Feb 5, 2021
Today we celebrate a botanist and orchidologist who saved
Kew,
We'll also learn about an orchid hunter who collected plants on
behalf of the London Horticultural Society.
We hear some words about the challenging experience of a botanist
in 1874.
We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book about one of America’s
earliest botanists and the father of America’s first female
botanist.
And then we’ll wrap things up with a story of a plant that Joseph
Dalton Hooker described as "The ugliest yet [most]
botanically magnificent plant in the world."
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Curated News
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Important Events
February 5, 1799
Today is the birthday of the British botanist, pomologist, pioneer
orchidologist, and flower show organizer, John Lindley.
John's dad was a nurseryman, and he ran a commercial nursery in
England. Despite his array of botanical talents and knowledge, the
family was always under financial duress.
Growing up in his father's nursery helped John acquire the
knowledge to land his first job as a seed merchant. This position
led to a chain of events that would shape John's life. First, he
met the botanist William Jackson Hooker. And, second, Hooker
introduced him to Sir Joseph Banks. As a result of these
connections, John ended up working as an assistant in Bank’s
herbarium.
In 1838 after Banks died, when the fate of Kew Gardens hung in the
balance, John recommended that the gardens belonged to the people
and that they should become the botanical headquarters for
England.
The government rejected John's proposal and decided to close the
garden. But, on February 11, 1840, John ingeniously demanded that
the issue be put before the Parliament. His advocacy brought the
matter to the people; the garden-loving public was not about to
lose the Royal Botanic. And, so, John saved Kew Gardens, and
William Hooker was chosen as the new director.
From his humble beginnings to his incredible standing in English
Botanical History, John is remembered fondly for so many
accomplishments. For 43 years, John served as secretary to the
Royal Horticultural Society, which is why the RHS Library is called
the Lindley Library.
And, there are over 200 plant species named for John Lindley. There
is "lindleyi," "lindleyana," "lindleya," "lindleyoides," etc., and
they all pay homage to John. John once told his friend, the
botanist Ludwig Reichenbach, "I am a dandy in my herbarium." John
did love his plants.
But, without question, John's favorite plants were orchids. Before
John, not much was known about orchids. Thanks to John, the genus
Orchidaceae was shortened to orchid – which is much more friendly
to pronounce. And, when he died, John's massive orchid collection
was moved to a new home at Kew.
John's friend, the botanist Ludwig Reichenbach, wrote a touching
tribute after John died. He wrote,
"We cannot tell how long Botany, how long science, will be
pursued; but we may affirm that so long as a knowledge of plants is
considered necessary, so long will Lindley's name be remembered
with gratitude."
And here's a little-remembered factoid about John - he was blind in
one eye.
February 5, 1848
It was on this day, the botanist Karl Theodor Hartweg boarded a
Hawaiian ship on his way back to England.
The London Horticultural Society had hired Karl to collect plants
in California. Yet when he reached London, the Hort Society was a
little frustrated with Karl because he hadn’t secured something
they really wanted: Bristlecone Fir seeds.
A short while later, Karl severed ties with London, and he ended up
south of Frankfurt tending gardens for the Duke of Baden for thirty
years until he died in 1871.
Karl’s journey as a plant collector began in the botanical garden
in Paris. After working for the Chiswick garden in London, Karl
began to turn his attention to plant exploration. Eager to travel
and explore, Karl left for America in 1836.
Although Karl was only supposed to stay for a three-year project,
he actually ended up staying for over seven years.
During the early to mid-1800s, native plants from Mexico, like
dahlias and cacti, were all the rage. As for Karl, he became a
noted orchid hunter.
According to Merle Reinkka, the author of A History of the
Orchid, Karl’s work was significant, and he contributed,
"The most variable and comprehensive collection of New World
Orchids made by a single individual in the first half of the [19th]
century."
A man of the world, Karl himself once dryly remarked,
“All the way from London just to look after weeds.”
Unearthed Words
In 1874, the English botanist WEP Giles (William Ernest Powell)
explored the vast deserts of central Australia. Setting out with
his hunting partner from a base camp at Fort McKellar, he
discovered a leak in one of his large water bags. The two men
decided to continue, even though the temperature had already
climbed to 96 degrees Fahrenheit. Camping that night, they hung
their remaining bags of water in a tree to protect them. But one of
their horses attacked a bag with her teeth— spraying the water all
over the ground. Now neither the men nor the animals had enough
water.
— Anita Silvey, American children’s author, The
Plant Hunters, Bringing Themselves Home Alive
Grow That Garden Library
Cadwallader Colden by Seymour Schwartz
This book came out in 2013, and the subtitle is A
Biography.
In this book, Seymour gives us the first complete biography of the
American botanist Cadwallader Colden. Cadwallader was the
longest-serving Lieutenant Governor of New York. He was incredibly
intelligent and multi-talented - a true Renaissance man of
America's colonial times.
A trained physician, Cadwallader improved public health, and he
wrote the first scientific paper published in the colonies, as well
as the first map of New York.
Cadwallader was also the father of America’s first female botanist:
Jane Colden.
This book is 230 pages of the life of a multifaceted colonial
Renaissance man: Cadwallader Colden.
You can get a copy of Cadwallader Colden by Seymour
Schwartz and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's
Show Notes for around $4
Today’s Botanic Spark
Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart
February 5, 1806
Today is the birthday of the Austrian botanist and explorer
Friedrich Welwitsch.
Friedrich found a second home in the country of Portugal, where he
served as the director of the Botanic Gardens in Lisbon.
Friedrich had some fantastic experiences during his lifetime, but
the pinnacle was clearly the day he discovered the Welwitschia
mirabilis. The mirabilis refers to its unusual form.
Portugal had to send him to Africa to collect plants - which
he did for seven years. In 1860, Friedrich discovered a
strange-looking plant that is actually a tree - a conifer and a
gymnosperm - in terms of botanical classification. The Africans
called it "Mr. Big."
Now the Welwitschia is endemic to Namibian deserts, and it's also
present on the country's coat of arms.
When Friedrich discovered this unique plant, which can live for
more than 1500 years and bears only two leaves in its entire
lifecycle, he was so astonished that he,
"could do nothing but kneel down and gaze at it, half in fear
lest a touch should prove it a figment of the
imagination."
Imagine a two-tentacled octopus with very long arms and a red
floral bouquet for a head, and you have the Welwitschia
mirabilis.
Welwitschia's two leaves grow continuously throughout the life of a
plant. The pair of leaves are broad, leathery, and belt-shaped.
Incredibly, some specimens, tested with carbon 14, are over 2000
years old.
Today, if you search online, there is a spectacular photo of
Friedrich seated behind a large welwitschia mirabilis. He's wearing
a pith helmet, and the plant's leaves are clearly many times longer
than Friedrich's arms and legs, which are mostly obscured by the
plant.
In 1862, Joseph Dalton Hooker described the plant in The Gardener's
Chronicle as,
"The ugliest yet [most] botanically magnificent plant in the
world."
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And remember:
"For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."