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

ossenbaCh — Orchids and orchidology in Central America
and Guatemala” (Hamilton, 1990: 1242-43). “It is
this… eccentric but exquisite study – in so gargantuan
a format as to make no more than 125 copies feasible
in the first print run – which more than justifies
Bateman’s place in the pantheon of orchid pioneers”
(Berliocchi, 2000: 53) (Fig. 28A).
Skinner was the key element in the creation of
Bateman’s book, because all the wealth and enthusiasm
of Bateman would have been of little use without
Skinner’s plants. Over half of the species illustrated
by Bateman in his monumental work had their origin
in collections by Skinner. “… in fact, the inclusion of
Guatemala in the work must have been due entirely
to the collections of Skinner” (Williams, 1972: 200).
Their friendship was strong, and in 1860 Skinner
took Bateman’s eldest son back to Guatemala, to see
the source of his discoveries (Herman, 1976: 59). In
gratitude for his great contributions to botany, Bateman
proposed Skinner as a member of the prestigious
‘Linnean Society’ in June 1866. The recommendation
was accepted shortly before Skinner’s death, on
December 6 of the same year. Bateman was deeply
religious and he strongly believed that hybridization
by man was interfering with the work of God (Rigby,
2000). Lindley named the genus Batemannia in honor
of this great British orchidologist. “His enthusiasm for
orchids remained strong throughout his long life, and
when he died, at eighty-six years of age, on November
27, 1897, the orchid world was irreparably saddened
by the loss of one of his most knowledge and energetic
pioneers” (Reinikka, 1964: 298).
William Jackson Hooker (1785-1865), Skinner’s
friend and from 1841 to 1865 Director of the Royal
Botanic Gardens at Kew, described in 1831 a beautiful
terrestrial orchid from Panama as Peristeria elata.
It had been sent in 1826 by Mr. Henry Barnard,
a Peruvian merchant, to Mr. Robert Harrison, of
Liverpool, in whose stove it flowered for the first time
in England in 1831 (Veitch, 1963: 128). This orchid,
known popularly as the ‘Holy Ghost Orchid’, is today
Panama’s National Flower. Although without formal
botanical training, William Hooker became one of
the most influential British botanists of his time. He
had managed a brewery before becoming Professor
of Botany at Glasgow University (1820-1840). After
the death of Banks, Kew Gardens was allowed to sink
into decline. The appointment of William Hooker
as its Director in 1841 revitalized the gardens and
herbarium... Hooker published tirelessly, particularly
in the journals which he edited, Botanical Miscellany
and The Journal of Botany. He was succeeded by his
son, Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817-1911).
In a letter to Hooker (1861) Charles Darwin referred
to his passion for orchids: “What frightful trouble you
have taken about Vanilla; you really must not take an
atom more; for the orchids are more play than real
work”.
Karl Theodor Hartweg (1812-1871) (Fig. 29A),
German by birth, was one of the first collectors hired by
the Royal Horticultural Society to explore the lands of
Mexico and Central America. He traveled to Mexico in
1836. “The principal object of his journey was to collect
and transmit living specimens or seeds of ornamental
plants and trees; but he also made large collections of
dried plants, the numerous novelties of which were
published by the late Mr. George Bentham [who was
the President of the Royal Society] between 1839 and
1842 under the title Plantae Hartwegianae 20 ”. “[He] was
told in his instructions most clearly to confine himself
as much as possible to mountainous districts, where
plants would be found that would not necessarily require
stove treatment” (Cox, 1955: 265). The contract signed
September 21, 1836, between Hartweg and John Lindley
read: “... the greatest object of your mission is to procure
... plants that are likely to be capable of enduring the
open air in England and that these objects will be more
completely attained the more you avoid what is called
the Tierra caliente and keep to the Tierra fría or the
upper limits of the Tierra templada” (Yearsley, 2008: 1).
In Mexico he met Sartorius, in whose estate (El
Mirador) he made important collections. A few months
after his visit there, he met Linden in Chiapas, around
1839-1840. “In a way reminiscent of Stanley’s later
encounter with Livingstone in the Congo, the two
explorers met at a bend on the trail leading to Comitán
[...], respectively exclaiming ‘Hartweg!’ and ‘Linden!´
though they had never seen each other before. Their
paths had nearly crossed several times during the
previous few years and each knew the other by
reputation - but chance never brought them together.
They were to meet again in Colombia in 1842...”
(Ceulemans et al., 2006: 55).
20 Bentham, G., 1838-57, Plantae Hartwegianae imprimis Mexicanas adjectis nonnullis Grahamianis enumerat novasque describit.
LANKESTERIANA 9(1—2), August 2009. © Universidad de Costa Rica, 2009.
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