BIBLIOASIA APR – JUN 2018 Vol. 14 / Issue 01 / Feature 2 Nadia Wright, a historian, Linda Locke, a Joaquim. Intrigued as to why Ridley’s In an 1894 paper delivered to the great grand-niece of Agnes Joaquim, and account had been replaced by a tale prestigious Linnean Society in England, Harold Johnson, an orchid enthusiast, of chance discovery in various stories Ridley reiterated that Vanda Hookeriana collaborated in this historiography of about the flower in Singapore, Wright had been “successfully crossed” with V. Singapore’s national flower, theVanda Miss decided to investigate. teres, Lindl., “producing a remarkably Joaquim. Locke is a former advertising CEO handsome offspring, V. x Miss Joaquim.” and the co-author of the recently released children’s book: Agnes and her Amazing This paper was published unaltered in The Birth of a Bloom 4 Orchid. Johnson and Wright’s second 1896. Ridley, who lived to be 100 years edition of Vanda Miss Joaquim: Singapore’s In 1893, Agnes Joaquim, or possibly her old, never wavered in his statement. National Flower & the Legacy of Agnes & brother Joe (Joaquim P. Joaquim), showed When Isaac Henry Burkill (Ridley’s suc- Ridley will be published in late 2018. Locke Henry Ridley a new orchid. After carefully cessor at the Botanic Gardens) checked and Johnson are Singaporeans, while examining the bloom, having it sketched, all of Ridley’s herbarium specimens Wright is an Australian. and preserving a specimen in the her- and redid the labels, he saw no reason barium of the Botanic Gardens, Ridley to dispute Ridley and recorded Joaquim sent an account of the orchid’s origin and as the creator. appearance to The Gardeners’ Chronicle, a Ridley sent cuttings of Vanda Miss respected English horticulture periodical Joaquim to Sir Trevor Lawrence, Presi- While doing research on the Armenian founded in 1841. He wrote: dent of the Royal Horticultural Society community in Singapore back in the and one of the world’s leading orchidists, 1990s, Australian historian Nadia Wright “A few years ago Miss Joaquim, where it was nurtured in his orchid house read an account of how the daughter of a a lady residing in Singapore, at Burford Lodge, in Dorking, England. prominent Armenian family in Singapore, well-known for her success as a Flowering for the first time in Europe in wAgnes Joaquim1(Ashken Hovagimian), had horticulturist, succeeded in cross- 1897, Vanda Miss Joaquim was displayed stumbled upon a never-before-seen orchid ing Vanda Hookeriana, Rchb. f., and at the Royal Horticultural Show in Lon- bloom by accident in the family garden. V. teres, two plants cul tivated in don, winning a First Class Certificate. In the authoritative The Gardeners’ almost every garden in Singapore. In describing the event, The Gardeners’ Chronicle, published on 24 June 1893, Unfortunately, no record was kept as Chronicle noted that “the plant was however, Henry Nicholas Ridley, the first to which was used as the male. The obtained from a cross between V. teres Director of the Singapore Botanic Gar- result has now appeared in the form and V. Hookeriana some years ago by dens (1888−1911) stated unequivocally of a very beautiful plant, quite inter- Miss Joaquim at Singapore”.5 that Agnes Joaquim had crossed two mediate between the two species In Singapore, Joaquim’s orchid different orchids, the Vanda Hookeriana and as I cannot find any record of debuted at the 1899 Flower Show. The with the Vanda teres and produced the this cross having been made before, Straits Times commented that "one of orchid which he later named Vanda Miss I describe it herewith.”3 the most noticeable flowers was the (Facing page) Vanda x Miss Joa- quim. Image source: Linden, J., & Linden, L. (1897). Lindenia Ico- nographie des Orchidées (Series 2, vol. 13). (Right) The First Class Certificate awarded to Sir Trevor Lawrence, President of the Royal Horticul- tural Society, at the 1897 Royal Horticultural Flower Show for his Vanda Miss Joaquim hybrid. Image source: RHS Lindley Collections, The Royal Horticultural Society. (Far right) A detail from the Vanda Miss Joaquim specimen sheet of the first spike of flowers received in April 1893 by the Singapore Botanic Gardens. The flower was the same one described by Henry Ridley in The Gardeners’ Chronicle in June 1893. The label beneath the specimen is Ridley’s handwriting. The Vanda Miss Joaquim Story Courtesy of the Singapore Botanic Gardens Herbarium. Is the Vanda Miss Joaquim a human-made hybrid or a happy accident? In this cautionary tale, Nadia Wright, Linda Locke and Harold Johnson recount how fiction becomes truth when it is repeated often enough. 02 03 BIBLIOASIA APR – JUN 2018 Vol. 14 / Issue 01 / Feature orchid Vanda Miss Joaquim, named after first Director of Honolulu’s Foster Botani- former directors, but also cast doubt on Miss Joaquim and raised by that lady”.6 cal Garden), who was involved with the Ridley’s character. Ridley had not only The Singapore Free Press confirmed propagation of Vanda Miss Joaquim there, officially reported the genesis of the Vanda Joaquim’s achievement, reporting that believed Ridley. Miss Joaquim in 1893 but also successfully “Miss Joaquim showed a hybrid which has Agnes Joaquim’s nephew Basil J.P. created orchid hybrids himself, in 1896 and been named after her, that she has, after Joaquim, a prominent lawyer in Kuala 1902. Yet, the younger Burkill gave no sup- repeated trials, succeeded in cultivating”.7 Lumpur, corroborated Ridley’s view and porting evidence for his puzzling assertion. From 1893 until 1981, the orchid was was cited in The Straits Times in 1951 as References to Vanda Miss Joaquim’s accepted, with few exceptions, as a hybrid saying “this hybrid was not discovered in origin decreased in the late 1960s and bred by Joaquim. Robert Rolfe, editor of the garden… [but was the result of [an] during the 1970s, reflecting declining The Orchid Review and an authority on artificial pollination… performed by my interest in the orchid. While some in Sin- orchid hybrids, placed Vanda Miss Joaquim unmarried aunt, Miss Agnes Joaquim”.9 gapore referred to it as an artificial hybrid, among the 106 cultivated hybrids created Articles published in local newspapers others began to repeat Humphrey Burkill’s in 1893. Subsequent issues of The Orchid also regarded the orchid as an artificial allegation that it was a natural hybrid. Like Review, The Gardeners’ Chronicle and hybrid created by Joaquim. him, none gave any reason for doubting other leading contemporary horticultural However, at the 1963 World Orchid Ridley’s official account. journals reiterated the fact that Joaquim Conference held in Singapore, Humphrey Flower Week in July 1981, he further stature” should hold sway over the remi- (Left) Henry Ridley, first Director of the Singapore Botanic Gardens (1888–1911), was described as “a had crossed the parent orchids, as did all Morrison Burkill, who was appointed The Discovery Myth contributed to the confusion by claiming niscences of an elderly person. But his the editions of the authoritative Sander’s Director of the Singapore Botanic Gardens that Agnes Joaquim had discovered the views published in the Malayan Orchid genius”, “a keen observer and a great naturalist”, 14 and “a botanist of exceptional capability”. His article Complete List of Orchid Hybrids. in 1957, sowed the seeds of dispute, alleg- On 15 April 1981, Vanda Miss Joaquim flower – not only contradicting what his Review in 1982 were brushed aside, and published in The Gardeners’ Chronicle on 24 June ing that artificial orchid hybrids were not was declared Singapore’s national flower. cousin Basil J.P. Joaquim said in 1951, again it was claimed that the orchid was 1893 unequivocally states that Agnes Joaquim had 15 Sowing the First Seeds of Doubt produced in Singapore until 1928. He added While fame was assured for the orchid, but also Ridley. a natural hybrid. bred the Vanda Miss Joaquim. Image source: Make- that among the plants used in creating Agnes Joaquim’s true role was tossed Arriving at Changi Airport on 21 July There was no further opposition to peace, W., Brooke, G., & Braddell, R. S. J. (Eds.). (1921). In 1931, The Straits Times announced hybrids was the “natural hybrid Vanda aside when newspaper reports of the from Perth, Australia, where he had been this fictitious story: an example of when One Hundred Years of Singapore (p. 78). London: J. Murray. (Call no.: RCLOS 959.91 MAK) that a new hybrid orchid – the Spatho- Miss Joaquim” which he described as a day described the flower as a natural living for over two decades, the 88-year- something is repeated often enough, (Middle) Richard Eric Holttum, Director of the glottis Primrose – had been produced in “delightful accident of nature”.10 hybrid which she had chanced upon in old Johannes declared to the reporter who it sometimes becomes accepted truth. Singapore Botanic Gardens (1925–1942 and Singapore. It was the first orchid raised Burkill’s claims not only contradicted her garden. When a nephew of Agnes interviewed him that “Aunt Agnes found Subsequent newspaper mentions of the 1946–1949), was an orchid hybridiser himself using the new technique of germinating those of his father Isaac Burkill (Director Joaquim, Basil E. Johannes, was invited the flower one morning [in 1893] when she orchid said it was a natural hybrid. Even and he regarded the Vanda Miss Joaquim as Singapore’s first artificial hybrid orchid. Courtesy seeds in a sterile culture. This orchid of Botanic Gardens, 1912–25) and other to Singapore for the launch of the National was loitering in the garden. She was so when the centenary of the orchid took of Singapore Botanic Gardens. was described as the second hybrid to be excited that she took it to the director of place in 1993, there was no reference to (Above) Humphrey Morrison Burkill, Director of produced in Malaya or, as the newspaper the Botanic Gardens straightaway”.11 Local Ridley’s account.