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

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those available to any ruler of that time (Sosa & Arce,
1964: 80).
Basil Hall (1788—1844) a British naval officer from
Scotland, was probably the first European to set foot in
our region after the independence from Spain. In the
years of 1820 to 1822, Hall sailed in the command of
H.M.S. Conway along the Pacific coast of South and
Central America. In February of 1822 he anchored
in Panama, where he stayed for a few days, sailing
from there to Acapulco, in Mexico. While in Panama,
Hall discussed with one of the merchants of the place,
who had particularly studied the question of cutting
a passage across the isthmus. “He was of the opinion
that an immense and immediate advantage would be
gained by making a good road from sea to sea across
the isthmus; which might be done very easily, and at
an expense incalculably less than a canal could be cut,
under the most favourable circumstances...” (Hall,
1824: 158-159).
In 1825, an Englishman by the name of John Hale
signed a colonization agreement with the Costa Rican
government of Juan Mora Fernández. “The purpose of
Hale was to form this colony with North American and
British families…, and in the year 1826 he published a
pamphlet in the city of New York, with the intention of
making the new land known to the future settlers, a land
overflowing with natural richness, which only awaited
their arrival to become a paradise” (Hale, 1826).
“The natural history of foreign seas and countries is
abundantly studied by men who ‘live at home at ease’
in the midst of cabinets and books, dependent for their
specimens of birds, shells, or insects, on the stores
of dealers in such objects; but the number of those
who have undergone the arduous personal exertion of
collecting them, with a scientific spirit, in their native
haunts, is comparatively few. Of this small number
the life and adventures of Mr. Hugh Cuming present
one of the most remarkable instances of record”
(Dance, 1980: 477). Hugh Cuming (1791-1865) (Fig.
24A) landed in Central America in 1829, during one
of his multiple voyages. Born near Kingsbridge in
Devon, Cuming’s early interest in natural history was
fostered by well-known naturalist George Montagu
(1751-1815). Around 1820, Cuming traveled to
Chile, where he established a sail making business.
Interested in natural history, he sold his business
17 The name appears indistinctly as Henchman or Henchmann.
LANKESTERIANA
LANKESTERIANA 9(1—2), August 2009. © Universidad de Costa Rica, 2009.
and built a yacht designed with the sole purpose of
collecting specimens for the British Museum and
some botanical gardens. It was a schooner which he
named Discoverer, fitted out expressly for the purpose
of storing natural objects (Dance, 1980: 478). In 1831
he returned to England with a huge load of animals,
plants and shells for several museums and gardens.
“It may also be mentioned that Hugh Cuming, the
well-known and extensive collector of objects of
natural history, collected in Taboga I. and in the Pearl
Islands, Panama, and Montijo Bay, Chiriquí river,
around 1829, and there is a set of his plants in the Kew
Herbarium; but it is impossible to distinguish in many
cases which were collected within our limits, because
they are labeled ‘Panamá et Colombia occidentalis’”
(Hemsley, 1887: 133). According to Dance, Cuming
collected in our region in the Gulf of Panama, Pearl
Islands, Gulf of Chiriquí, Puntarenas (Costa Rica),
El Realejo (Nicaragua) and the Gulf of Fonseca,
in Honduras (Dance, 1980: 482). At least four of
Cuming’s specimens from Central America became
the types for new species described by Lindley:
Aspasia epidendroides (‘Cuming s.n.’), Oncidium
(=Chelyorchis) ampliatum (‘Cuming 1312’) (Fig.
24B), Dichaea panamensis (‘Cuming 1292’) and
Hexisea (=Scaphyglottis) bidentata (‘Cuming s.n.’).
All four are still quite common in Central America.
Cuming collected later in the Philippines and although
he was barely capable of signing his own name, his
botanical instinct led him to the discovery of thirtythree
new species of orchids. He was called, with
good reason ‘The Prince of Collectors’. For 20 years,
he acted as a dealer in natural history material, buying
and selling collections obtained by other naturalists
in many parts of the world.” Cuming developed a
reputation for returning “living” plants to England
(Herman, 1994: 14). “Such men as Cuming live after
their death, and hence the marvellous increase within
a very few years, in our knowledge of Nature, and of
God’s bounty to the world” (Dance, 1980: 495).
The father of Hugh Low ( 1824 - 1905 ), a
Scot by birth, established in 1820 one of the most
prestigious English nurseries in Clapton, near
London. Young Low followed soon his father’s
ideals. The firm was one of the first to receive
orchids from the Tropics. John Henchmann (1814