.
In those confusing times, the spirit of Enlightenment
remained present for a short period of time. “On
October 5, 1825 [José Cecilio del Valle] addressed
a letter to the Secretary of the Supreme Government
proposing an expedition, financed by European
and Guatemalan investors. He even proposed that
Alexander von Humboldt should come back to
America, suggesting he start with the Central American
regions. The German never came back, but a large
number of botanists started exploring the area during
the XIX and XX centuries” (Brading, 1991: 639).
In Mexico, Juan Martínez de Lexarza (1785-1824),
Pablo de La Llave (1773-1833) and Vicente Cervantes
(1755-1829) continued the work started by Sessé and
Mociño, of whose expedition Cervantes had been a
member. A word about Cervantes: such was his prestige
in Mexico, where he held the chair of Botany, that the
Mexican government, although he was a Spaniard,
maintained him in his position after independence. He
directed the Chair and the Botanical Garden until his death,
and was also in charge of the pharmacy of the Hospital
of San Andres, where he set up an excellent chemical
laboratory. Cervantes was a brilliant investigator of the
Mexican flora and described many new species. He kept a
close scientific relationship with Antonio José Cavanilles,
the great Spanish botanist, to whom he sent large amounts
of material, and had also connections with Alexander von
Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland, whose friendship he had
made during their stay in Mexico. William Bullock, who
arrived in Mexico in 1823, visited the Botanical Garden
and praised its beauty and the perfection with which the
plants were kept. He met Professor Cervantes and was
thankful for receiving a total of 31 plants, for which
Cervantes provided the botanical names. No orchids are
found in this list (Bullock, 1825: 147-152).
LANKESTERIANA
LANKESTERIANA 9(1—2), August 2009. © Universidad de Costa Rica, 2009.
Lexarza’s work, Novorum Vegetabilium Descriptiones,
was published in 1824-1825. One hundred species
where described, in conjunction with La Llave and
Cervantes, as new to science. The Orchidianum
Opusculum that appeared in the second fascicle of
1825 includes the descriptions of 50 new species
of Orchidaceae distributed in 20 genera, of which
4 proved to be new. Lexarza proposed here a new
classification of orchids, based on an analysis of their
seeds and pollen.
“Lexarza gave promise of making an accomplished
botanist, but he attempted too much and was cut
off young. Several of his orchids have not been
identified in consequence of their descriptions being
imperfect” (Hemsley, 1887: 122). The Mexican state
of Michoacán, where most of the plants described
in the Novorum Vegetabilium Descriptiones were
collected, lies outside of our limits. It is therefore
not clear if Lexarza should be included in this story.
However, there are evidences that he, or La Llave (or
both) collected plants from other families in the area
of Veracruz, many of which can also be found in other
regions of Central America.
The following species, among others, were
dedicated to Lexarza: Cypripedium lexarzae Scheidw.,
Macroclinium lexarzanum (Hágs. & González)
Dodson, Maxillaria lexarzana Soto Arenas & Cabrera
and Notylia lexarzana Hágs. & González. On the other
hand, La Llave is remembered in Epidendrum llavei
Steud. and Schiedeella llaveana Schltr. And both
honored their friend Cervantes with Rhynchostele
cervantesii (La Llave & Lex.) Soto Arenas & Salazar.
The works of Lexarza, De La Llave and Cervantes
are the last examples of ‘Spanish botany’ in Central
America. It does not surprise us therefore, that many
of their collections went the same way as those of the
great Spanish expeditions of the preceding century and
ended up lost in the hands of Spanish bureaucracy.
In 1836, Joaquín Velásquez, assigned to the Mexican
Legation in Rome, brought with him a small collection
of dried plants and seeds collected in Guatemala, which
formed the basis of the Florula Guatimalensis (1840)
of Antonio Bertoloni (1775-1869) although no species
of Orchidaceae are mentioned in this work. Bertoloni
was the most important Italian botanist of his time and
was also interested in exotic plants that he received
from his friends. His collections of samples are kept in