ISSN 1409-3871 VOL. 9, No. 1—2 AUGUST 2009 Orchids and orchidology in Central America: 500 years of history CARLOS OSSENBACH INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON ORCHIDOLOGY LANKESTERIANA INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON ORCHIDOLOGY Copyright © 2009 Lankester Botanical Garden, University of Costa Rica Effective publication date: August 30, 2009 Layout: Jardín Botánico Lankester. Cover: Chichiltic tepetlauxochitl (Laelia speciosa), from Francisco Hernández, Rerum Medicarum Novae Hispaniae Thesaurus, Rome, Jacobus Mascardus, 1628. Printer: Litografía Ediciones Sanabria S.A. Printed copies: 500 Printed in Costa Rica / Impreso en Costa Rica R Lankesteriana / International Journal on Orchidology No. 1 (2001)-- . -- San José, Costa Rica: Editorial Universidad de Costa Rica, 2001-- v. ISSN-1409-3871 1. Botánica - Publicaciones periódicas, 2. Publicaciones periódicas costarricenses LANKESTERIANA i TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 Geographical and historical scope of this study 1 Political history of Central America 3 Central America: biodiversity and phytogeography 7 Orchids in the prehispanic period 10 The area of influence of the Chibcha culture 10 The northern region of Central America before the Spanish conquest 11 Orchids in the cultures of Mayas and Aztecs 15 The history of Vanilla 16 From the Codex Badianus to Carl von Linné 26 The Codex Badianus 26 The expedition of Francisco Hernández to New Spain (1570-1577) 26 A new dark age 28 The “English American” — the journey through Mexico and Central America of Thomas Gage (1625-1637) 31 The renaissance of science 31 Enlightenment and Independence 33 The Age of Reason 33 The expedition of Alessandro Malaspina to the Pacific (1789-1794) 34 The Royal Botanic Expedition of Sessé and Mociño to New Spain (1787-1803) 40 The dispersal of the botanical collections 48 John Lindley and the Lambert herbarium 49 Augustin De Candolle and the “Ladies of Geneva” 49 The Cabinet of Natural History of Guatemala 53 The new republics 54 Times of change 54 Orchidomania 55 Britannia rules the waves 56 The German-Belgian connection 75 The Scandinavians 87 ‘Manifest Destiny’ 89 The Mexican-American war and the decline of British hegemony 89 The California gold rush and the interoceanic canal 93 William Walker in Central America 103 The Mexican Empire of Maximilian of Hapsburg 107 The Spanish Scientific Commission to the Pacific 1863-1866 108 Lindley and Reichenbach: change of the guard 108 The mysterious ‘señor’ Endrés 111 Other travelers in Central America (I): 1839-1870 113 The era of liberalism 116 German (and other) collectors in the second half of the XIX century 117 Hemsley and the ‘Biologia Centrali-Americana’ 124 The Botanical Station in Belize (1892-1921) 125 Central American orchids in England at the end of the XIX century 126 Costa Rica: the National Museum and the ‘Instituto Físico-Geográfico’ 128 LANKESTERIANA 9(1—2), August 2009. © Universidad de Costa Rica, 2009. ii LANKESTERIANA Other collectors at the end of the XIX century 133 Other travelers in Central America (II): 1870-1900 136 The New Empire 140 The ‘Big Stick’ policy 140 Rudolf Schlechter 141 Oakes Ames 143 Costa Rica: the years of ‘doña’ Amparo 145 Otón Jiménez 152 Charles Herbert Lankester 154 The orchids of the Panama Canal 161 The biological exploration of the Smithsonian Institution 161 The orchid garden of Charles Wesley Powell 162 The Tropical Station of the Missouri Botanical Garden 163 The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute 164 Other American collectors, 1900-1930 165 Paul C. Standley and the Central American floras 166 Northern Central America: 1900-1930 172 Yucatán, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras 173 Other collectors in Mexico during the first years of the XX century 177 The Lancetilla Experimental Station 180 From the ‘Good Neighbor’ policy to World War II 183 Orchidology in Central America, 1930-1950 184 The Flora of Panama (I) 185 The ‘great depression’ of Costa Rican orchidology 189 Henry Teuscher and the Montreal Botanical Garden 192 The Flora de Guatemala 192 The land of Percival Hildebart Gentle 194 The Mexican Renaissance (I) 198 Honduras and the Pan-American Agricultural School of ‘El Zamorano’ 200 The second half of the XX century 201 The Mexican Renaissance (II) 201 Heller and Hawkes: a Nicaraguan interlude 207 Clarence Klaus Horich: the last of the adventurers 209 Rafael Lucas Rodríguez and the Lankester Botanical Garden 210 Myth and reality: Costa Rica during the years of Dora E. Mora and Joaquín García 215 The Marie Selby Botanical Gardens 216 The Flora Mesoamericana 217 Fritz Hamer and the orchids of El Salvador and Nicaragua 218 Guatemala: the heirs of Baron von Tuerckheim 220 The Flora of Panama (II) 222 Icones Plantarum Tropicarum & Icones Orchidacearum 225 The National Orchid Societies 226 Acknowledgements 228 Literature cited 229 Index of persons and institutions 243 Index of plants 253 LANKESTERIANA 9(1—2), August 2009. © Universidad de Costa Rica, 2009. LANKESTERIANA 9(1-2): 1-268. 2009. ORCHIDS AND ORCHIDOLOGY IN CENTRAL AMERICA. 500 YEARS OF HISTORY * CARLOS OSSENBACH Centro de Investigación en Orquídeas de los Andes “Ángel Andreetta”, Universidad Alfredo Pérez Guerrero, Ecuador Orquideario 25 de Mayo, San José, Costa Rica [email protected] INTRODUCTION “plant geography”, botanical exploration in our region seldom tried to relate plants with their life zones. The Geographical and historical scope of this study. XIX century and the first decades of the XX century The history of orchids started with the observation and are best defined by an almost frenetic interest in the study of species as isolated individuals, sometimes identification and description of new species, without grouped within political boundaries that are always bothering too much about their geographical origin. artificial. With rare exceptions, words such as No importance was given to the distribution of orchids “ecology” or “phytogeography” did not appear in the within the natural regions into which Central America botanical prose until the early XX century. is subdivided. Although Humboldt and Bonpland (1807), and Exceptions to this are found in the works by Bateman later Oersted, had already engaged in the study of (1837-43), Reichenbach (1866) and Schlechter (1918), * The idea for this book was proposed by Dr. Joseph Arditti during the 1st. International Conference on Neotropical Orchidology that was held in San José, Costa Rica, in May 2003. In its first chapters, this is without doubt a history of orchids, relating the role they played in the life of our ancient indigenous people and later in that of the Spanish conquerors, and the ornamental, medicinal and economical uses they gave to these plants. It is not until the late XVIII century, but above all in the XIX century that we can talk about a history of orchidology, with the development of botanical science and the establishment of the bases of modern orchidology by Lindley. But the XIX century was also the time of legendary commercial collectors who, frequently with the complicity of men of science, collected with a frenzy often bordering on madness. Orchid knowledge became sometimes a synonym of orchid destruction. During the second half of the XX century the world developed a growing conscience of the negative impact of man on his natural habitat and I would like to believe that, in the future, orchidology will devote itself in an increasing manner to the study of orchids as a means to preserve them. Motivated by this belief, I decided to write this history, that will be more a story about orchids and men than a story about orchids and science, hoping that mankind will rediscover the harmonious relation with nature that characterized the life of the first inhabitants of our region. The great naturalist Alexander F. Skutch, who chose a life of study and contemplation amidst the forests of southern Costa Rica, expressed it in much better words: “Sometimes, before leaving the hilltop, I visit the old Indian burial ground. Despite promises of golden ornaments, I have never permitted anyone to excavate these graves, for I believe that we should treat the burials of alien races with the same respect that we desire for our own. Sometimes, in a meditative mood, I ask myself whether, from the moral standpoint, my title to this land is as valid as that of the men whose dust lies beneath the red clay. Perhaps the only answer to this perplexing question is that he most deserves to have the land who makes the best use of it. If my love of the mountains and rivers and forests is greater than theirs, if these things speak more meaningfully to me and I am more keenly appreciative of their beauty; if I strive harder to preserve this natural setting in its pristine splendor and to conserve the soil’s fertility — then perhaps I can justify my possession of this land that once belonged to them. If I fall short of the aborigines in these respects, then I — and the whole line of too-aggressive palefaces who transmitted to me what was once theirs — are but piratical intruders, whose right to this land would be hard to defend. Enlarging on this theme, it seems to me that, unless evolution miscarries, the ultimate possessor of the earth will be the race that most appreciates its grandeur and beauty and cherishes it most carefully, that rules it as a generous and compassionate lord instead of raping it like a greedy tyrant, as men have all too commonly done” (Skutch, 1971: 223-224). 2 LANKESTERIANA but above all the monumental account by Godman of the expedition of Malaspina, continued during the and Salvin on the Central American biology, in which first decades of the XIX century with the exploration Hemsley wrote the botanical part (Hemsley, 1883). by Cuming of the Pacific coast belt and the arrival of The enumeration of species in this work is followed Skinner in Guatemala.