Passion for Plants. Kaieteur Falls and Passiflora garckei, Garke's Passionflower, Kaieteur, Guyana
Nicolás Monardes (1493-1588) from Sevilla, Spain, was a humanist pharmacist and physician with a passion for plants. His works were widely disseminated throughout Europe and the Spanish New World. His major work (in three great volumes) is Historia medicinal de las cosas que se traen de nuestras Indias Occidentales (1569) in which he waxes eloquent about the botany of South America. Contrary to what you'll often find on the internet, Monardes never himself traveled to the Western Spanish Colonies. He was given botanical specimens by others, and he gladly used them in his great Historia.
Monardes was much taken by Passionflowers (they were thought to be a natural symbol and thus a kind of 'proof' of Christ's passion by many in his days), and there are many kinds in South America. Whether he saw this particular one, I don't know. It was first described (1849) by Christian August Friedrich Garcke (1819-1904) who also never travelled to the Americas, but he was a prolific scientific scholar and taxonomist. He didn't name this Passionflower, but it was given its name (1871) by Maxwell Tylden Masters (1833-1907) who highly respected Garcke.
Pottering around beside the paths to the Waterfalls - I'm afraid to the slight annoyance but also amusement of the guide - I found this flower just at the edge of the gorge. The guide actually remarked that most people came only to gape at the Falls and were not really interested in Nature, as he, a member of a local native people, would expect them to be.
Passion for Plants. Kaieteur Falls and Passiflora garckei, Garke's Passionflower, Kaieteur, Guyana
Nicolás Monardes (1493-1588) from Sevilla, Spain, was a humanist pharmacist and physician with a passion for plants. His works were widely disseminated throughout Europe and the Spanish New World. His major work (in three great volumes) is Historia medicinal de las cosas que se traen de nuestras Indias Occidentales (1569) in which he waxes eloquent about the botany of South America. Contrary to what you'll often find on the internet, Monardes never himself traveled to the Western Spanish Colonies. He was given botanical specimens by others, and he gladly used them in his great Historia.
Monardes was much taken by Passionflowers (they were thought to be a natural symbol and thus a kind of 'proof' of Christ's passion by many in his days), and there are many kinds in South America. Whether he saw this particular one, I don't know. It was first described (1849) by Christian August Friedrich Garcke (1819-1904) who also never travelled to the Americas, but he was a prolific scientific scholar and taxonomist. He didn't name this Passionflower, but it was given its name (1871) by Maxwell Tylden Masters (1833-1907) who highly respected Garcke.
Pottering around beside the paths to the Waterfalls - I'm afraid to the slight annoyance but also amusement of the guide - I found this flower just at the edge of the gorge. The guide actually remarked that most people came only to gape at the Falls and were not really interested in Nature, as he, a member of a local native people, would expect them to be.