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96 but his discovery of Anthurium scherzerianum Schott (Scherzer s.n., Guatemala) was of high importance for European horticulture, of great value as breeding stock for numerous ornamental hybrids (León, 2002: 139). If you travel to the Mexican village of Santecomapán (Veracruz), you will find a street called ‘Calle Don Benito’ (=‘Street of Mr. Benito’). Behind this name we find one of the less scrupulous orchid hunters in history, who during 20 years ransacked the forests of Mexico, Central and South America with a passionate mixture of ambition and madness: Benedict Roezl (1824-1885) (Fig. 37A). Born in Horomerice (Bohemia), he worked as a gardener in various European countries. He came to Belgium and became head gardener for the Belgian Government’s School of Agriculture, after working for five years for Louis van Houtte, proprietor of the Royal Nurseries in Ghent, where he was in charge of the orchid section Yearsley, 1996: 357). “[...] Roezl’s first attempt in the horticultural business had failed. He then turned his hand to the demanding task of collecting, working for himself and for the Londonbased Sander” (Ceulemans et al., 2006: 149). He emigrated to Mexico in 1854, founding a gardening establishment in the capital of the country, associated with the German Besserer (Regel, 1885: 330). In 1861 he established a nursery with European fruit trees in Santecomapán, with a French partner, a Monsieur Chabé (Block, 1985: 1204). “Nature has emptied here its Cornucopia; all illusions of those Europeans who come to tropical countries, often destroyed by reality - here they become true” (Otto, 1862: 59). “When fighting sharpened between the Mexicans headed by President Benito Juarez and the forces of Emperor Maximilian of Hapsburg, Roezl joined the ranks of Juarez and organized the defense of the city and port [of Santecomapán]. Because it was anticipated that the French allies of Maximilian would land their soldiers on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico… Juarez sent 200 men from his army to help Roezl. He proved to be a good commander. To frighten the superior forces of the French and deter them from landing, he constructed along the mall an odd defense. On carriage wheels he mounted long poles. From a distance, they looked like huge cannons. The ruse worked. The French … observed this ‘heavily armed’ port and gave up the idea of landing there” (Block, 1985: 1205). An untiring traveler, Roezl went from Mexico to LANKESTERIANA LANKESTERIANA 9(1—2), August 2009. © Universidad de Costa Rica, 2009. Cuba and then to California. In 1868 in Cuba, during the demonstration of an agricultural machine that he had invented for the production of ramie threads, he had lost his left hand that was replaced by an iron hook. This gave him great notoriety for the rest of his life. The Cubans gave him afterwards the nickname ‘El Moche’ (= ‘the cripple’). “He established ramie plantations in Cuba and built factories for the production of threads and fabric from the fibre [...] Roezl was named an honorary member of the Havana Academy of Science. His portrait was hung in the auditorium of the academy, and his original ramie processing machinery was exhibited at the Havana Museum” (Block, 1985: 1206). Boyle amuses us with the story of the collection by Roezl of Cattleya skinneri alba. In 1870, Roezl was in the neighborhood of Tetonicapan, Guatemala, and was ambushed by bandits who held him for ransom in a small village. Finally he was set free, and the priest of the village invited him to his house. “It stood beside the church, hardly less primitive. Roezl glanced at the roof of this structure in passing. It has been mentioned that the Indians have a pleasant custom of removing any orchid they find, notable for size and beauty, to set on the church roof or on trees around it. [...] It was with curiosity rather than hope, therefore, that Roezl scrutinised the airy garden. [...] In one big clump he saw something white — looked more closely — paused. The plant was Cattleya skinneri certainly. How should a white flower be there? All other collectors, perhaps, at that time, would have passed on, taking it for granted that some weed had rooted amid the clump. But for many years Roezl had been preaching that all Cattleyas of red or violent tint, so to class them roughly, must make albino ‘sports’. [...] A wondrous instinct guided him. [...] The end is foreseen. Roezl carried on his White Cattleya and sold it to Mr. George Hardy of Manchester for 280 guineas” (Boyle, 1901: 59-66). Roezl did not return to Santecomapán and donated his gardens there to his nephews Frank and Eduard Klaboch. He went afterwards to Panama, Colombia and Venezuela. From Boyle (1983: 139) we have the following anecdote: “The railway fare [from Panama] to Colón was sixty dollars at that time, and [Roezl] grudged the money. Setting his wits to work, Roezl discovered that the company issued tickets from station to station at a very low price for the convenience of its employees. Taking advantage of that system, he
ossenbaCh — Orchids and orchidology in Central America crossed the isthmus for five dollars...!”. He passed again through Panama and Costa Rica and went on San Francisco. After being once more in Colombia he returned to Europe. In 1872 he came back to America. He arrived in Colorado and traveled again to Mexico. He continued to Panama and Venezuela. From there to Cuba and once again to Veracruz. Again to Panama and on to Lima, Bolivia and Ecuador. One last time to Colombia, where he collected during six months for the Linden nurseries in Gant and Brussels, and finally back to Europe. His return was however delayed by eight months at the request of the new Mexican president, Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada. “The president wanted to create in Mexico City the most beautiful capital in the world. Tejada envisioned parks, wide avenues bordered by Eucalyptus trees, and broad plazas with impressive greenery. ‘Don Benito’ Roezl was appointed as architect for the project, and his success was overwhelming” (Block, 1985: 1208). He was possibly one of the collectors who caused more destruction, who plundered large regions and sent to Europe tons of orchids. It is believed that Roezl sent approximately one million plants to Europe, about two thirds of them orchids. As Roezl himself later admitted, he collected 3,500 orchids in the Sierra Madre, 8 tons in Panama and Venezuela, and 27,000 plants in Colombia. On February 10, 1873, Roezl wrote from Caracas: “... the first thing I did was to ask for the ‘Flor de Mayo’ (= ‘flower of May’)..., as they call here Cattleya mossiae... The answers were negative. I was told that it was extinguished in the neighborhood of La Guaira, as a result of the massive exports to Europe...” (Regel, 1874: 73-74). In 1884 he visited as an expert the International Gardening Exhibition in Saint Petersburg and was awarded the Imperial Russian Order of Stanislaus, for his lifelong achievements. Finally, he returned to Smichow, near Prague, where he died in 1885 and was buried in Prague. Many important people attended his funeral and even the Kaiser was there. The principal horticultural periodicals of Europe applauded the idea of an international committee to erect a monument to this indefatigable explorer. The monument erected in Prague was constructed by Professor Myslbak, a wellknown sculptor in that city (Fig. 37B). Among those who contributed to the monument were the largest European orchid nurseries of that time: Veitch, Sanders and Linden, who had benefited mostly from his collections (Anonymous, 1890; 3). Strangely enough, although Roezl had lost his left hand, the statue shows him with both hands! Numerous species were described based on his collections, most of them by Reichenbach who published in 1877 his Orchideae Roezlianae nova seu criticae. Among the species that he discovered and those dedicated to him, we find: Bletia roezlii Rchb.f. , Cattleya roezlii Rchb.f., Dracula benedictii (Rchb.f.) Luer, Dracula roezlii (Rchb.f.) Luer, Lepanthes roezliana Luer & R. Escobar, Masdevallia benedictii Rchb.f., Maxillaria roezlii Rchb. f. ex Linden, Miltoniopsis roezlii (Rchb.f.) God. Leb. (Fig. 37C), Paphiopedilum roezlii (Rchb.f.) Pfitzer, Pescatoria roezlii Rchb.f., Phragmipedium roezlii (Rchb.f.) L.A. Garay, Pleurothallis roezlii Rchb.f.., Sobralia roezlii Rchb.f., Telipogon benedictii Rchb.f., Telipogon roezlii Rchb.f., and Zygopetalum roezlii Rchb.f. If anybody wanted to blame orchidology for being one of the causes of the destruction of nature, he would have in collectors like Roezl his best argument. We must however take into account that what today is considered a crime, was seen as a prowess during the XIX century. Boyle gives a terrifying account of the methods by which orchids were collected during those years: “[The collector] hires natives, twenty or fifty or a hundred, as circumstances advise, and sends them out to cut down trees, building meantime a wooden stage of sufficient length to bear the plunder expected. This is used for cleaning and drying the plants brought in. Afterwards, if he be prudent, he follows his lumbermen, to see that their indolence does not shirk the big trunks – which give extra trouble naturally, though they yield the best and largest return. It is a terribly wasteful process. If we estimate that a good tree has been felled for every three scraps of Odontoglossum which are now established in Europe that will be no exaggeration. And for many years past they have been arriving by the hundreds or thousands annually! But there is no alternative. An European cannot explore the green wilderness overhead; if he could, his accumulations would be so slow and costly as to raise the proceeds to an impossible figure. The natives will not climb, and they would tear the plants to bits. Timber has not value in those parts as yet, but the day approaches when Government must LANKESTERIANA 9(1—2), August 2009. © Universidad de Costa Rica, 2009. 97
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