LANKESTERIANA 20(2): I–VII. 2020. I N M E M O R I A M CALAWAY HOMER DODSON (1928–2020) EXPLORER, SCHOLAR, ORCHIDOLOGIST Cal Dodson in the field in Ecuador. Photo by Stig Dalström. Cal Dodson in the field Ecuador. Neotropical plant biology was saddened by the a professor at the University of Guayaquil. Dodson passing of Dr. Calaway (Cal) H. Dodson on August 9th, taught Ecology, Botany, and Evolution, all in Spanish. 2020. He was born in the San Joaquin Valley, Selma, In Ecuador, Dodson raised awareness of the importance California the 17th of December 1928, to Homer and of botanical knowledge, and he was instrumental in the Leona Dodson. At eighteen, he enlisted in the US Army foundation of the Institute of Botany and the Herbarium in 1947 and served as a paratrooper in the Korean war. of Guayaquil (GUAY), which became part of the Upon his return, he started his undergraduate education University of Guayaquil’s Faculty of Natural Sciences. in Fresno State College (now university), where he In 1960, Dodson married Piedad Mármol Dodson received his bachelor’s degree in Botany in 1954. He and relocated with his family to Saint Louis, Missouri, continued with his graduate education in Claremont where he was Taxonomist and Curator of Living Plants College where he worked under the direction of Lee of the Missouri Botanical Garden and a contributor W. Lenz and obtained his masters and doctoral degrees to the Flora of Panama project. During this period, in 1956 and 1959, respectively. he started his long-time collaboration with Robert As part of his dissertation research “Natural L. Dressler, to whom he dedicated the orchid genus hybridization in some tropical orchids in the Andes”, Dressleria in 1975. he conducted fieldwork in Cuenca, Ecuador. After the Cal became Assistant Professor and Curator of the completion of his Ph.D., he returned to Ecuador as University of Miami in Coral Gables in 1964. Funded Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivs 3.0 Costa Rica License. II LANKESTERIANA Calaway H. Dodson (right), with Edgar Anderson and Lee W. Lenz i n Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Garden., 1959. Unknown photographer. Dodson on his desk as Director of Marie Selby Botanical Gardens. Payne’s house, 1974. Unknown photographer. LANKESTERIANA 20(2). 2020. © Universidad de Costa Rica, 2020. IN MEMORIAM – Calaway Homer Dodson (1928–2020) III Cal performing fragrance analysis with a recently In Río Palenque, Los Ríos Ecuador, 1994. Photo by purchased gas chromatography system in his lab at the Piedad Dodson. University of Miami, 1981. Unknown photographer. by a Fulbright grant, he moved with his growing unique natural laboratory where many generations of family to Peru, where he conducted botanical surveys students were trained. in Iquitos. After returning to the United States, Dodson While on his sabbatical in Río Palenque in 1973, continued to develop a dynamic research program Dodson was visited by Dr. Carlyle A. Luer, who focused on orchid evolution and fragrances, and he would become one of his most valued collaborators. received tenure and was promoted to Full Professor Luer invited Cal to take part in the establishment in 1970. Through his program he mentored numerous of a botanical garden located in Sarasota, Florida, students, including Ralph M. Adams, Sister John that would specialize on epiphytic plants. Dodson Karen Frei, Katharine B. Gregg, Harold G. Hills, Kiat left the University of Miami and joined the Marie W. Tan, Hans J. Whieler, and Norris H. Williams, who Selby Botanical Gardens from 1973 to 1983. He was have since devoted their careers to the study of orchids appointed founding director of the gardens and had and other tropical plant groups. an active role planning the physical infrastructure of A visionary of the importance of research, education, the gardens and building a strong research program and conservation in the Neotropics, Dodson purchased, through the recruitment of investigators specializing together with Earl R. Rich, Leonard J. Greenfield and in epiphytic plants. He was the founder of the Orchid John R. Harrison, colleagues at University of Miami, Identification Center, and also started and frequently ca. 200 hectares of remnant forests of coastal Ecuador, contributed to Selbyana, a journal devoted to epiphytic in an area that was being rapidly deforested due to the plants published by Selby Gardens. establishment of banana plantations. This land became Always an avid botanical explorer, Cal visited the Río Palenque Science Center, a flagship for the forests in all the Andean and Central American conservation of forests in the coast of Ecuador, and a countries, accompanied by colleagues, orchid LANKESTERIANA 20(2). 2020. © Universidad de Costa Rica, 2020. IV LANKESTERIANA Cal and Piedad Dodson in the summer 1973 in Sarasota, Florida. Photo by George M. Luer. enthusiasts, members of orchid societies, students, and through Cal’s lifetime work, changed the way in which family. During his lifetime, he collected over 14,000 Ecuadorians perceived and valued their plant diversity herbarium specimens that are deposited in the herbaria and paved the way for conservation and research in which he worked (primarily MO, GUAY, QCA, projects as well as national campaigns to value, protect, QCNE, SEL, RPSC). His collections are among his and promote orchids and their habitats. most important scientific legacies, providing evidence For his contributions to the scientific advancement of forests that no longer exist and the foundation of his of Ecuador, in 2001 Cal became the first non- monographic treatments and florulae. In 1983, the Missouri Botanical Garden re-hired Cal as Senior Curator through the New World Tropical Research program, which sought to strengthen the Missouri Botanical Gardens’ research initiatives in North-Western South America. He had an important role in the creation and organization of the National Herbarium of Ecuador (QCNE). During this period of his prolific career, Cal and his colleagues Alwyn H. Gentry and Flor M. Valverde published floristic inventories, monographic treatments, and manuscripts that have become classics in Neotropical plant ecology. Dodson also led the compilation of the orchid checklist for the Catalogue of Vascular Plants of Ecuador, published in 1999. This monumental work Dodson and David Benzing collecting plants on the road collected nomenclatural, habitat and distribution to Apuela, Imbabura, Ecuador, in 1994. The genus information of 4100 species and raised the awareness Ecuadoria was discovered in this field trip, as well as that one out of every five species of vascular plants in Lepanthes benzingii and Benzingia hirtzii. Photo by Ecuador is an orchid. This stunning statistic, revealed Alex Hirtz. LANKESTERIANA 20(2). 2020. © Universidad de Costa Rica, 2020. IN MEMORIAM – Calaway Homer Dodson (1928–2020) V Cal Dodson accepting the Medal of Scientific Merit Cal Dodson, reviewing his volumes of Native Ecuadorian of the National Congress of Ecuador, Guayaquil, Orchids surrounded by his cats in 2018. Photo by Ecuador, 2005. Unknown photographer. Piedad Dodson. Ecuadorean honored with the Presidential Medal of During his later life, Cal continued to publish orchid National Merit. In 2005, he received the Medal of monographic treatments for the Flora of Ecuador. Scientific Merit of the National Congress of Ecuador Parallel to this effort, in collaboration with Alexander and was recognized as Honorary Member of the Hirtz he also produced the series Native Ecuadorian Ecuadorian Orchid Society. Orchids, a pictorial guide with introductory compendia Cal with (from the left) Norris Williams, Bob Dressler and Mark Whitten in the First International Conference of Neotropical Orchidology, Lankester Botanical Garden, Costa Rica 2003. Photo by Joseph Arditti. LANKESTERIANA 20(2). 2020. © Universidad de Costa Rica, 2020. LANKESTERIANA he provided detailed accounts of their populations and threats. In 2006, he supported the formation of EcoMinga, an Ecuadorian foundation devoted to the conservation of the unique ecosystems of the Andes. Cal was a member of EcoMinga’s directory until 2016, and he remained an honorary director of this organization thereafter. Cal received the award for ‘Extraordinary Achievement’ from his Alma Mater in 2005 and remained Curator Emeritus of the Missouri Botanical Garden, Senior Research Associate of Marie Selby Gardens, and honorary life member of the American Orchid Society and the Ecuadorian Orchid Association. Scientific legacy. Dr. Dodson’s career interests focused on the evolution of Neotropical orchids and their pollination mechanisms. As pioneer in the research of Neotropical euglossine bees and orchid fragrances, his work transcended plant systematics and Orchidology, and influenced the fields of bee taxonomy and behavior, biochemistry, biodiversity, and conservation. Due to his inspiring career his colleagues dedicated one genus (i.e. Dodsonia Ackermann) and 74 plant Carl Luer, Peter Raven and Calaway Dodson at Selby species to honor him in the families Acanthaceae Botanical Gardens, 2017. Photo by Piedad Dodson. (2 species), Amaryllidaceae (1), Apocynaceae (1), Araceae (4), Aristolochiaceae (1), Asteraceae (4), to each genus that was directed for a wider audience. Begoniaceae (1), Bromeliaceae (7), Cactaceae (4) , Throughout his life, Cal remained an active Chrysobalanaceae (2), Ericaceae (2), Gesnericeae (6), supporter of numerous conservation initiatives in Lecythidaceae (1), Maranthaceae (2), Melastomataceae Ecuador.