Friday, November 17, 2006
Orchid Jealousy
What do you get when you have a dry Dutchman, a jolly Australian and a wide eyed American? The beginning of a very bad joke? No, a very long day at the Botanical Garden! A group of weary travelers (speaking of which, I sure could use a trip to the Weary Traveler in Madison right about now...) arrived at my apartment at the garden bright and early yesterday morning. They had been in El Condor by the Peruvian border before the takeover (which I will explain shortly) had just taken the awful overnight bus up from Loja. Henk is a Dutchman working at the Missouri Botanical Garden on the avocado family, Bruce is an Australian hopelessly in love with orchids, and Mercedes is the Ecuadorian wife of David, the American affiliate who has helped me down here. They had been in the real rainforest to the east of Loja and had been operating out of a Canadian owned mining camp, which apparently was quite comfortable. Well, the locals were upset with the company about some sort of dam they were building to get more power, and our group of botanists received word in the middle of the night to pack their things and leave. Which of course you do when you are in the middle of such a situation. They heard all sorts of reports that nothing happened and again that many people got shot, but in any case they couldn´t go back.
It is nice having people around who speak English and can talk botany with me, though I certainly liked having the place to myself more. I got the lowdown on Colombia....that I shouldn´t try to go there, and Missouri has pretty much given a moritorium to its staff on collecting down there. (ok, so now what?) And Peru is great, but the infrastructure is terrible. All of this I kind of knew, but it is good to hear it again from people in the know. Henk is of the kind of botanist that hates molecular systematics (or rather thinks it is useless) and thinks it is an atrocity that so many young students have to study it, with their field skills suffering as consequence. I can certainly see his point, as I was explaining how we have to be good at so many things anymore, and it is quite taxing (to the taxonomist). But I do think it is a completely valid addition to systematics and can help us tell a lot of compelling stories, and is very interesting in its own right. But I know when to keep quiet. He also laments the lack of interest in tropical botany, as he says so many Americans waste their time re studying the flora of the States. (I was proud to say that is certainly not the case at Wisconsin!)
Today we went to the garden with them, as they had an orchid to drop off, fresh from the jungle. I was so proud to see two Puyas we collected in their new homes in the paramo display!! The garden was packed with troups of kids in bright school uniforms. They were having some sort of environmental field day, and lots of school groups had made displays about keeping the air and water clean. It was wonderful to see so many kids hearing good environmental messages and enjoying the plants. In general, I think they were much better behaved than American kids would have been on such an excursion. They would look up at me and say Buenos Dias in chorus, without being prompted by a teacher. I used my camera to take pictures of the event for the garden and they were all too happy to pose.
We spent hours there, looking through every greenhouse at every orchid, of which they have over 1000. Orchids really are too much....despite being fellow Monocots, I don´t really know where to begin. The biodiversity is astounding, but I can´t help but feel a bit jealous. Bromeliads, too, are beautiful epiphytes and have a strong horticultural following, but once you throw orchids in the mix, there really is no competition. I was quite proud of myself, though. I have learned two genera of orchids....Epidendrum and Mandervillia....which I can usually tell apart from the others, even in the field. I have learned quite a few plants, besides Puya, on my time down here. I´m going to write some of them down now just so I don´t forget and so I can show off....Tournefortia, Chusquiraga, Brachyotum, Minnonia, Blegnum, Calamagrostis, Espeletia, Valeriana, ...ok, enough for now.
Speaking of speaking English, tonight I am going to meet Michael and his girlfriend when they get off the plane from New York to start looking for ferns. It will be nice to sound wise and give advice on Ecuador. I´ll try not to let the fact that I am all too ready to get out of here impact what I say. Tomorrow night I am going to meet with Mr. Puya himself, which should be quite the time. Shaping of my future thinking about Puya, I hope. I will try to haul myself out and buy some souvenirs (something I haven´t done really yet, sorry) and begin the great sorting of dried Puya and the packing.
I hope I´ll have one more time to write and reflect back on the whole experience. But for now, Ramen is calling, and then beer with Americans.
Love,
It is nice having people around who speak English and can talk botany with me, though I certainly liked having the place to myself more. I got the lowdown on Colombia....that I shouldn´t try to go there, and Missouri has pretty much given a moritorium to its staff on collecting down there. (ok, so now what?) And Peru is great, but the infrastructure is terrible. All of this I kind of knew, but it is good to hear it again from people in the know. Henk is of the kind of botanist that hates molecular systematics (or rather thinks it is useless) and thinks it is an atrocity that so many young students have to study it, with their field skills suffering as consequence. I can certainly see his point, as I was explaining how we have to be good at so many things anymore, and it is quite taxing (to the taxonomist). But I do think it is a completely valid addition to systematics and can help us tell a lot of compelling stories, and is very interesting in its own right. But I know when to keep quiet. He also laments the lack of interest in tropical botany, as he says so many Americans waste their time re studying the flora of the States. (I was proud to say that is certainly not the case at Wisconsin!)
Today we went to the garden with them, as they had an orchid to drop off, fresh from the jungle. I was so proud to see two Puyas we collected in their new homes in the paramo display!! The garden was packed with troups of kids in bright school uniforms. They were having some sort of environmental field day, and lots of school groups had made displays about keeping the air and water clean. It was wonderful to see so many kids hearing good environmental messages and enjoying the plants. In general, I think they were much better behaved than American kids would have been on such an excursion. They would look up at me and say Buenos Dias in chorus, without being prompted by a teacher. I used my camera to take pictures of the event for the garden and they were all too happy to pose.
We spent hours there, looking through every greenhouse at every orchid, of which they have over 1000. Orchids really are too much....despite being fellow Monocots, I don´t really know where to begin. The biodiversity is astounding, but I can´t help but feel a bit jealous. Bromeliads, too, are beautiful epiphytes and have a strong horticultural following, but once you throw orchids in the mix, there really is no competition. I was quite proud of myself, though. I have learned two genera of orchids....Epidendrum and Mandervillia....which I can usually tell apart from the others, even in the field. I have learned quite a few plants, besides Puya, on my time down here. I´m going to write some of them down now just so I don´t forget and so I can show off....Tournefortia, Chusquiraga, Brachyotum, Minnonia, Blegnum, Calamagrostis, Espeletia, Valeriana, ...ok, enough for now.
Speaking of speaking English, tonight I am going to meet Michael and his girlfriend when they get off the plane from New York to start looking for ferns. It will be nice to sound wise and give advice on Ecuador. I´ll try not to let the fact that I am all too ready to get out of here impact what I say. Tomorrow night I am going to meet with Mr. Puya himself, which should be quite the time. Shaping of my future thinking about Puya, I hope. I will try to haul myself out and buy some souvenirs (something I haven´t done really yet, sorry) and begin the great sorting of dried Puya and the packing.
I hope I´ll have one more time to write and reflect back on the whole experience. But for now, Ramen is calling, and then beer with Americans.
Love,
# posted by Rachel Jabaily @ 8:24 PM 
