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

ossenbaCh — Orchids and orchidology in Central America
His second expedition, in the company of his
countrymen Funck and Ghiesbreght (who took part as
a zoologist), departed for Havana in October of 1837
and went on to Mexico, resting at El Mirador of Carl
Sartorius. Here he met Galeotti, who had arrived in
Mexico three years earlier. They proceeded to the east:
“Linden first went to Yucatan, and thence to the States
of Chiapas and Tabasco; visiting and exploring the
districts of Ciudad Real, Cacaté, San Bartolo Titotoli,
Santiago de Tabasco, Teapa, Puyapatengo, etc. where
he formed by far the largest collection we have seen
from those parts of Mexico” (Hemsley, 1887: 126). He
continued from there to northern Guatemala returning
then to the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. “In 1839-40,
a disaster threw the smooth running of the expedition
into turmoil. Jean Linden fell seriously ill, stricken by
a violent attack of the vómito negro, which Europeans
call yellow fever. [...] A natural haemorrhage saved his
life, but it took a painful three-month recovery before
he could return to his collecting” (Ceulemans et al.,
2006: 57). Funck and Ghiesbreght re-embarked for
Brussels in September 1840. Linden was left on the
American continent and eventually returned home via
Havana and the United States.
A third and last expedition, between 1841 and 1844,
would take him to Venezuela and Colombia (where he
would meet again with Hartweg), in the company of
Joseph Schlim and Funck. “No later than October 1845
- he had been home barely 11 months - he entrusted
his old traveling companions, Nicholas Funck and
Louis-Joseph Schlim, with a mission to Venezuela and
Colombia”.
“[...] Linden did not leap blindly into the horticultural
trade but viewed his careers as a long-term proposition.
He began with an audacious and clever stroke that
proved vital in bringing himself to public attention. He
wrote to eminent English botanist, John Lindley, asking
him to draw up a scientific description of the orchids
discovered on his recent travels. [Lindley] accepted
Linden’s proposal and began his work of taxonomy
which resulted in the publication of Orchidaceae
Lindenianae, or Notes upon a collection of Orchids
Formed in Colombia and Cuba by Mr. J. Linden
(Lindley, 1846). [...] Linden’s maneuver was brilliant.
[...] This scientific recognition gained him entrance
to the world of professional botanists as well as
winning the confidence of growers and orchid lovers”
(Ceulemans et al., 2006: 105-106). After starting
business in Luxembourg, he established himself in
Brussels in 1851, where he found greater possibilities
to commercialize his plants and where he found clients
who where willing to pay considerable sums for new
species, especially orchids. From 1851 to 1861 he was
the director of the Royal Zoological and Botanical
Gardens at Leopold Park in Brussels. In addition to
the great number of species he introduced into Europe,
Linden had the merit of studying closely the conditions
in which the orchids grew in nature and to adapt the
cultural methods in Europe to these conditions, thus
creating in his greenhouses ‘real’ microclimates for
the plants he imported. Linden, who maintained close
relations with English horticulturists, quickly adopted
the new techniques of the Industrial Revolution and
built greenhouses of gigantic proportions in Ghent and
Brussels, becoming soon the favorite supplier of the
members of the upper classes. Among his clients he
even counted the Czar of Russia.
The Linden name is associated with a number
of important publications: L’Illustration horticole
(1854-1896), and above all Pescatorea (1860) and
Lindenia (1885-1906), continued by his son Lucien),
commonly ranked amongst the most magnificent
and outstanding works in orchid literature. Some
of the species the types of which were collected by
Linden and deserve to be mentioned are: Brachystele
minutiflora (A. Rich. & Gal.) Burns-Bal. (Linden
1237), Gongora truncata Lindl. (Linden s.n.), Notylia
orbicularis A. Rich. & Gal. (Linden 216), Oncidium
lindenii Brongn. (Linden s.n.), Prosthechea panthera
(Rchb. f.) W. E. Higgins (Linden 1236), Sarcoglottis
corymbosa Garay (Linden 1232), Stelis ciliaris Lindl.
(Linden 203), and Stelis purpurascens A. Rich. &
Gal. (Linden 211).
Linden had an enormous influence on European
orchidology during the last two thirds of the XIX
century. His nurseries, managed by his son Lucien
after his death, survived until World War I. “It can be
said of Jean Linden that, in addition to his scientific
merits, he also had outstanding commercial talents.
In him, moreover, scientific discipline, a feeling for
new discoveries, a love for botanical science and an
aesthetic sense were harmoniously combined. It is
these qualities that have made Linden an important
historical figure” (Ceulemans et al., 2006: 7).
LANKESTERIANA 9(1—2), August 2009. © Universidad de Costa Rica, 2009.
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