xhibitions, both on the Continen
^ely interest in horticultural exhibitions,Continent and in this country, i
icity of judge, especially where Orchids or new pli
ngresses Profcsisor Reichenbacli generally took a pro
>f a distinct individuality, which was as remarkable as hi
. Short and, till his recent illness, massive in stature, with
¡vealed somelhing of the impetuous temper of the man, and of
nountcd to a consuming passion; not a scrap, nor a note, n
,t part.
1 keei
id. At the
sly crabbed
penetrating
:casional biting
; ketch ho\\'ever
fro()uently called on to act in the cap
several Horticultural and Botanical C<
" Reichenbach was possessed c
handwriting, which few could decipher
jjlance and aquiline nose, his features rc
sarcasm. His devotion to Orchids an
rough, came amiss to him if it related to an Orchid. To him meals and clothes were necessary evils, but his herbarium
vras a prime necessity of existence. The amount of his work was prodigious. Of its quality the botanists of the future
will judge better than we. One thing, however, is obvious, and especially so to those who have had the opportunity of
comparing his work with Lindley's. In Lindley's time Orchids were, it may be said, counted by the score, while in our
times the estimate has to be made by the hundred, if not the thousand. Lindley, with his dear perception, logical mind,
I, was able to draw sharply defined, expressive characters in few words, arranged witli rare
;otally dift'erent frame of mind, was overburdened with the ever-increasing mass of material,
•arisons were often singularly felicitous, his knowledge of detail enormous, but lacking
He never gave us in a compendious form a complete synopsis of the genera and species.
1 notes will require years of concentration for collation and r
i, but scattered through a wide range of publications in alnios
:1 the constant services he rendered to Orchid grow
)n, but none that can be fairly deemed adequate,
•eign members of our Linnean Society; and as an hone
and relatively snial
skill. Reichenbach
His descriptions and
cu-ordination and prec
His immense collectioi
not only extremely nun
•vith i
" Of his self-denying labours ai
ha\-c already spoken. Some recogniti
country by his election as one of the fc
Horticultural Socicty."
Soon after these appreciative
famous, the unique herbarium ha
Cliruiiiclc. \\'e quote the importa
"My
s publications
Eui-opean languages,
in all parts of the world
s conferred on him in this
ary Fellow of the Royal
> were penned, when a
been de^ 1 extract fron
the botanists of Europe were woi
Reichenbach's will was published i
mportant part : -
.1 my botanical libraiy, my instruments, collectic
Museum in \"ienna. under the condition that the preserved Orchids and di
1 the dale of my death have elapsed. Until this tii
.f the Vienna Institute declining to observe these cc
ng how
: Garde,
the
i years fi
cases. In the even
conditions to the Botai
Grayean Herbarium in
Plantes, at Paris, but alw;
inevitable destruction of tli
1 of seeds, accrue to the Imperial Hof
iwings of Orchids shall not be exhibited for
le my collection shall be preser\'ed in sealed
iditions, the collection falls under the same
Ila;
Garden at UpsaLi. Should the last-mentioned Institute decline the legacy, then to the
rd University, Cambridge, Ma.ss, If declined by that Institute, then to the Jardin des
mder the same conditions, viz., of being sealed up for twenty-five years, in order that the
stly collection, resulting from the present craze for Orchids, may be
is not too n
which should,
the world I
> far
dwell ipon
progress of tho
to say that savan
as it was possible, have been made co
ful memory. That Reichenbach, our honoured chief, s
itudies to which he had given his life, is humiliating to
•ied ;—ai
re shocked by this selfish withdrawal of
mon ¡jroperty for students. We will not
nild do his be.st, when dying, to check the
iir common nature. We in England must
we shall succeed. Even if his specimens
It for twenty-five years, the chances are that
•e must say that he was a delightful c
irritability, not of temper but of nerv
lunication. Those who admired his e
inpani
ing the stores of information which he
remain so well preserved as to be available for study, after their impri
our labours during the sanie period will have rendered them obsolete.
If it be needful to add a few words of the man personally, '
amusing when most instructive, but never quite friendly. A certaii
perhaps from a severe illness in boyhood, checked all ease of communication.genius and
his astonishing stores of knowledge found themselves unable to cheer that solitary life. They could never be sure of
success whatever the attempt to please him. It must be feared that his life was not happy, in spite of scicntific
honours and renown such as few have won. Reichenbach had a longing for the distinctions which Courts confer, and
was inve.-ited with several Orders; his peculiar, sharp wit, irrepressible in any company, was, however, ill calculated to
gain him royal favour. He never married.
Dr. John Lindley, was the first specialist in Europe to take up the general systematic study of this royal family
of plants. He devoted ten years, i.e., from April, 1830, to October, 1840, to the production of his " Genera and Species
of Orchidaceous Plants," in which work 1980 species are referred to or described. The actual dried materials and
M.S. notes, drawings, &c., are now in the Herbarium at Kew. Of course, other botanists had studied Orchids before
Lindley, but it was he who paved the
groups Gynandr
/ay for his great successor, Reichenbach.
-ia and Gynandria Diandria. Jussieu,
Lin
t h ; Richard, A, Du
ical artist.
umboldt, Bonplan
s coadjutor, P. Baue e b o t
Petit Thouars, La Llave and Lexar
ited by Lindley as his predecessors <
And now, on tl
a complete series).
^e of the fii lumber
beg to assure our
; fulness of its acknowledged value
ircdiy be fulfilled,
tells us that the greatest works of
s had framed the Orchids into
, Willdenow, Robert Brown,
I, and Blume, to say nothing of
contemporaries in the study of
of the Rdchenbnchia (every t\^
ibscribers that there will be nothing lackin
lue. Assisted by many friends, our desire ti
I volumes of the work will
on our part to continue
produce better and better
ind not by c
petition ;" and this has been in a very marked degree true of the Reiclteiibiuliin. which is stamped by the thoughts and
hints, the suggestions and the happy 1
authority, and we heartily thank for 1
Gardens. Kew, and Mr. Wm. Carnitlgentlemen
our thanl
which they preside;
native habitats, as w
F.I...S. (who enjo)'ed the
r of many congenial minds. VVc may name for their generous scientific
assistance, Mr. Thiselton Dyer, C.M.ti., F.R.S., Dircctr-r of the Royal
I'.R.S., of the Botanical Department of the liritish Museum;—lo these
ire specially due for courtesies and facilities granted in connection with the instiluiions over
I- Joseph Dalton Hooker, M.D., K.C.S.I., C.H., whose knowledge of Indian Orchids in their
as of orchidic literature, is probably unsurpassed; Dr. Maxwell T. Masters, M,I>., |-.k.S,.
mtage of being a personal friend and co-worker with the late Or, John Lindley), and who
since 1866 has facilitated the study of Orchids by morphological research and by printing the numerous original descrif)-
tions and wood-cut illustrations, &c., of Orchids, in the pages of the Gardeners Chrouklc. of which he, since Lindley's
death, has been the editor. Dr. E. von Kegel, Professor D. Oliver, I'.K..S., J. G. Baker, I-.R.S., \\\ H. Hemsley,
F.R.S., Dr. F. Krrinzlin, Wm. Robinson, Ed. Ortgies, H. Wendland, M. Godefroy-Lebeuf, Professor J. li. Planchnii.
M. Ed. Andrd, Professor Dr. Wittmack, R. 1. Lynch, A.L.S,, W, Perring, and others have also afforded generous
assistance as authorities on special points of detail and general information from time to time.
The botanical descriptions and diagnoses in Latin ; the analytic;
direction of R. A. Rolfe, A.L.S., assistant in the Royal Herbarium at
lescriptions, &c., we o\'
or the Fr
I, M. Erne
:nch and C 1 cultui
;t Bergman, and other c
Dr. Buchen; ir Continental friends.
many years' knowledge and experii
It of correspondence with the best
blot, Micholitz, Ericsson, Schroder
ailable for the purposes of this work.
F. AV. Burbidge, M.A., F.L.S., has
les O'Brien, W. Hugh Gower, and Uetches,
&c., appear under
. For kindly aiding us
r thanks to Professor Nai
1 correctio
ice gained in i
if my collector
Oversluys, K
kindly promi
»»is Castle, as -
nporting Orchids from all parts of thi
i, including RoezI, W'allis, Endrùs, Lehi
:rbach, Bartholom.-cus,
M. ;
, Chesterton,
, -Arnold,
nd many
Establishment at St. Albans, and who possesses an extended pi
r. J 01 lanager
In thanking all those who h; ily helped
I the future to make our new series at least as trustworthy
)tible feature in Reichevbachia is its
nry G. Moon. It is no exaggeratioi
; best Orchid portraits that have ever
lives at St. Albans, and fan
sr,Humboldt, once said th;
. the past, '
our subscribers,
heretofore, by Mi
drawings are by far the be:
are ¡»reserved in our archives
The great traveller, I
the Orchid beauty seen by h
Orchids were rarities in Eur
whole school of
,self in an)
)pe. But r
ehav
In
its and of literary 1
illected, and which aim
1, we may be allowed ;
that the public ;nthu
assistance; as also have Messrs.
:ph Godseff, who is the successful 11
owledge of these plants,
are determined to leave no stone unturned
ental as the one already in the hands of
magnificent illustrations, which will be furnished, as
to say that Mr. Moon's water-colour sketches and
leen reproduced by chromo-liihography. The originals
-thy of the most critical inspection,
le of an artist would be all too brief to depict a tenth of
illeys and gorges of the Andes. This was at a time when
uich further, and confidently say that not only one, but a
ig and describing the «oral
.he lifeti
le of the countless >
-a-days we may go
might be fully employed at St. Alba:
St weekly reach us from all ¡»arts of the tro);
few words as to the Orchids themselves, fo
Drid.
I pa;
ng fancy,
humble, contrive somehow or other to beci
and their labour of love is followed by deligh
VVc do not believe those who tell us that Orchids
Cacti, or the Cape Heaths and Pelargonia. It is \
variety, sweetness and grace, their endurance, their
valuable. No other flowers possess so many and su
possessed of
and beautiful for every day
beautiful, of the Creator's wo
long reached their full matui
1 the year. May 1
•ks in this domain,
ty. We have noth
; that they will rem:
ill their trouble and .solicitude a
ill go the way of all othe
n to tell us that Orchids
quisite colours, and finely
varied charms, and even j
They c
ng in tl
e are not of those « ho Ijclies^-
Amateurs, as a rule, however
some have supposed.
Orchid or t\^-o, to wh
) which they devote special attention,
ide are literally crowned with flowers,
popular flowers of old. as—say. the
ill ever cease to be appreciated, their
ndulated forms are so enchanting and
small collection yields .something new
ume that orchids were the last, and the most striking and
lid not come into being until the trees and the insects had
world of tropical Rowers to compete with the Orchids, and
ir forali time.