The Flower of Empire by Holway Tatiana;

Author:Holway, Tatiana;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press, Incorporated
Published: 2013-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

12

TRADING FAVORS

HOOKER KNEW OF the giant lily’s existence before anyone else in Britain, and he had received the information directly from Schomburgk. It was Hooker who had initiated their correspondence back in 1834, when he learned that the foreigner employed by the Royal Geographical Society to explore the interior of British Guiana would be permitted to accept subscriptions for botanical collections he made in the course of his travels. Before Schomburgk had even set foot in the colony, Hooker had already signed up. To reap the dried fruits of Britain’s sole possession in South America would be something, but for Hooker the allure of this expedition was greater than that: Schomburgk would be picking up where Humboldt himself had left off botanically, as well as geographically; through Schomburgk, Hooker could augment the collection of New World cryptogams that the great man had given him two decades earlier in Paris.

Writing to Schomburgk to wish him every success in his endeavors, Hooker asked if the explorer might do him the favor of looking for ferns, mosses, and other such flora en route. Any rarities he came across would be welcome. Unrecorded species would be best. In the meantime, Hooker mentioned, he would publish a notice concerning the expedition in one of his journals, thereby giving Schomburgk to understand that he could count on more cabinet botanists adding their names to his list.

Hooker’s letter was waiting for Schomburgk when he landed in Georgetown in August of 1835, and in his reply, written just two days after his arrival, he expressed his great gratitude to Hooker for drawing “the attention of scientific Europe” to his upcoming efforts and for the “active service” Hooker offered in “disposing” of the rich collections he expected to make. He also promised to pay “particular attention” to Hooker’s “favorite plants,” and he kept his word.1 Though dazzled by orchids and tormented by gnats, Schomburgk looked out for lichens, liverworts, and the like, and when he spotted what he suspected to be a new variety of pipewort growing all over a swamp, he braved the hazards to get it. Back in camp, he ironed it between damp bits of blotting paper and added it to his growing stash of pressed plants.

Then came the calamities that beset Schomburgk, one after another, on that wretched first voyage, when, in addition to having so little to show for geography, he lost nearly all of his botanical collections to cataracts and to rot. The pipewort made it, but considering the expectations surrounding the expedition, the limp little specimen wasn’t much. Although “scientific Europe” didn’t lament the loss nearly as much as Schomburgk, many of his subscribers were indeed disappointed, as Lindley did not fail to point out.

Hooker, by contrast, didn’t carp. Instead, he just passed on a few friendly tips on preserving tropical plants that he’d heard about from other collectors. Perhaps Hooker was more tolerant by nature. Perhaps he was more sympathetic on account of the loss he had suffered long ago in Iceland.

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