History-Physiology

A tropical orchid, Vanilla (Fig. 2-1D) was first brought to Europe in 1510 by the Spanish as a perfume (Lawler, 1984). Clusius (Fig. 2-1A) published what may be the first notice about it in his Theatrum Botanicum (Fig. 2-1A). The first plant may have reached England in 1739 (Lawler, 1984). Bletia verecunda (now a synonym of Bletia purpurea, Fig. 2-1F) was the first tropical orchid cultivated in England (Lawler, 1984). A plant received by Peter Colinson (Fig. 2-1B) from the Bahamas in 1731 was cultivated by Admiral Sir Charles Wager (Fig. 2-1G). Even before that a North American “Ladyes Slipper” (Fig. 2-1C) was reported to have been brought from North America and drawn by Sydney Parkinson (Parkinson, 1640; Lawler, 1984). A number of other orchids were brought to Europe between the 1640s and 1800. Still, tropical orchids remained a mystery and a source of fascination even as late as the 1860s when Darwin became interested in orchid pollination while vacationing at Torquay on the Devon coast with his daughter Henrietta. Once he became interested in orchids, Darwin was not satisfied with his own observations on British orchids. He read widely and corresponded extensively with a remarkable German botanist in Brazil, Fritz Müller (Fig. 2-2).