LANKESTERIANA 20(2): 167–216. 2020. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.15517/lank.v20i2.42849 RUDOLF SCHLECHTER’S SOUTH-AMERICAN ORCHIDS III. SCHLECHTER’S “NETWORK”: NORTH AND NORTHEAST BRAZIL, THE GUIANAS CARLOS OSSENBACH1,2,4 & RUDOLF JENNY3 1Jardín Botánico Lankester, Universidad de Costa Rica, P.O.Box 302-7050 Cartago, Costa Rica 2Orquideario 25 de mayo, Sabanilla de Montes de Oca, San José, Costa Rica 3Jany Renz Herbarium, Swiss Orchid Foundation, Switzerland 4Corresponding author:
[email protected] ABSTRACT. The third chapter of the series about Rudolf Schlechter’s South-American orchids presents concise biographical information about those botanists and orchid collectors who were related to Schlechter and worked in north and northeastern Brazil, as well as in the three Guianas. As an introduction, a brief geographical outline is presented, dividing the northern territories in four zones: the Amazon basin, the Araguaia-Tocantins river basin, the Northeast region and the Guianas. It is followed by a short mention of the historical milestones in the history of orchids in these regions during the preceding centuries. KEY WORDS: Amazon River, biography, Brazil Nordeste, history of botany, Orchidaceae, Roraima, Tocantins River The Amazonas and Tocantins River basins, and the Finally we have the Brazilian states that form the Northeast region. As we have read in the previous coastline from Pará in the north to Espirito Santo in chapter, southern Brazil (taking the capital city of the south, namely eastern Maranhão, Piauí, Ceará, Brasilia as its northernmost point) is part of the La Plata Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Alagoas, River basin, which drains into the southern Atlantic Sergipe, and Bahia, which occupy the rest of northern Ocean (Ossenbach & Jenny 2019: 207, fig.