Famous orchidologists in the world
1. Georg Eberhard Rumphius (1627-1702)
He was born in Germany and worked for Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC) in Ambon, eastern Indonesia. Fifty years before Linnaeus introduced binomial nomenclature to the biological sciences, Rumphius completed his own work of more than 20 years. The 1,660-page, 700-plate book Herbarium Amboinense (Het Amboinsche kruidboek) of descriptions and drawings of orchids was first published in Amsterdam between 1741-1750, 40 years after his death. Ambon’s beauty inspired him to describe and write about the variety of plants and animals he saw. He was buried in Ambon on 15 June 1702.
2. Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778)
Carl von Linne, also known as Carollus Linnaeus, was a Swedish botanist who is the most famous of all the systematic botanists. His system of binomial nomenclature for the scientific naming of plants and animals is still in use today. Published in 1753, his book Botanical Species includes 59 species of orchids in 8 genera. For his dedicated work in the field of botany, he is known as the “Father of Modern Botany”. Other publications are Genera Plantarum, Systema Nature, and Philosophia Botanica.
3. Carl Ludwig Blum (1796-1862)
Blum succeeded Reinwardt (first Director of Agriculture at the Botanical Garden in Bogor, West Java) as director of the Buitenzorg Botanic Garden (Bogor Botanical Gardens) in 1822. Under his leadership, the first book describing orchids in Java and neighboring islands was published in 1825 as Tabellen en Platen vow de Javaansche Orchideen. Other publications that have made a significant contribution to the recognition of Javanese plants include Bijdragen tot de Flora von Nederlansch Indie and the neighboring Flora Javae et Insularum.
4. John Lindley (1799-1865)
He was an English botanist and orchidist. As more and more new genera and species of orchids were discovered in the nineteenth century, the terms used to describe the orchid family became increasingly confusing. John Lindley developed a system for classifying all known orchids in the world and is therefore known as the “Father of Modern Orchids”. His publications on orchids between 1830-1860, including Genera and Species of Orchids, Folia Orchidaceae and The Sertum Orchidaceum are filled with colorful panels and descriptions. He collected more than 7,000 plants, including orchids.
5. Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach (1823-1889)
He was the first German orchidologist. Her father was also a well-known botanist, called Heinrich Gottlieb Ludwig Reichenbach. After Lindley’s Era, Reichenbach became the “Orchid King”. All specimens of orchids from all parts of the world were sent to him for identification and description, and they formed formidable lawns that rivaled those at Lindley’s at Kew. At least 1,500 of his drawings are devoted to orchids in Europe. In 1852, he published a work on the origin and structure of orchid pollen. All the scraps, sketches, and scraps of information that came to his hand were kept safely in his herbarium, his most precious treasure.
6. Sir Hugh Law (1824-1905)
Low was Borneon’s first orchidologist, entering pristine lands to find new and beautiful orchids such as Coelogyne pandurata, Coelogyne aspirate, Dendrobium low, Paphiopedillum low and Arachnanthe low. He also found the original “jewel” orchids, Haemaria and Anoectochilus, known as Daun Lo (Low’s Leaf) or Boenga Lo (Low’s Flower). He collected orchids in West Borneo, and the islands of Anambas and Natuina.
7. Henry Nicholas Ridley (1855-1956)
Ridley was the first Scientific Director of the Singapore Botanic Gardens. He completed the study of Orchids of Borneo and the Malay Peninsula begun by Sir Hugh Law, Charles Curtis and David Burke. His botanical collections amounted to about 50,000 specimens with about 3,000 species new to science. His monumental book was Flora of the Malay Peninsula published between 1922 and 1925. He also published The Dispersal of Plants Around the World in 1930.
