Pollinia - The Irish Orchid Society Newsletter SPECIAL EDITION April 2018

SPECIAL EDITION TO HONOUR THE VISIT TO THE NATIONAL
BOTANIC GARDENS, GLASNEVIN AND MEETING OF THE

ORCHID COMMITTEE OF THE
ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY ON 22 APRIL 2018
Cumann Magairlíní na hÉireann

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The compact packets of pollen found in orchid

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The Irish Orchid Society SPECIAL EDITION April 2018 [ 2 ]

FREDERICK WILLIAM MOORE (1857-1949)
O n the occasion of the RHS Orchid Committee’s first visit to Ireland it

seems appropriate to look back at their earlier connections. There have
been three members with strong Irish links, the first, Frederick Moore,
was Curator of Glasnevin Botanic Gardens between 1879 and 1922. He was a
member of the committee from its foundation in 1889 and was present at the
inaugural meeting on March 26th; he would attend regularly over the next sixty
years and became one of its longest serving members.
By 1889 Moore’s collection of orchids at Glasnevin was well established and
particularly strong in species. Although Moore was a skilful grower he relied on
others to identify and name them for him. Initially it was Professor Reichenbach
in Hamburg but after his death in 1889 he used Robert Allen Rolfe at Kew, who
was also a committee member and Editor of The Orchid Review. Moore kept
Rolfe busy; he would go on to describe around sixty new species from the
Glasnevin plants. Rolfe even named a genus after him, Moorea in 1890, which
he had to amend slightly in 1904 to Neomoorea.
Moore used other contacts from the committee; he was generous with plants and
exchanged duplicates with nurserymen, other Botanic Gardens and private
individuals including Sir Trevor Lawrence, President of the RHS and another
member. Lawrence had a large collection, similarly predominately species and
holds the all-time individual record for the number of RHS awards at just over
five hundred. Moore achieved a more modest sixty seven but given the distance
he travelled this was still quite an achievement. Five were for his beloved
Masdevallias including an Award of Merit in 1895 to Masdevallia chimaera
‘Aurea’ (now Dracula chimaera) which he had selected from his eighteen
different forms. A species both Moore and Lawrence grew was Eulophiella
peetersiana (now Eulophiella roempleriana). Moore wrote almost nothing,
however he did write about this orchid in the text of a talk he gave to the RHS in
1907 describing how, as he lacked space for such a large plant, he kept the young
growths tied in and ended up with it coiled around itself like “a snake”.
THE ROYAL
HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
ORCHID COMMITTEE
THE IRISH CONNECTIONS
Clare and Johan Hermans
Eulophiella roempleriana photographed for Moore

to use in his 1907 RHS lecture. From the
Glasnevin collection.
EAGRÁN SPEISIALTA Volume 18, Special [ 3 ]

Nevertheless, Moore was able to keep the collection in the spotlight with Rolfe’s descriptions of the new species and RHS awards
in The Orchid Review. Moore’s personal standing within the RHS was high; he received one of the original sixty Victoria Medals
of Honour (VMH) in Horticulture in 1897 and became the longest surviving recipient of the first batch. He later received a Gold
Veitch Medal in 1933 and was a Vice President of the RHS from 1944 until his death. Additionally he served on other RHS
Committees; including the Daffodil and Tulip and the Examinations Committee. He received many honours from Ireland, was
made a Fellow of the Linnean Society, London and knighted in 1911 by King George V for ‘Services to Irish Horticulture’. He
retired in 1922, never having had a day off sick, aged sixty-five. He then moved to Willbrook, Rathfarnham near the Dublin
Mountains where he developed his garden. He died in 1949 aged ninety-two. Obituaries in The Times and The Gardeners’
Chronicle called him “a horticultural and arboricultural authority”, a term that portrays him very well.
FREDERICK BURBIDGE (1847-1905)
T he second is Frederick Burbidge, who is certainly the most interesting of characters. He was elected a member in 1892,
when his commercial collecting days were over and had settled as Curator of Trinity College Botanic Garden, Dublin
where he succeeded Sir Frederick Moore in 1879.
Burbidge was born in Wymeswold, Leicestershire; he started his career in horticulture working in private gardens and then
became a student at the RHS Garden in Chiswick before moving to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. At Kew he developed
an interest and undoubted skill in botanical art, this culminated in him writing one of the first books on botanical drawing ‘The
Art of Botanical Drawing’ published in 1873.
Around this time he left Kew to work for William Robinson’s weekly periodical ‘The Garden’ as a writer and artist. However
four years later in 1877 Burbidge left his sedentary safe life in journalism and swopped it for two years of adventure and
discomfort to become a collector and explorer for Messrs. Veitch, it is not entirely certain how this conversion happened.
Harry Veitch sent him to Borneo, then Mount Kinabalu and on to the Sulu Archipelago, now part of the Philippines.
Burbidge’s instructions were to collect orchids, ferns and especially Nepenthes. The entire trip was chronicled evocatively in
‘The Gardens of the Sun - A Naturalist’s Journal of Borneo and the Sulu Archipelago’ published after Burbidge’s return in
1880.
Watercolour of Disa crassicornis from Natal, copied at Watercolour of Trichotosia ferruginea, copied at
Kew by Burbidge in 1869 Kew by Burbidge in 1870
In total his living and dried collections amounted to one thousand different species so the Veitch Nursery was kept busy for a
long time establishing these new novelties. Just a year after Burbidge’s return in 1878 he moved to Ireland to take up the
Curator’s post. He still travelled regularly to London as a Fellow of the Linnean Society and from 1885 as a member of the
RHS Science Committee. In 1892 he was finally invited to join the Orchid Committee and continued to attend the Science
Committee even after his retirement from the Orchid Committee in 1895. His immense contribution to science and
horticulture was recognised by the RHS when he, like Moore was one of the original recipients of the VMH.

Burbidge died on Christmas Eve 1905 aged fifty-eight shortly after his wife Mary. A report in The Times noted “Mr.
Burbidge had the academic as well as horticultural mind… and made many important contributions to the literature of his
subject, on which he was a recognized authority” which seems a fitting description of the man Moore called a “distinguished
botanist-gardener.”
AMBROSE CONGREVE (1907-2011)
T he third person with a strong link to Ireland was Ambrose Congreve who was a member of the Orchid Committee from
1938 to 1956. Conversely orchids were not his main claim to fame; instead it was the garden he created at his family
home, Mount Congreve near Kilmeaden, County Waterford. He started establishing it in his late teens but began in
earnest from the mid 1950s creating a new woodland garden. He credited childhood visits to the gardens of Lionel Rothschild
at Exbury, Hampshire for his inspiration and went on to develop his own renowned collection of Rhododendrons.
After university Congreve worked for Unilever and travelled to China where his fascination with the Orient began. From 1936
he ran Humphreys & Glasgow, the gasworks manufacturer, overseeing its diversification into petro-chemical engineering. It
prospered during the 1950s and 1960s which coincided with his redevelopment of the garden and the acquisition of rare
antiques for the house. He retired in 1983; having sold the company to an American firm and devoted all his time to the
garden.
At Mount Congreve there was a large walled garden and glasshouses where fruit and flowers for the house, including orchids,
were grown. In 1968 the Cymbidium houses were damaged and the plants were moved to Glasnevin and never returned. In
the displaced collection was Cymbidium Irish Melody (= Cym. Jason x Martin). It was the only orchid Congreve received an
award for, an AM, in 1948. He did win fifteen RHS Gold Medals for his rock and formal garden exhibits at Chelsea during
the 1950s and 1960s.
Cymbidium Irish Melody AM RHS in 1948,

painted by Nellie Roberts. RHS Lindley Library
Congreve served for some years on the RHS Shows, the Joint Rhododendron followed by the Rhododendron & Camelia
Committees. His contribution to Horticulture was acknowledged when he was made a CBE in 1965. The RHS appreciated
him too; in 1987 he became a VMH and was made a Vice President in 1998. It was on his annual visit to Chelsea that
Congreve died in 2011 aged one hundred and four, the contents of the house were sold but the gardens remain open to the
public. Sadly there are few photographs of him because he hated having them taken. However there is a fitting anecdote that
at his centenary lunch, he quoted what he described as an old proverb: "To be happy for an hour, have a glass of wine. To be
happy for a day, read a book. To be happy for a week, take a wife. To be happy for ever, make a garden." ■
CLARE AND JOHAN HERMANS

O f all the judging groups from around the world who are qualified to give
internationally recognized awards, the Royal Horticultural Society's
Orchid Committee is different in many ways. It is the oldest system in existence
and is operated by a horticultural society rather than an orchid society. Other
systems start as a committee giving awards whose members are chosen from
orchid societies. These societies have grown up over the years as a direct result of
the public interest that has arisen from orchid growing. In the RHS there is a
totally different system, which was born out of orchid interest among the
members of a general horticultural society. It is, therefore, important to see how
the society itself started before we examine how the judging system works.
In 1804, a group of enthusiastic gardeners in London formed the Horticultural

Society and within a few years it had become the Royal Horticultural Society.
The group continues to hold that title and still enjoys royal patronage. In 1804,
the objects and aims were to further the interest in gardening and horticulture.
Orchid growing at that time was very much in its infancy as very few plants had
been collected. With the increase of trade abroad and the expansion of the British
Empire, more and more tropical plants found their way to the United Kingdom.
As a result, gardeners began to build greenhouses and experiment with the
heating of them. Finally, they achieved a structure in which they could reproduce
almost any climate in the world. Thus began the great orchid-growing fever.
With this general interest in plants, the Royal Horticultural Society decided to
give a First Class Certificate to any orchid they thought worthy. The FCC/RHS
was given to plants "of great excellence" and was first introduced in 1859. A
Certificate of Cultural Commendation (CCC/RHS) did not make its appearance
until 1888. It is awarded to orchids which are considered to be "meritorious." The
JUDGING ORCHIDS Certificate of Preliminary Commendation (PC/RHS) was first instituted in 1931,
to be given to "a new plant of promise."
AT THE ROYAL
HORTICULTURAL The RHS is run by a council which is elected yearly at the annual general
SOCIETY meeting held in February. The council issues invitations to sit on their various
committees, which specialise in the different forms of horticulture. These
numerous committees include experts on fruit and vegetables, roses, narcissuses
and tulips, rock gardens as well as scientific subjects. There are also general
committees such as Floral "A" and Floral "B." Together, these committees cover
Brian S. Rittershausen the whole of the plant kingdom.
The Orchid Committee commenced in 1889 and took over the task of giving
awards to orchids from the general council. Even today, neither the orchid nor
any other RHS committee actually gives awards to plants. They only recommend
their awards to the council and the council must confirm these awards before they
are made public. The Orchid Committee meets 14 times a year in the Orchid
Room at the Royal Horticultural Society's headquarters in the New Hall,
Greycoat Street, London, apart from one meeting which is held at the Chelsea
Flower Show, a few miles away. The Orchid Room houses the files and records
of awards dating back to the first meetings.
The present Orchid Committee consists of 25 members, including the chairman

and vice chairmen, who collectively represent a wide range of interests including
commercial growers, leading amateurs, botanists and taxonomists. Personal
invitations are based on the individual member's knowledge of orchids and what
he or she can contribute to the committee. Unlike other judging panels around the
world, there are no trainee judges nor is any form of examination required to
become a judge. Members are re-invited annually to continue in service.
One does not have to be a member of the Royal Horticultural Society to submit a
plant for an award. But people exhibiting within easy reach of Greycoat Street
are expected to show the whole plant in bloom. However, where this is difficult
for potential exhibitors from abroad, they are welcome to show cut flower spikes.
Plants or flower spikes must be received by the secretary of the Orchid
Committee before 10:30 am on the morning of the meeting. This allows an hour
before the committee sits for the records of any previous awards to be checked

and hybrids to be registered. This also allows time for the colour photographs and full particulars of the orchids
members to examine the plants in detail. The number of exhibited, including measurements, quantity of flowers, etc.
plants submitted at a meeting may vary from five to six to as
many as 30-40 at a time. This depends on the time of year and When an orchid receives an AM/RHS or an FCC/RHS, it is
which orchids are in season. When the committee sits at 11:30 painted by the official RHS artist. This practice began in 1897
am, each plant is examined separately, its name and parentage when the committee felt the need to record the awards they
readout together with the details of any previous awards. were giving and to be able to scrutinize previous award
Having allowed time for the plant to be examined, the winners so that comparisons could be made. A young lady
chairman will ask for comments and criticisms. This will be named Miss Nellie Roberts was invited to paint the awarded
followed by a call for a proposal. If an award is proposed and orchids for a six-month trial period. She continued to do so
seconded, then a show of hands completes the judging. There for the next 56 years, by which time she had faithfully painted
must be two to one in favor of the proposal for the plant to every award given by the RHS. When the committee
receive an award. This allows an hour before the committee examines a species that has previously been awarded,
sits for the records of any previous awards to be checked and members are able to consult the painting of that awarded
hybrids to be registered; it also allows time for the members clone and compare it with the plant before them. This greatly
to examine the plants in detail. assists the committee in coming to its final decision. In the
case of a hybrid, other awards to the grex will be removed
This simple but effective method of judging has been used for from the files for comparison with the new exhibit. The result
nearly 100 years and is known as the appreciation method. is that, after many years of painting the awards, the committee
The committee is occasionally criticized for not using a point has a large visual reference collection on which it can call.
system but it is their opinion that they would certainly end up These are filed in alphabetical order in the Orchid Room and
with the same result whichever system was used. The three are available for the committee to use at every meeting.
main awards, PC/RHS, AM/RHS and FCC/RHS are given to Exhibitors may also have a copy of the painting for their own
plants which the committee considers are different enough use and most proud recipients of awards are pleased to do so.
from anything they have previously seen and are worthy of Each year, at the British orchid Growers Association's Show
the certificate. This appreciation method is based on the held in March, the previous year's paintings are put on
personal knowledge and experience of those handling display, enabling the public to see for themselves the award
particular plants. If a member feels that his or her knowledge winners.
is insufficient about something unusual or beyond their scope,
it is quite in order to abstain from voting on that occasion. An even larger display of paintings is planned showing the
Should any member have a vested interest in a plant, they development of orchids from1897 to 1985 at the International
must abstain from voting or declare their interest and leave Centenary Orchid Conference incorporating the British
the room while the plant is being judged. Orchid Council's Congress, the 7th European Orchid
Conference and the British Orchid Growers Association's
The chairman will read out from the application form the full Show to be held in London at the RHS March 20-23,
details of the plant, the originator of the cross if it is a hybrid, 1985.After judging, the awarded plants go on display in the
who has made the present cross and the exhibitor oft he actual hall when there is a regular RHS flower show.
plant. All this information is available to the committee
before they make their judgment. At one time, the size and Apart from the four awards already mentioned for individual
shape of a flower were much more important than they are plants, the Orchid Committee also judges groups of orchids
today. For instance, in the past, more emphasis was put on for which it can recommend one of the RHS's medals. These
roundness. Originally, the committee was judging mostly are bronze running through to gold. In addition to these, there
species. Therefore, the feeling was that every form of is an annual award called the Westonbirt Medal that is given
hybridization should show an improvement in size and shape
of bloom, thus aiming at the ultimate goal, a perfectly round if for a different branch of orchids each year. Also, the George
shapeless flower. Moore Medal is presented, on the council's recommendation,
to the best The Orchid Committee examines only orchids that
Today, with the tremendous amount of intergeneric hybrids are considered too delicate to survive out-of-doors in Britain.
seen from home and abroad, the interest has changed back to Therefore, they do not examine any of the alpine orchids such
flowers with more character, unusual shapes and colour as pleiones and orchis, which are considered hardy in this
forms. By using the appreciation method of judging, the country. These are judged by the Alpine Committee. ■
committee can be flexible and move with the times. When the
committee was first formed, size and shape were the all
important features. Today, the committee is more progressive, BRIAN S. RITTERSHAUSEN
giving encouragement to new lines of breeding, recognizing ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN
that character and colour, pattern of flowers and habit of spike
AMERICAN ORCHID SOCIETY
can be more important than the shape of the individual bloom.
It is still possible for outstanding species to receive awards, AWARDS QUARTERLY,
even an FCC/RHS, right along with the latest and most VOL. 15, NO. 3, (1984)
modern of hybrids.
Although the RHS does not publish the details of its awards in
its own magazine, The Orchid Review each month carries

THE ORCHID COMMITTEE
THE ORCHID COMMITTEE

The Orchid Committee holds meetings around the country, working with local orchid societies and assessing more than 200
plants for exhibition award every year. The committee has strong international links and its members represent the committee
and the RHS at events all over the world. The RHS is also the International Cultivar Registration Authority for orchid hybrids.
“For over 125 years, the RHS Orchid Committee has encouraged the cultivation of what remains probably the most exotic of
plant families – and decided which are among the best The RHS Orchid Committee celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2014.
A strong association between the RHS and orchids goes back much further, almost to its foundation in 1804 (although the first
recorded RHS award to an orchid was in 1841, when Oncidium pulchellum, now Tolumnia pulcella, was given a Certificate of
Merit). Then, tropical orchids were only grown by the wealthy and the aristocratic: who among them would have thought that
today, moth orchids (Phalaenopsis hybrids) would be the world’s most popular and widely grown house plants? At the
inaugural meeting of the Orchid Committee in April 1889, RHS President Sir Trevor Lawrence was in the chair. He had a
large orchid collection at Burford House, Oxfordshire, and still holds the individual record for the most RHS awards, more
than 500.”
Other famous names present were John Dominy of Veitch Nurseries (who flowered the first artificial orchid hybrid, Calanthe
Dominyi, in 1856), Frederick Sander of orchid nursery Sander & Co of St Albans and Edwin Hill, gardener to Lord
Rothschild. At that first meeting, 16 plants were judged: there were two First Class Certificates, one Award of Merit, and three
Botanical Certificates. Nursery owner Sir Harry Veitch was elected the Orchid Committee’s first chairman, continuing in the
post until 1904. Over the years famous names have been members, including Sir Jeremiah Colman (of mustard fame);
Frederick Moore from the Botanic Garden at Glasnevin; and HG Alexander, grower to Sir George Holford at Westonbirt, the
longest-serving member ever at 66 years.
The first woman to join was Margot Holmes, in 1931. Currently, committee membership is fixed at 24, and still drawn from
broad-based expertise including botanists, amateur growers, nurserymen and plant breeders. In early years the RHS had
fortnightly shows in London, so the Orchid Committee sat twice a month. This continued well into the 20th century. Before
the New Hall (now Lindley Hall) opened in 1904, meetings were held at various places, including the London Scottish Royal
Volunteers’ Drill Hall. From the 1920s, meetings were held in a dedicated Orchid Room at the Lawrence Hall. Now more than
half of each year’s meetings are held at orchid shows and events across the UK, occasionally overseas. An important part of
the Committee’s work has always been awards. It has assessed some 30,000 orchids during its history (see box, opposite). At
first some 200 awards were given annually, more than 30 of them First Class Certificates (FCC); now it is around 70, and
FCCs are only awarded once or twice every few years.
JOHAN HERMANS
CHAIRMAN OF THE RHS ORCHID COMMITTEE
HONORARY RESEARCH ASSOCIATE OF THE ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, KEW
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN
THE ORCHID REVIEW
SEPTEMBER 2014
The Orchid Review is more than 100 years old and became the orchid journal of the Royal Horticultural Society in 1993.
Edited by Sarah Forsyth, it is published quarterly and is the European Orchid Council's official journal and is the oldest and
most influential orchid magazine in the world and essential reading for orchid lovers.

The orchids celebrating Frederick William Moore
(Fig. 1.) Frederick William Moore

2 November 1921
National Portrait Gallery, London

Fig. 3. A page of the “Letter Register” linking species of
Fig. 2. Orchid Register 1926 orchid with their related correspondence.
Fig. 5. Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach . From

The Gardeners' Chronicle, 18 May 1889.
Fig. 4. Dried specimen of Coelogyne mooreana
from the Herbarium of the Royal Botanic Gardens,
Kew (K00078784).

A TOWER OF STRENGTH
The orchids celebrating Frederick William Moore
INTRODUCTION
S
ince its foundation by the Dublin Society in 1795, the National Botanic Gardens at Glasnevin has been the centre of
horticulture in Ireland. Much is written about the Gardens’ history, the most comprehensive account being Charles
Nelson and Eileen McCracken's The Brightest Jewel – A history of the National Botanic Gardens Glasnevin, Dublin
(1987). Situated not far from Dublin city centre, the National Botanic Gardens was one of the great trio of royal botanic
gardens at London (Kew), Edinburgh and Dublin. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, was the most important of the three and
the majority of the scientific staff were based there.
In 1911, Frederick William Moore (1857–1949) (Front Cover and Fig. 1) was knighted for his services to horticulture – an
honour acknowledged by the great Irish naturalist Robert Lloyd Praeger in Moore's obituary when he referred to him as “a
tower of strength in all matters related to gardening and horticulture”. Moore is best remembered for his passion for orchids.
During his career as Curator and Keeper of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, he amassed a world-class collection of
orchids, many of them considered botanical rarities. As these plants flowered, they were usually sent to Kew and to the
famous orchidologist, Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach, in Hamburg for determination and verification. A comprehensive
account of the history of orchids and the National Botanic Gardens is given in Charles Nelson and Brendan Sayers’s Orchids
of Glasnevin (2003).
CORRESPONDENCE AND REGISTERS

Some of the correspondence detailing these verifications survives in the archives of the National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin.
The letters and postcards are usually dated and range from short verifications of material sent, to more conversational letters
which mention the activities of those working in orchid taxonomy. On receipt, Frederick Moore annotated the letters, often
with red pencil, underlining the scientific names and occasionally adding a date. Two series of numbers place the letters in
sequence; one series appears to only include those dealing with orchid correspondence, and another that may include other
letters from Kew.
Various registers were made of the orchid collection. The earliest are lists rather than bound volumes. The first bound volume,
dated 1880, entitled “Orchids at Glasnevin”, lists the collection as it was one year after the death of David Moore, Frederick
Moore's father and the Garden's Director since 1838, and the appointment of Frederick Moore as the Gardens' Curator.
Following this register is one dated 1891 and another dated 1926. The latter, compiled four years after
Frederick Moore retired, is entitled “Royal Botanic Gardens, Orchid Book” (Fig. 2).
The orchid register of 1891 aligns the correspondence with the specific orchid accessions and a separate register of letters
aligns the correspondence with specific orchid species (Fig. 3).
TAXONOMY AND TAXONOMISTS
The science of taxonomy deals with the classification of organisms and their placement in a systematic order that allows us to
better understand their history and relationships. The cornerstone of this branch of science is the dried, pressed specimens
which can be consulted for key characteristics (Fig. 4). A collection of specimens or a repository in which they are maintained
is referred to as a herbarium.
A key figure in the tale of the prominent taxonomists associated with Glasnevin Botanic Gardens is Professor John Lindley
(1799–1865), who is considered the father of orchidology. For 40 years Lindley held various positions and fulfilled many roles
in the (Royal) Horticultural Society of London. In his drive to raise the profile of horticulture, he established shows and
exhibitions and was one of the founders of The Gardeners’ Chronicle, the horticultural periodical covering all aspects of the
craft which was in circulation for almost 150 years. During his career, Lindley amassed the most comprehensive collection of
pressed specimens and drawings relating to orchids.
Following Lindley's death on 1 November 1865, Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach (1824–1889) (Fig. 5), took on the role of the
world's foremost orchid taxonomist. Like his father Heinrich Gottlieb Ludwig Reichenbach (1793–1879), the younger
Reichenbach was a prolific scientist, best known for his contributions to knowledge of the orchid family. He is also
remembered, in less favourable ways, for his short descriptions which often lacked necessary details and, infamously, for the
pre-condition in his will to the institution that accepted his herbarium, to close it to any consultation for a period of 25 years.
Thus, many years of work on the naming of orchids were hampered, and once the herbarium was again open to consultation,
many scientific names were found to be superfluous, because names that Reichenbach had published had priority. The

Fig. 9a&b. Anathallis duplooyi (Luer & Sayers) Luer.
Photograph (a) and line drawings (b) courtesy of Diego Bogarin, Jardín Botánico Lankester, Universidad de Costa Rica,
Cartago, Costa Rica, Central America. Anathallis duplooyi is known only from Belize and Costa Rica.
Fig. 24. Acineta moorei Rolfe (now Acineta hrubyana Rchb.f.),

a photograph taken from a collection of glass plates in the Library,
National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin.

accepted abbreviation for the junior Reichenbach in scientific literature is Rchb.f.
In 1880, Robert Allen Rolfe (1855–1921) (Fig. 6) joined the staff of the Herbarium in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, as
Second Assistant and remained working there until his death in 1921. Rolfe specialised in orchids and identified most of the
plants sent from Glasnevin during Frederick Moore’s Keepership. Rolfe's work was not the only one seriously hampered by
Reichenbach's decision to close his herbarium. On learning of Reichenbach's death and the revelation of his instructions
regarding his herbarium, Rolfe wrote to Moore at Glasnevin: “Reichenbach has given everyone an awful kick.” The
implications of Reichenbach's actions were evident when Rolfe, on 30 May 1890, wrote an apology to Moore for his tardiness in
publishing on Glasnevin material:
After all my greatest difficulty is the myriads of things described by Reichenbach which we have not yet got. Take for
instance an Oncidium or Dendrobium. I find it new to us but cannot describe it without hunting up perhaps 100 or 120
descriptions in all kinds of books to see if it is not already described.
CORRESPONDENCE WITH MOORE
There are eight letters and nine postcards from Reichenbach in the Glasnevin archive; fifteen are dated but two are not. From the
sequence in which I place the letters, the first was written on 9 May 1880 and mentioned Frederick Moore's late father.
Reichenbach wrote, “I am quite ready to name you any orchid”, and the letter contains instructions on how to number the
specimens sent for identification. The last postcard was written 20 days before Reichenbach's death on 6 May 1889 (Fig. 7).
The letters were twice marked in a numerical sequence. One appears to be by Frederick Moore, the other, probably by a clerica l
assistant in later years.
The two undated letters, though marked as being among the first in both numerical sequences, are more likely to have been
written in 1885 or 1886. One refers to work on the genus Liparis by Henry Nicholas Ridley (1855–1956) of the British Museum
(Natural History). Reichenbach wrote, “I also would [like to] have a fresh flower of Liparis decursiva ... whether a confusion
with reflexa has happened (cf. Ridley!!!), what I do not believe.” In Ridley's monograph on Liparis, published in the Journal of
the Linnean Society of London in July 1886, Ridley placed L. decursiva Rchb.f. in synonymy under L. reflexa (R. Br.) Lindl. He
cited a specimen of L. decursiva cultivated at Glasnevin as one of the specimens examined in his analysis.
Though there is no clear evidence for placing the other undated letter in 1885 or 1886, the salutation “My dear Confrère” and the
remark that “Your people constantly keep …” suggest it was written later than the numerical sequences place it.
The letters and postcards have some undecipherable words but can be almost fully transcribed. They range from a simple
postcard with the verifications noted, dated and signed, to detailed letters, all of which allows a backwards look to a colourful
period of orchid history (Fig. 8).
THE STORY OF A PLANT NAME
The discovery of new plants is on-going and as they are found they must be given a unique name and position within the
classification of plants. This classification is subject to change as new evidence of relationships is revealed, mainly as the results
of DNA investigations and by the opinions of those reviewing the evidence. A scientific name is in two parts: the first is the
generic name that places the species within a group closest to it, and the second is the specific epithet that, joined with the
generic name, creates a unique name. Those who name the species are also acknowledged in scientific literature.
An example is the species Pleurothallis duplooyi Luer & Sayers (Fig. 9), described in 2001 by Carlyle Luer and Brendan Sayers
in Revista de la Sociedad Boliviana de Botanica. The description is highly detailed giving the shape, texture, demeanour and
measurements of the vegetative parts. It also notes the reason for the specific epithet, duplooyi, honouring Ken duPlooy, Director
of the Belize Botanic Gardens, who had a keen interest in the flora of Belize and who worked closely with the expeditions fro m
the National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, in the exploration of that country's orchid flora.
In less than two decades, this plant has undergone several name changes. Carlyle Luer's exploration of the classification of the
sub-tribe Pleurothallidinae, a sub-division of the orchid family containing a vast number of small species, has resulted in the
renaming and repositioning of Pleurothallis duplooyi, in 2004 as Specklinia duplooyi (Luer & Sayers) Luer, in 2006 as
Panmorphia duplooyi (Luer & Sayers) Luer, and as Anathallis duplooyi (Luer & Sayers) Luer in 2009. Recent molecular work
by Adam Karremans at the University of Costa Rica, published in 2014, places Pleurothallis duplooyi Luer & Sayers in the new
genus Lankesteriana, as Lankesteriana duplooyi (Luer & Sayers) Karremans. It takes some time for new nomenclature to be
accepted and in some case it is rejected; at the time of writing, the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP) cites
Anathallis duplooyi as the accepted name for the species.
Among the myriad of scientific names, there are some coined and used in communications which are never validly published,
there are those that can be swiftly reduced to synonyms, those that are changed from one genus to another, a few that required
changes as they were already in use, if even obscurely, and those that have withstood the test of time and remain as first
described. Examples of all these are to be found in the names associated with Frederick William Moore.

Fig. 7. The last postcard received by Frederick Moore from
Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach.
Fig. 8. The front and back of a folded letter of 10 January
1905 where Rolfe congratulates Moore on novelties in the
collection and also showing the more personal note to some
of the correspondence.
Fig. 10. A painting of the inflorescence of an orchid with

Fig. 6. Robert Allen Rolfe. From The Orchid Review, 1921. the provisional name of Eria mooreana Rolfe by Lydia
Shackleton who painted orchids in the Glasnevin collection
in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The species was not
validly published and probably represents an inflorescence
of Eria flavescens (Blume) Lindl.

NAMES NEVER VALIDLY PUBLISHED
“Eria mooreana” and Physosiphon moorei are names contained within the correspondence of Rolfe and Moore. The former name
is also represented in the botanical art archive of the National Botanic Gardens inscribed on three paintings. The earliest (by
Lydia Shackleton) is dated September 1890, and shows a single flower without the distinctive bract; the country of origin is
erroneously given as Brazil. The genus Eria does not occur on the American continents. The second and third paintings are again
both by Lydia Shackleton and dated November 1894. One shows a single flower with the distinctive bract depicted, and the
other portrays a full inflorescence of twelve flowers (Fig. 10). The title “Eria mooreana Rolfe n. sp.” informs us that Frederick
Moore expected this name to be published by Rolfe. The 1880 orchid register noted an Eria species received from Sander in
May 1888. The name also appears on a handwritten list within the 1891 orchid register with a link to a Rolfe letter of 1892 in
which he verified two species, one being “Eria mooreana, Rolfe n.sp.”. The details of what occurred following Rolfe's intentions
to publish the name and the paintings bearing it are unclear. It is obvious that the species was incorrectly considered new as
Rolfe did not proceed to publish it, and, to those familiar with the genus, it is fairly clear that the paintings most probably portray
E. flavescens (Blume.) Lindl. (A. Shuiteman pers. comm., 19 December 2016). To add a twist to this story, the name Eria
mooreana was proposed by Ferdinand von Mueller and published in 1911 by Friedrich Kränzlin for a species from New Guinea
cultivated in Melbourne Botanic Garden. It was probably named to honour Frederick Moore's uncle Charles Moore, Director of
the Sydney Botanic Gardens.
Other orchid names that celebrate Charles Moore are Dendrobium mooreanum Lindl. from Vanuatu, Dendrobium moorei F.
Mueller of Lord Howe Island and Thrixspermum moorei Rchb.f. of Papuasia and northern Queensland, Australia. Indeed the
Moore name is relatively common and other orchids celebrate other members of the Moore 'tribe'. Vanda x moorei Rolfe is
named for J.W. Moore of Eldon Place Nursery, Bradford, who exhibited it to the Royal Horticultural Orchid Committee on 12
October 1897. More recent names published in, and since, 1995 are Bulbophyllum mooreanum Robyns & Tournay, Lepanthes
moorei C. Schweinf. (1959), Catasetum moorei C. Schweinf. (1970) and in 1988, Cattleya mooreana Withner, Allison &
Guenard. None of these celebrate our Frederick Moore.
Returning to Frederick Moore, names that are recorded but never validly published, according to standard works on plant
nomenclature, are Calanthe moorei, a plant of which gained a Botanical Certificate in 1895 from the Royal Horticultural
Society, and Physosiphon moorei (Fig. 11). Both these names have been published in horticultural periodicals including the
Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society and The Gardeners’ Chronicle, in reports of the RHS Orchid Committee’s meetings
and awards.
In a letter dated 18 March 1892, Rolfe identified two new species, an Aerides and Physosiphon moorei and asked, “Please send
leaf of the Aerides, with any information of it & the Physosiphon for purpose of description.” Victor Summerhayes, who began
working in the Orchid Herbarium at Kew three years after Rolfe died, wrote in Curtis's Botanical Magazine:
The origin of the name Physisophon moorei is doubtful. It seems possible that it was given provisionally by Rolfe to the
plant from Glasnevin, when it was first recognised as being a new species and that the name P. lindleyi was substituted
later on the discovery of the identity of the Chiapas specimen. In any case all the specimens named P. moorei, which I
have seen, are in my opinion P. lindleyi and Rolfe himself had come to the same conclusion in [the Orchid Review in]
1909.
The currently accepted name for Physosiphon moorei is Stelis emarginata (Lindl.) Soto Arenas & Solano.
As more and more orchids arrived in the glasshouses of Europe, the natural variability within a species became obvious. These
differences were often slight but enough to warrant an additional name to identify an unusual plant from other clones of the same
species. Although the difference might have been a paler or darker colour, a more robust stem or a longer flowering period, the
obvious name given to many of these clones was one that recognised their growers and locations. Examples from the orchid
collection at Glasnevin are Lycaste locusta var. mooreana (now Sudamerlycaste locusta) and Dracula chimaera 'Mooreana' (Fig.
12). Nowadays there is more acceptance of the natural variation found within species (Fig. 13) and cultivar names continue to be
used to identify individual clones.
ORCHID SPECIES NAMED FOR FREDERICK MOORE
There are nine scientific names, regarded as validly published, that honour Frederick William Moore. Some have become
synonyms, an example being Epidendrum mooreanum Rolfe, now Encyclia mooreana (Rolfe) Schltr. The nine species were
described between 1884 and 1911, the year Frederick Moore received his knighthood.
MASDEVALLIA MOOREANA
On 18 March 1884 Reichenbach identified two orchids sent by Moore, one being noted as “new”. He sent a full description in
English and in Latin, with a direction to look for it in The Gardeners’ Chronicle:

Fig. 11. Physosiphon moorei painted by Margareta
Pertl. Although appearing in publications and
botanic gardens orchid lists, the name Physosiphon
moorei was never validly published.

Masdevallia mooreana n. sp.
A very interesting Masdevallia nearest Masdevallia elephanticeps, but smaller by 1/3 in all its parts. It has a
flower three inches long, yellowish light green outside with greenish darker nerves, a reddish hue under the pair
sepals. The “inferior” lip of pair sepals is deeply bifid with long triangles and well developed tails, their inner surface
being very rough, all nearly chocolate brown. The pair sepal has a very short triangular blade and a very long tail. The
petals are rhombic with a strong ridge on midline. Lip oblong nearly covered with asperities. Bract narrow, much
shorter than the stalk of ovary. Peduncle and stalk of a very yellowish white with numerous small reddish freckles.
Leaf exceeding a span, oblong, ligulate, blunt, acute with a narrower petiolar base.
The first flower I obtained was quite allarming [sic]. Its unpair[ed] sepal had a very broad tail. I asked for a
second. It has the tail as narrow as it is in all the affinity. I have it from my excellent colleague, the Director (crossed
out and replaced with the word curator, not in Reichenbach’s writing) of Glasnevin gardens, Mr. M [sic] Moore
which name it justly bears.
Masdevallia is a genus of Central and South American orchids numbering in the region of 665 species and natural hybrids. M.
mooreana Rchb.f. (Fig. 14 & Fig. 15) grows in the Norte de Santander department of Columbia. The plant depicted was
painted in the private collection of Mr A. P. Sijm in Hem, Holland.
NEOMOOREA IRRORATA
Following this dedication by Reichenbach, Moore continued to send flowers to Reichenbach until his death. His last
correspondence was dated 16 April 1889, 20 days before he died. Frederick Moore annotated the postcard, “last card from
Reichenbach”.
Interesting plants continued to flower in the Glasnevin collections and on 8 April 1890, Moore sent a flower to Rolfe at Kew.
In his letter he states: “Today I send you ... the flower of an orchid which is quite new to me. It seems a distinct and interesting
thing, but I cannot say anything further about it as this is the first flower to open, and I have never before seen it.” Rolfe
agreed, replying that “I arrive at the conclusion that it is a new genus”, and he named this orchid Moorea irrorata. In the
description in The Gardeners’ Chronicle Rolfe wrote:
It affords me great pleasure to be able to connect the name of Mr. F.W. Moore, Curator of the Glasnevin Botanic
Garden, with so striking an Orchid. It is only one of a large series of very valuable contributions to the Kew
Herbarium, extending over a long period.
The generic name Moorea had already been used for a grass so Rolfe had to publish another name. In 1904 in the Orchid
Review, Neomoorea became the generic name of this orchid. As the herbarium of Reichenbach was still closed, Rolfe had no
way of knowing that Reichenbach had identified the orchid as a species of Lueddemannia, and named it L. wallisii in 1876.
However, Rolfe's view that the orchid was distinct has stayed the test of time. Today the accepted name is Neomoorea wallisii
(Rchb.f.) Schltr. (Fig. 16).
Neomoorea wallisii, the only species in its genus, occurs in Panama, Columbia and possibly in northern Ecuador. The plant
illustrated is growing in the collection of the Botanischer Garten der Universität Wien and was obtained from a former
Chairman of the Orchid Society of Vienna, Mr. Schwarz in 1976.
EPIDENDRUM MOOREANUM
No finer compliment could be paid than to have a genus of orchid named after you, yet the flow of interesting novelties
continued from the Glasnevin orchid houses as did the dedications.
In an undated letter, annotated 1889 by Frederick Moore, Rolfe wrote:
I have tried to identify your Coelogyne from Java, & the Epidendrum, but am sorry to say I cannot find anything quite
identical. I believe I had the Epidendrum once before from someone. It is near to E. trachycarpum, but not the same.
The Epidendrum may again have been the reference to a paragraph in a letter dated July 25 1889:
The Epidendrum I cannot match, and think the same came from Sander a little time ago, but my batch of recently
dried orchids are not arranged yet, so I cannot readily find it. I may have to do something with it hereafter.
On 23 June 1891, Rolfe again wrote of the Epidendrum that had flowered in the Glasnevin collections in May 1889. Rolfe,
with the availability of other specimens from the collections of Sir Trevor Lawrence and Mr William Bull, had described it in
the Kew Bulletin as a new species, Epidendrum mooreanum:
In 1889 you sent an Epidendrum for name which I could not identify. It has since been received from other
sources, and has been described for Kew Bulletin as E. mooreanum, Rolfe, n. sp. Probably you will be able to identify
it when description appears.

Fig. 12. Dracula chimera 'Mooreana' painted by Margareta Pertl.

Fig. 13. Three clones of Encyclia mooreana showing the differences which may be
found in individuals of a species. Painted by Margareta Pertl.
.

Fig. 14. The specimen of Masdevallia mooreana from Heinrich Gustav
Reichenbach's herbarium now housed at the Museum of Natural
History, Vienna. By kind permission of Dr Ernst Vitek,
Naturhistorisches Museum Wien

Fig. 15. Masdevallia mooreana Rchb.f., painted by Margareta Pertl.

Fig. 16. Neomoorea irrorata Rolfe (now Neomoorea wallisii (Rolfe) Schltr.)
painted by Margareta Pertl.

Approximately 180 species of Encyclia range throughout the subtropical and tropical areas of Central and South America. The
plants of E. mooreana (Rolfe) Schltr. (Fig. 17) illustrated are growing in the collection of the Botanischer Garten der Universität
Wien. The main subject on the plate is a plant obtained from Maduro's Tropical Flowers, Panama, and the flower detail of the
darker clone from the private collection of Mr Rudi Lange, Rosenheim, Germany.
SACCOLABIUM MOOREANUM
Two years later a plant from New Guinea, that had arrived with a shipment of Dendrobium phalaenopsis, began to flower in
many of the collections to which it was sold. In the Kew Bulletin of 1893, Rolfe wrote:
A small-flowered Saccolabium, introduced from New Guinea together with Dendrobium Phalaenopsis by Messers. F.
Sander & Co., of St. Albans and now represented in several collections. It flowered with Mr. F.W. Moore ,
Glasnevin Botanic Garden, Dublin in October last, then with Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart., of Burford, Dorking, in
November and shortly afterwards with C.J. Lucas, Esq., Warnham Court, Horsham, from all of whom specimens were
received for determination.
There is a letter dated 19 October 1892 in the Glasnevin archives in which Rolfe identifies four species, including “Saccolabium
mooreanum, Rolfe, n. sp. "New Guinea".“
Saccolabium mooreanum was transferred to Robiquetia by J.J. Smith in 1912. Robiquetia mooreanum (Rolfe) J.J. Smith (Fig.
18) is now a synonym of R. ascendens Gaudich, published in 1829. Robiquetia is a genus of a little more than 80 species found
in some Asian countries. The plant illustrated is growing in the collection of the Botanischer Garten der Universität Wien and
was obtained from Mr Helmut Lang, Steiermark.
MAXILLARIA MOOREANA
The next plant to be named for Frederick Moore was Maxillaria mooreana. In the Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information, volume
36 (1895), Rolfe described a new species of Maxillaria and named it M. mooreana:
A pretty species belonging to the same group as M. grandiflora and approaching M. Hubschii, Rchb.f., which has larger
flowers with differently coloured petals and a lip fully twice as broad. It was introduced by Messrs. F. Sander and Co.,
and flowered in their establishment in April 1891, when it was named, though the description has not been previously
published. It has since been received from Glasnevin.
Rolfe had verified a specimen from the Glasnevin collection in a letter dated 26 January 1895, writing, “Maxillaria Mooreana,
Rolfe - described for Kew Bulletin.“
Maxillaria contains approximately 350 species of Central and South American orchids. Maxillaria mooreana Rolfe (Fig. 19) is
another example of a name now reduced to a synonym, the accepted name being M. amesiana Mast., which grows in Peru. The
plant illustrated is growing in the collection of the Botanischer Garten der Universität Wien and was obtained from Mr Pepe
Portillo of Ecuagenera in Ecuador.
ANGRAECUM MOOREANUM
There is only one orchid of African origin named after Moore. It was initially named by Frederick Sander of Messrs F. Sander
and Co., St Albans, and recognised as a provisional name by Rolfe when he verified it among six orchids from Glasnevin in a
letter to Moore on 17 December 1891: “Angraecum Mooreanum, Sander & Co. - (provisional name)“. Again on 31 October
1892 a plant was identified as “Angraecum Mooreanum, Rolfe, n. sp.“ Moore annotated this entry with “S. 91“ identifying it as a
plant that came from Sander and Co. in 1891. Both of the specimens sent to Rolfe from Glasnevin appear on the type sheet for
the species in the herbarium at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
In 1983, Angraecum mooreanum Rolfe ex Sander (Fig. 20) was transferred to the genus Aerangis by Joyce Stewart and Philip
Cribb of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Aerangis contains approximately 50 species. A. mooreana (Rolfe ex Sander) P.J.
Cribb & J. Stewart is found in the Comoros Islands and Madagascar. The plant illustrated is growing in the collection of the
Botanischer Garten der Universität Wien and was obtained from the orchid nursery of Cramer Orchideen.
CRYPTOPHORANTHUS MOOREI
The Glasnevin orchid collection was especially rich in small species often considered unworthy of cultivation. One such genus is
Cryptophoranthus, which was the topic of Rolfe’s letter dated 8 September 1899 :
Cryptophoranthus hypodiscus, Rolfe (Masdevallia hypodiscus, Rchb.f.) (ex descriptione)

Cryptophoranthus Moorei, Rolfe n. sp. (not "C. fenestratus", Rodr.) Please send stem and leaf, with any indication of
the plant's history, so that the description may be completed. He [Director] also thanks you for the specimens of
Cryptophoranthus oblongifolius, Rolfe & Masdevallia angulata, Rchb.f.

The Irish Orchid Society
SPECIAL EDITION
Fig. 17. Epidendrum mooreanum Rolfe (now Encyclia mooreana (Rolfe)
Schltr.) painted by Margareta Pertl.
April 2018 [ 24 ]
On 16 June 1903 Rolfe again writes of Cryptophoranthus:
The large-flowered Cryptophoranthus agrees with Day's drawing and our specimens of C. dayanus, Rolfe
(Masdevallia dayana Rchb.f.). The other is about half as large, and seems distinct, but we find no name for it. It is
near C. hypodiscus, Rolfe.
Finally, a few months later in the October 1903 issue of the Orchid Review, Rolfe published an article on the genus and stated:
No less than five species are flowering in the fine collection at Glasnevin, under the care of Mr. F. W. Moore, namely,
Cryptophoranthus Dayanus, C. Lehmanni, C. hypodicus, C. Moorei, and C. gracilentus.....
Both Cryptophoranthus moorei and C. lehmanii are noted as flowering for the first time.
Cryptophoranthus is now regarded as a synonym of Zootrophion, and Cryptophoranthus moorei (Fig. 21) a synonym of
Zootrophion hypodiscus (Rchb.f.) Luer. Species of Zootrophion are found on some of the Caribbean islands, in Central
America and in northern countries of South America. Z. hypodiscus occurs in Colombia and Ecuador. The plant illustrated is
growing in the collection of the Botanischer Garten der Universität Wien and was obtained from Mr Joachim Wlodaczek,
Grossreschener Orchideen.
COELOGYNE MOOREANA
Of the orchids named after Frederick Moore, the most well known one, probably for its ease of cultivation, availability in the
trade and its pure white flowers and strong yellow/orange lip markings, is Coelogyne mooreana. The tale of its discovery
begins with the purchase of plants from Sander & Sons, St. Albans, that had been collected in Annam, Vietnam, by Wilhelm
Micholitz. Specimens flowered with Sander in December 1906 and at Glasnevin a few months later. Sander wrote to Rolfe
saying that he wished to name it after Frederick Moore. A letter from Rolfe to Glasnevin dated 3 January 1907 states:
“Specimen of Coelogyne Mooreana for Herbarium. A description has been prepared for the Kew Bulletin.”
Coelogyne comprises approximately 200 species distributed throughout southeast Asia and the tropical Pacific. C. mooreana
Rolfe (Fig. 22) is confined to high-mountain cloud-forest in Vietnam. The plant illustrated is growing in the collection of the
Botanischer Garten der Universität Wien and was obtained from the collection of Leo Renesteder of St Gallen.
ACINETA MOOREI
The last, chronologically, of the nine orchids named to honour Frederick Moore is another South American plant purchased
from Sander & Sons, St. Albans. On 27 July 1909, Rolfe wrote:
Acineta sp. not identified. If this be the one sent on July 20, 1905 a painting was made and the raceme of 7 flowers
dried. Nothing further is known about it. All that is known of "A. Colossa, Hort. Sand." is that it was sent
from Glasnevin on August 19 1898. It has not been described, & only the raceme is known. The one sent July 20,
1905 was suggested as "intermediate between Humboldtii & Colossa."
This letter was annotated in pencil by Frederick Moore as "sent as Acineta colossa". Rolfe wrote again on 10 August 1909:
Acineta sp. near A. colossa. It is still uncertain what name this plant must bear, for A. colossa, Sander, is not
described. The photographs [Fig. 23] will enable the plate to be completed.
P.S.
If a leaf of the doubtful Acineta can be spared it would be acceptable, as otherwise this part of the plate must be left
uncoloured. Of A. colossa, Sander, also, no leaf was sent.
And, on 13 August 1909:
The leaf of Acineta sent has been added to the plate prepared for the Botanical Magazine. The question of the correct
name has not been decided yet, nor yet whether it is identical with a plant sent on August 19, 1898 under the name of
A. colossa, Hort. Sander. The latter has not been described and only the inflorescence was sent.
The correspondence for the year 1910 cannot be located so any letters that continue the story are not available. However, when
the species was described in Curtis's Botanical Magazine in 1911, the delay in getting the name published was revealed:
flowered for the first time in July 1905. Flowers and photographs submitted to Kew indicated that the plant was new
to science, but fuller material was desirable. With some of the Acinetas the act of flowering, at least when under
cultivation, has an exhausting effect. This species has been no exception to the rule.
Acineta moorei Rolfe (Fig. 24) is now considered a synonym of A. hrubyana Rchb.f., known from Colombia.The plant
illustrated is growing in the collection of the Botanischer Garten der Universität Wien and was obtained from the private
collection of Mrs Helga Königer who purchased the plant from the South American nursery of Columborquideas Ltd,
Medellin, Colombia.

Fig. 18. Saccolabium mooreanum Rolfe (now Robiquetia ascendens Gaudich.)

EAGRÁN SPEISIALTA
Fig. 19. Maxillaria mooreana Rolfe (now Maxillaria amesiana Mast.) painted by Margareta Pertl.
Volume 18, Special [ 27 ]

Fig. 19. Maxillaria mooreana Rolfe (now Maxillaria
amesiana Mast.) painted by Margareta Pertl
.
Fig. 20. Angraecum mooreanum Rolfe ex Sander (now Aerangis mooreana (Rolfe ex
Sander) P.J. Cribb & J. Stewart) painted by Margareta Pertl.

Fig. 21. Cryptophoranthus moorei Rolfe (now Zootrophion hypodiscus (Rchb.f.) Luer)

.
Fig. 22. Coelogyne mooreana Rolfe, painted by Margareta Pertl.

And so concludes the histories of the species of orchid named after Sir Frederick William Moore. In 1922, with the
establishment of the Irish Free State, he retired to Willbrook in Rathfarnham, County Dublin, and continued to engage with the
National Botanic Gardens, exchanging fruit, bulbs and hardy garden plants. I expect he strolled through his beloved orchid
houses when he visited, and the collections he built provided ample material for those who wrote about the intriguing species
that came to flower.
Most of the great, long-lived public collections of orchids have suffered the highs and lows that occur from various pressures
and Glasnevin has been no exception. However, the collection still contains examples of plants that were growing when
Frederick Moore oversaw the collection. In 2005, a plant labelled Tainia sessilifolia was used as the basis for a transfer to its
correct genus, Eria. The plant had been obtained from the auctioneers Prothero & Morris in June 1887, from whom many
plants were purchased by Frederick Moore. It was another such purchase, Bulbophyllum ornatissimum (as Cirrhopetalum
ornatissimum) in January 1892, that formed the basis of an article by Bernard McDonald and André Schuiteman, the latter of
the Orchid Herbarium of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
APPRECIATIONS
In 2007, Gretta Pertl decided to paint the orchids named to honour Frederick Moore. In her adopted home of Dublin, she
walked in his footsteps in the Orchid House where the orchids grew and flowered. During the ten years it took to complete the
project, Gretta had made Vienna her principal residence once more and, using wet and dry brush techniques, executed her
portraits as the plants flowered in the glasshouses of Botanischer Garten der Universität Wien. The first public showing of
these works is, fittingly, at the National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin.
My thanks to Mary Bradshaw and Marie Hourigan for comments and suggestions that have improved the text, to Aidan Diskin
for work on digitising the orchid registers at Glasnevin which made research a much easier task and David Clarke for archival
work on correspondence from H.G. Reichenbach. A special word of thanks to Charles Nelson who added greatly to the text by
his critical and knowledgeable comments. For access to the Library, archives and for conversation and comments I wish to
also thank Anna Teahan and Alexandra Caccamo.
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Society, Coral Gables.
Anon., 1921. Obituary, Robert Allen Rolfe, Nature: 276–277.
Karremans, A.P. 2014. Lankesteriana, A new genus in the Pleurothallidinae (Orchidaceae), Lankesteriana 13 (3): 319–332.
Luer, C.A. 2001. Miscellaneous new species in the Pleurothallidinae, Revista de la Sociedad Boliviana de Botanica, Vol. 3 (1–
2): 48–49.
Nelson, E.C. & McCracken, E.M. 1987. The Brightest Jewel – a history of the National Botanic Gardens Glasnevin, Dublin.
Boethius Press, Kilkenny.
Nelson, E.C. & Sayers, B. 2002. Orchids of Glasnevin – an illustrated history of orchids in Ireland's National Botanic
Gardens. Strawberry Tree, Dublin.
Reichenbach, H.G. 1884. Masdevallia mooreana, The Gardeners’ Chronicle Vol. 21, n.s.: 408.
Ridley, H. N. 1886. A monograph of the Genus Liparis. Journal of the Linnean Society of London, Botany, 22: 244–297.
Roberts, D.L. & Sayers, B. 2005. Eria sessilifolia, Curtis's Botanical Magazine, Vol. 22 (1): 38–41.
Rolfe, R.A. Orchid Verifications 1895–1952. Directors and Senior Staff Collection. The Library, National Botanic Gardens,
Glasnevin.
Rolfe, R.A. 1890. New or Noteworthy Plants, Moorea irrorata, The Gardeners' Chronicle, Vol. 8, ser. 3: 7.
Rolfe, R.A. 1891. New Orchids – Decade 1, No. 7, Epidendrum mooreanum, Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information, 1891:
190.
Rolfe, R.A. 1893. New Orchids – Decade 5, No. 49, Saccolabium mooreanum, Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information, 1893:
64.
Rolfe, R.A. 1895. New Orchids – Decade 13, No. 129, Maxillaria mooreana, Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information, 1895: 36.
Rolfe, R.A. 1903. Cryptophoranthus moorei, The genus Cryptophoranthus, The Orchid Review: 302–304.
Rolfe, R.A. 1907. New Orchids – Decade 30, No. 929, Coelogyne mooreana, Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information, 1907:
129.
Rolfe, R.A. 1911. Acineta moorei, Curtis's Botanical Magazine, 137, t. 8392.
Sander, F. 1901. Angraecum mooreanum, Sander's Orchid Guide. p. 10.
Shuiteman, A. & McDonald, B. 2013. The elusive Bulbophyllum ornatissimum, Orchid Review, Vol. 121: 102–107.
Electronic References
http://specimens.kew.org/herbarium/K000077833
The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed
21/12/17].
WCSP. 2017. World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the
Internet; http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/ Retrieved 20 December 2016 to 9 January 2018.
Front Cover: Frederick William Moore. A painting by Anna O'Leary in the National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin.
Photo page 9. (Fig. 1.) Frederick William Moore, by Bassano Ltd, bromide print, NPG x83787. http://www.npg.org.uk

.
Fig. 23. Acineta moorei Rolfe (now Acineta hrubyana Rchb.f.),

.

SPIRANTHES ROMANZOFFIANA, IRISH LADY'S TRESSES:
(MAINLY) A GARDEN HISTORY
O
rchids have a precarious relationship with gardeners. An unknown number of tropical species have been hunted to
extinction so that they could grace, at least temporarily, the tropical conservatories and grandiose glasshouses of
wealthy garden owners. A few Irish gardeners participated in the mania for tropical orchids including the remarkable
John Charles Lyons (1792–1874) of Ladiston, Mullingar, and the famous collection at the Royal (now National) Botanic
Gardens, Glasnevin, was built largely from the discarded small-flowered species that were not spectacular enough for wealthy
connoisseurs: “This is not an Orchid which is likely to find favour with lovers of Orchids for their decorative value only ...”,
wrote F. W. Burbidge1, about the present subject. Indeed, Spiranthes romanzoffiana, Irish lady’s tresses, is not a flamboyant
orchid nor an inhabitant of a tropical jungle, rather it is a demure, often inconspicuous plant, albeit an uncommon and unusual
one. Irish lady’s tresses occur in scattered habitats throughout the island, and is recorded at present in 10 vice-counties. Today,
being a protected plant in both jurisdictions in Ireland, S. romanzoffiana cannot be disturbed, picked or uprooted, but in previous
centuries it had no protection under law so there was “open season” for collectors.
The first person to report Irish lady’s tresses in Europe – indeed from Ireland – was the Scottish plantsman James
Drummond (c. 1786–1863) who was curator of the newly established botanic garden of the Royal Cork Institution at Evergreen
in Cork. He encountered the orchid during his exploration of the western extremities of counties Cork and Kerry in the summer
of 1810. Drummond had travelled to Bantry and thence Ballylickey where he visited Miss Ellen Hutchins (1785–1815), who
was well known in contemporary botanical circles. Hutchins reported that Drummond left Ballylickey “a day or two” before 24
July 1810, but, contrary to what Dr Frank Horsman2 supposed, he did not travel direct from Ballylickey to Castletown
Berehaven by boat. In fact, according to a transcript of his 1810 journal3, Drummond took a deliberately circuitous land route
which certainly included Waterville and Derrynane (where he stayed as a guest of Daniel O’Connell’s family) at the western
extremity of the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry, and consequently crossed Kenmare Bay from the vicinity of Derrynane to
the Beara Peninsula.
July 30. Left Watteville [sic] in the morning, and came to Mr. O”Connell’s of Derrinane [sic].
July 31. Left Mr. O’Connell’s early in the morning and proceeded along the river Kenmare for four or five miles, when I
got a boat which took me across the river to Berehaven. I landed nearly opposite Glenboy [sic, Glenbeg], where there is a
very fine lake surrounded by high mountains covered with very long heath, and a few trees of different kinds growing out
of the clefts of the rocks. I crossed the mountain from that to Castletown, where I had not the least appearance of a road,
but knowing the direction I easily found it out.
Aug. 1. In the morning I set out for the Durseys’. When I had got five miles on the road very heavy rain came on, which
obliged me to return without having found anything to repay me for my trouble.
Aug. 2. The following day I set out for Hingy [sic, Hungry] Hill [Cnoc Daod, Beara Peninsula], and though the day was
very unfavourable I reached the top of it. The only plant that I found upon it which does not grow on the neighbouring
mountains was Rhodiola rosea. I found Spergula saginoides upon it, but that grows abundantly upon Bear Island, near
the western signal tower.
Aug. 3. The following day I spent on Bear Island. I found nothing new upon it, but a very curious species of Ophrys,
which I believe to be new, upon the main land, opposite the western redoubt, growing in a salt marsh near the shore. It
was in very small quantity. I found only two [sic] specimens.
Fifteen years passed. On 7 June 1825, Drummond responded to an enquiry from the Reverend Dr Hincks (most
probably Thomas Dix Hincks4, 1767–1857), writing3:
The plant you write about is the one I found at Bearhaven in the autumn of 1810. The only specimen[s] preserved of
it were the one you sent to Sir James Edward Smith, and a small mutilated one I sent to the late Mr. [James]
Dickson. It is a genuine species of Neottia, very distinct from spiralis, and every other species I have ever seen
described. Only five plants were found in 1810. In went again to the place in 1812, and could not procure a single
specimen. It grows in a small marshy spot, on the shore of the main land, exactly opposite the western redoubt on
Bear Island.
Back in the summer of 1810, Drummond had followed the long-established practice of botany and collected specimens of the
unfamiliar orchid for the record as well as for identification. Some he pressed and dried, and he also “sent home [to Cork]
several plants hoping to propagate it but rats destroyed the roots”. To have pressed two specimens as well as bringing a living
plant to Cork, makes his later count of five plants the more credible. He also made a sketch but this, like his journal, cannot now
be traced.

James Drummond's route (blue line) in the summer of 1810. He reached Waterville from Killarney and
then, on 30 July, went to O'Connell's at Derrynane. His exact crossing point from the north side of the
Kenmare River to the south side is not known, but on 31 August he landed near Glenbeg Lough, perhaps
in Ardgroom Harbour, and then walked over the mountains to Castletown Berehaven. On 1 August he
walked west towards Dursey, and on 2 August walked east towards Hungry Hill. On 3 August,
Drummond botanized on Bere Island, and most probably crossed back to the mainland from near the
western redoubt. He found Spiranthes "opposite to the western redoubt, growing ... near the shore".
Map by E. C. Nelson based on the botanical map of County Kerry published in R. W. Scully, 1916. Flora
of County Kerry.
Spiranthes romanzoffiana

Frederick William Burbidge (1847–1905), a Leicestershire man, had been employed as an orchid hunter in Borneo
during the late 1870s just before he became the curator of the College Botanic Garden at Ballsbridge in Dublin. Burbidge knew
orchids very well and like his near-contemporary Frederick Moore (1857–1949) at Glasnevin grew them to perfection. At
Ballsbridge, Burbidge cultivated Irish lady’s tresses. He was an expert botanical artist too, so when the little orchid bloomed in
the College Botanic Garden during the summer of 1881 he drew it for The Gardeners’ Chronicle: “Our figure was kindly
furnished by Mr Burbidge, under whose care the plant has been successfully cultivated for the last two years ... having originally
been collected by the Professor of Botany, Dr. [Edward] Perceval Wright [1834–1910].”1
There can be little doubt Wright dug the orchid up from “a wet meadow, near Bantry Bay, Co. Cork” because that
was then its only known habitat in Europe. Therefore, Spiranthes romanzoffiana still existed close to Castletownbere in 1879!
Seven years later, in 1886, the orchid’s extinction was being predicted by none other than the extraordinary gardener William
Edward Gumbleton (1840–1911), of Belgrove near Cobh. “I think it may interest you to hear”, he wrote5 on 1 September 1886
to Angus Duncan Webster (1855–1931), then living at Llandegai in north Wales,
and perhaps add to the value of the plants I sent you last year, that in all probability Spiranthes Romanzoviana will very soon
become extinct, and no longer be obtainable in the one locality in Europe—in the neighbourhood of Castletown, Burhaven
[sic]—to which it has hitherto been indigenous, for on writing recently to my agent, Mr. Barrett, who sent you the plants, to
ask him to obtain a flowering specimen ... for Mr. Burbidge to draw, he sent me, a few days afterwards, a letter from his
friend Dr. Armstrong, who had collected the plants sent to you, stating that on going to the little boggy field where he had
hitherto seen it he found the little plot ploughed and planted with Potatoes; and on going to the only other locality where he
had ever found it—a narrow headland skirting a small wood—he found it turned up and bearing a crop of Oats.
Webster had boasted a few months earlier that "Thanks to Mr. Gumbleton, I ... [possess] healthy, well-flowered specimens". The
half dozen plants had been "planted out in their original sod of earth, and in a dampish, shadyish part of my garden, and where
long may they remain as a living memento of a now almost extinct Orchid ...". 6
The rarity of this orchid was its doom. While botanists debated whether the Cork plant was identical with an orchid
known from North America, from Newfoundland to the Aleutian Islands, it was often treated as if it wasn't, and thus was
regarded as "very rare”. The Cambridge botanist Charles Cardale Babington (1808–1895) even pronounced that the Bantry Bay
orchid was "one of the rarest [plants] in the world."7 Such a tag meant it was also highly desirable: keen gardeners wanted one
and would employ almost any method to acquire one. So the Berehaven colony of Irish lady’s tresses had to withstand repeated
pillage.
For thirty-odd years after its original discovery by Drummond, no one could find the orchid; Drummond himself
could not detect it in 1812 on his second visit to the locality. Dr Edmond Patrick Sharkey (c. 1806–1897), then the physician
attached to the Allihies copper mine, is credited with its rediscovery in 1841 7, making it possible in mid-August 1843 for "two
fine plants in flower" to appear the British Association for the Advancement of Science's annual meeting in Cork. 8 Dr Philip
Andrew Armstrong (c. 1800–1892), Medical Officer of the Dispensary District of Castletownbere, and Sharkey's colleague and
friend, provided that pair of orchids. The BAAS meeting attracted quite a few botanists to Cork, including Babington and James
Edward Winterbottom (1803–1854). They made the uncomfortable journey to Castletownbere, meeting Armstrong who, on 30
August 1843, brought them to find the orchid. They saw "about twelve specimens, several of which had been destroyed by
cattle, and all were in rather an advanced state of flowering."9 This did not deter Babington and Winterbottom from collecting
examples which they pressed for their herbaria. Others were afoot collecting that summer: "I possess", wrote Lindley, "two
authentic specimens, for which I am indebted to the kindness of Lord Berehaven, the present Earl of Bandon, on whose estate,
near Castletown, the species occurs. Both were gathered at the end of August 1843." 10
The records of plants donated to the Glasnevin Botanic Gardens indicate that two living plants of Neottia
gemmipara (the name Babington had assigned to the species) were received in August 1845 from Dr Armstrong. The previous
year Armstrong had written to David Moore (1808–1879), Curator of the Royal Dublin Society’s Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin,
apologizing that he was not aware "of your desire to get the "rarity of rarities" ...". Had he known he could have sent a couple of
plants "alive & growing in their sod" earlier in the season. In exchange Moore sent Armstrong a selection of garden plants, and
in 1846 received at least one more living orchid from Bantry Bay. In his remarkable letter to Moore dated 30 August 1844,
Philip Armstrong wrote11:
There is yet one of these lovely plants in full bloom which I really don't want to disturb as they are become extremely scarce
in consequence of the field which I found them in plentifully & was their principal habitat has been dug up & actually burned
so as to make it fit to put potatoes in it.
This has given me great disappointment as I wd have gladly paid more rent than the field was worth in order to
afford me the gratification of giving these plants to those interested in the Science.

David Moore was to report this in a melancholy note a few years later (about 1852) – after late blight had devastated the Irish
potato crop and famine had ensued. "I have not heard that Spiranthes [romanzoffiana] has been seen in its Irish habitat for
several years. The last information was from Dr Armstrong, who told me the ground where it grew had been ploughed up and
sown with oats." Adding "Sic transit, &c.", this seemed like the obituary of Irish lady’s tresses.12
However, the orchid was not extinct, yet it was not "left in undisturbed occupation". Visitors to Castletownbere who
had botanical interests undoubtedly made contact with Philip Armstrong. A trio of botanists, including Professor George J.
Allman (1812–1898), were in the area at the end of June 1855 and called on Armstrong, who brought them to the orchid's
habitats. "We were too early for it", but they still managed to find plants which they dug up. "Mr Allman writes to me”, recorded
the architect and amateur botanist Joseph Woods (1776–1864), ”that it has flowered beautifully in his garden."13 In October
1861 Curtis's botanical magazine contained a fine hand-coloured plate of the "Drooping-flowered Spiranthes ... drawn from a
living plant from Ireland", but who collected it was not recorded. 14 In 1871, Alexander Goodman More (1830–1895) gathered
Irish lady’s tresses near Castletownbere on 15 July when "it was in full flower". He exhibited "some living specimens" at the
BAAS's meeting in Edinburgh, calling attention to "their delicious perfume". More made some interesting comments: "It grows
in grassy meadows, and also in rather boggy ground bordering on the sea, and is found in so many different fields that there is no
present fear of its becoming extinct."15
Keeping Irish lady’s tresses in captivity in gardens was what proved difficult, even for the best plantsmen, but this
did not deter them from trying. As long as the plant could be located in the wild and dug out, a sod could be transferred to a
garden and for a while the orchid would grow, apparently happy and healthy. Keeping it going was what defeated everyone,
even Burbidge and, no doubt, Webster too. It is unlikely that David Moore was any more successful, and there is no record of its
cultivation at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, under his son, Sir Frederick Moore. 16 ■
CHARLES NELSON
NOTES & SOURCES

1. The Gardeners’ Chronicle 16: 465 (1881).
2. Irish Naturalists’ Journal 32: 19–25 (2013).
3. The Gardeners’ Chronicle 1841: 341 (reproduced in facsimile in The Irish Garden 26 (May 2017): 55. See note 16 below).
4. Identified as William Hincks (1794–1871) by John Lindley, but in the context it was more probably his father.
5. A. D. Webster, British Orchids (1898), pp 95–96.
6. The Garden 30: 138 (1886).
7. The Phytologist 1: 750 (1843).
8. J. Fraser, A Hand Book for Travellers in Ireland (1844), p. 702.
9. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London 19: 261–263 (1845).
10. Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society 1: 168–170 (1857).
11. P. A. Armstrong to [D. Moore], 30 August 1844: original manuscript in National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin.
12. The Phytologist 4: 726 (1852).
13. The Phytologist 1: 156–157 (1855).
14. Curtis’s Botanical Magazine 87: tab. 5277 (1861).
15. Report of the 41st meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science; held at Edinburgh …: 129 (1872).
16. This is an expanded version of E. C. Nelson, “Irish Lady’s Tresses: a garden history.” The Irish Garden 26 (May 2017): 54–56.

My first orchid was a cymbidium – a gift from staff on leaving a previous job. It was a stunning specimen with four spikes
and flowers of white with faint pink lines, but once it had finished flowering I simply put it out in the back garden. In the
absence of any knowledge about cymbidium care or orchids in general, I quickly proceeded to make mistakes, such as re-
potting it into a much larger terracotta pot and using peat-moss as the medium. Luckily for me, cymbidiums are hardy plants
and mine became a giant on a weekly diet of full-strength tomato food and summer rain-showers. Come spring-time, I was
surprised to see new shoots at the base of the plant, and seeking advice was re-directed by a colleague to the IOS and the
imminent annual orchid fair. My first point of contact was with Tom P. who himself grows cymbidiums, and who was quite
surprised to hear that mine was flourishing in peat-moss! Several years later and having acquired several more orchids,
cymbidiums still remain my favorite orchid due to their hardy nature, strong architectural shape and long-lasting flowers.
DEIRDRE MCGRANE
My interest in the Irish Orchid Society

My sister got a present of a Phalaenopsis over 10 years ago which didn’t do too well, so I said I’ll revive that no problem
and repotted it into garden soil and fed it a good dose of BabyBio. It died soon after.
I wondered why.
I saw a sign for an Orchid Fair above the café in the National Botanic Gardens later that year and was amazed at the variety
and sheer colour of these little plants so I joined in the hope of keeping my second Phalaenopsis alive.
My Advice
The thing I’ve most learnt is to research a little before you buy. If your house is cold (which mine is) that beautiful blooming
orchid you’ve bought at the Orchid Fair just won’t thrive if it requires heat. The advice I’ve got over the years from other
members has kept numerous orchids alive but of course I’ve killed a substantial number too - mainly through buying the
wrong orchid for the wrong spot.
Paphiopedilums are my favourite but they just don’t do well in my house (unless I have a lodger who likes heat then they’ll
rebloom!). I keep buying them and they keep dying. And I’ll continue to keep buying them!
Cymbidiums on the other hand flourish as they seem to love my cold conditions. I neglect them outside for most of the year
and bring them in when I see frost and a couple of months later they’ll bloom (It’s taken me 5 years to learn that though!). It
gives me great pride and joy to see the results of your efforts, and the blooms can last a few months too.
Ambitions
My terrier Tazzi (as some members may be familiar with) when stressed or anxious, she’ll hop up on the table grab an
orchid pull the pot off and chew the roots. Her ambition is to attend one of our potting workshops. That aside, the orchid
society has been a staple in my life for over 10 years. I’m developing more of an interest in the smaller unpronounceable
orchids (mainly because the Cymbidiums are taking over and I’ve little space), so a few challenges lie ahead.
LISA COFFEY

I've been a member of the Irish Orchid Society since its beginning. I've played various roles on various committees. The
most exciting thing about orchids is their infinite variety and their enormous presence on the planet.
My growing capacity is limited but nothing beats the pleasure of finding Dactylorhiza fuchsii var. okellyi, Ophrys apifera or
Epipactis palustris in flower during our Irish summertime, except, perhaps, seeing Angraecum sesquipedale in bloom at
Glasnevin and realizing how important this plant is to our understanding of evolution and human progress.
I have learned a lot from IOS members but I know I have much more to learn.
MARY BRADSHAW
DACTYLORHIZA FUCHSII VAR. OKELLYI

Most Irish and British botanists stress that Dactylorhiza fuchsii
var. okellyi (some authors view this as subspecies or even as
species) must not be mixed up with the white forms of fuchsii.
Anne and Simon Harrap (Orchids of Britain and Ireland,2005) are
writing: “A lot of controversy surrounds okellyi” and explain: “In
The Burren and elsewhere these classic white-flowered okellyi are
just part of a population of plants with a variable flower colour”.
Brendan Sayers and Susan Sex (Ireland’s Wild Orchids, 2008)
stress that Dactylorhiza fuchsii var. okellyi flowers late, beginning
in July. The photo in their field guide shows a flower with a
labellum, which is deeply divided into three lobes.
Charles Nelson (Wild Plants of The Burren and the Aran Islands,
2008) indicates that Dactylorhiza fuchsii f. okellyi flowers from
June to August and has pure white flowers “without any pink tints
or marks” and a “lip flat with 3 almost equal, deeply-cut lobes”.
According to Pierre Delforge (Guide des orchidées d’Europe,
2005), who mentions a flowering period from May to July, the
labellum has a maximum width of 8 mm (in contrast to fuchsii
with 8-16 mm). Pat O’Reilly and Sue Parker (Wild Orchids in The
Burren, 2007) have noted that “groups of pure-white orchids …
are more likely to be O’Kelly’s Spotted-orchids than single plants,
which might be just very pale examples of the Common Spotted-
orchid”.
When exploring the limestone pavements between Poulsallagh and Rockforest you’ll find lots of white-flowered
Dactylorhiza fuchsii, rather small and with a pyramidal spike in the beginning of flowering, which are very similar to pink-
flowered plants of the species – they should be considered as albiflora forms. Two times I found a pair of taller plants, very
slender and with a distinct appearance of spike or flowers, which could be addressed as Dactylorhiza fuchsii var. okellyi.
http://www.albiflora.eu/blog

THE MOST MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION
W
hen I was young orchids were a mystery as the If the Northern Ireland Orchid Society gave me the passion,
gardening media never spoke of them and I had then the Irish Orchid Society gave me the education. I
no photographs for reference. That was until a developed an appreciation of orchids outside cultivation to
fateful lunchtime back in 1984 when I visited the Tropical learn their romantic history, folklore, art, evolution and
Ravine glasshouse in the Belfast Botanic Gardens with work ecology.
colleague Albert Cooper. As we glanced from the perimeter
You cannot walk through the atmospheric buildings of the
balcony over the sunken ravine, we were awestruck when
Glasnevin Botanic gardens on any late evening without
before us suspended in a basket from the roof, was the most
sensing history. Glasnevin was once part of the great British
indescribably magnificent Cattleya with over a dozen huge
orchid triad of Kew and Edinburgh at the time of
deliciously scented lavender blossoms. Unquestionably it had
Orchidmania in the mid-nineteenth century and holds several
sovereignty over everything floral beneath it and indeed every
firsts in orchid cultivation. So when I became Chairman of
flower I’d ever seen. Instinctively we both knew this was an
the Society in 2009 I was conscious that I stood on hallowed
orchid and that we were to be forever enchanted and, as every
ground.
orchidophile understands, it is futile to consider escape.
The oxymoron that the best way to learn is to teach certainly
Albert and I joined the Northern Ireland Orchid Society in
applied to me as Chairman and all of us are indebted to the
1986 which had only a handful of regular members who met
Society founder and our jovial sage Brendan Sayers. The
monthly in the modest Cregagh Library in Belfast.
great thing about growing orchids is that people experiment
Nevertheless, at each event there was consistently a table
by trial and error until they find which group they are most
smothered in flowering orchids of all shapes and forms
successful with and then can impart advice. For example, I
accompanied by the infectious enthusiasm of their growers.
am an experienced Pleione grower but had difficulties starting
These demonstrations made me aware of the infinite diversity
the dormant pseudobulbs into growth in early spring until I
of the orchid family and I started collecting them in earnest.
learned from Pleione novice Hylda Beckett the importance of
As I was easily the youngest in the society, the other members
not forcing with high temperatures.
were especially warm and ultimately feted me with the
chairmanship in 1991 which was mostly titular as my most Because of the infinite diversity of orchids it is not unusual
demanding duty was to serve the tea and biscuits. I realised for a member to arrive at a meeting to present a fragrant
by then that orchid people were a special family of quirky, specimen you will not have seen previously, at least in real-
passionate obsessives and connoisseurs who were willing to life, and that wins over books or the internet and is the reason
share their homes and their bank accounts with their objects why joining a society is so much more fulfilling. I am
of desire in a manner that no other gardening hobbyist would inspired by the individualistic personalities that abound in the
contemplate. society each with their own passion to share. Which members
can forget Sean Phelan bringing his Dracula collection carried
I moved to Dublin in 1993 where I joined the Irish Orchid
bat-like on hooks in his specially constructed transportation
Society in 2006 after visiting the Glasnevin Botanic Gardens
box like something straight from the “Hammer House of
Spring Orchid Fair. I recognised how much I had missed the
Horror”
connection with fellow enthusiasts. In contrast to the
Northern Ireland Orchid Society I found the Irish Orchid The artist has also held a special place in the history of
Society to be more formal with a larger membership with orchids and we are honoured to have several such
meetings held in the grandeur of the National Botanic distinguished talents in the Society who can capture the
Gardens where frequent lectures, fundraising activities and orchid personality in a way no camera can achieve. In this
field trips were organised. The IOS has a members’ spirit we held an orchid painting competition for local schools
newsletter and a website. However in my opinion from my in 2012. As orchid growers skew towards the middle aged it
experience the most important success factor for any society is also important to instil interest in young people. I have
is that it maintains a core group to anchor the ship steadily huge admiration for the Writhlington School initiative in the
regardless of undulating membership numbers and finances UK. However, I am also delighted to see the IOS has gained
and thankfully both societies share such coteries and indeed several young faces including those from other countries
Campbell Gardner of the Northern Ireland Orchid Society, including Marina Andreeva who I believe has a great future
who was there when I began, still captains his ship to this as an orchid expert from her studies with the RHS.
day!

For a Society it is nice to try new things but also it is The availability of so many plants will inevitably lead people
enjoyable to have traditions such as the annual trip to North to experiment and gain confidence so new trends will emerge.
Bull Island in Dublin. I recall my first excursion as it was Orchids have had their fads. In the eighties the gaudy multi-
lashing rain as I stood alone awaiting the other members to coloured Odontoglossum hybrids were all the rage and now
materialise but realising that no one in their right-mind would are seldom seen. The Phalaenopsis once the preserve of the
venture out on such a dire evening I just congratulated myself specialist grower having growing-cases equipped with “life-
on having made the effort but then sure enough as I turned the support” gadgets is now a ubiquitous house plant.
corner to go home before me stood about ten Society
One thing certain for the future of the Society is that there is
members attentively listening to Brendan Sayers discussing
an inexhaustible supply of subject matter for us all to explore
the sex-life of the Twayblade unmindful of the drenching!
and when the eminent geneticist J.B.S. Haldane remarked
On such field trips a Bee orchid sighting is always top of “God has an inordinate fondness for stars and beetles” I think
everyone’s wish list but not always guaranteed so when one is surely orchids could be added!
spotted there is unbridled commotion and I can recall our
Unlike many of the emotional recollections of life which fade
group charging towards the call from a member who had one
in intensity as time passes. I can often relive that rapture
in his sight. However, to my amusement, they were oblivious
experienced in the tropical ravine all those years ago when
to the courting couple in the sand dune nearby who looked
setting eyes upon a new orchid treasure presented by a
startled and bewildered at what was happening around them.
Society member. I owe much to the orchid societies both
So much has changed for the orchid hobbyist since I began. north and south of the Irish border for giving me that priceless
The variety of species and hybrids which can now be gift.
purchased inexpensively online and delivered to your door
Footnote: The Tropical Ravine glasshouse in the Belfast
within a few days is staggering and I wonder what the intrepid
Botanic Gardens has been extensively renovated and is
Victorian explorers who travelled the globe for them at great
expected to reopen within the next few months.
cost and personal risk would make of it all.
SHANE KERR
The Tropical Ravine glasshouse, Belfast

Having been a founder member since the formation of the the newsletter Pollinia in July 2006, I took over as acting
Irish Orchid Society in 2001 and subsequently honoured to be editor, thus ensuring that I filled that other shoe! I was to
a committee member for some time, I was tasked with the continue in the role as editor of Pollinia for the next few
development of the society’s website in its early form. years. Thus by July 2006: I had become Chairman of the IOS,
Webmaster of the Society’s website and now Editor of
As webmaster of the Irish Orchid Society portal for some
Pollinia. Phew!
time, at the Oct 2005 IOS Meeting, I was nominated and duly
elected as the new Chairman of the IOS committee, taking Membership stood at 150
over from Brendan Sayers. Having just finished my Masters
I was delighted to give a well attended presentation in
Thesis, I was deemed free! Brendan was always going to be a
November 2006 on Masdevallia: The Jewels of the Andes. It
hard act to follow and recall stating at that time that I hoped I
was on this occasion, I was happy to present Brendan Sayers
could “fill just one of his shoes”. I could never hope to fill
with the inaugural “Jacques Grandjean Memorial Award” for
both!
services to the IOS in its first few years as Chairman
Also elected that year were Tom Petherbridge,, Michael
Another personal highlight was the presentation in Jan 2007
O’Leary and Jacques Grandjean. Mary Bradshaw, Ian
by Marie Hourigan on her trip to NZ & Australia
Millichip, Tony Cullen and Marie Hourigan continued as
committee members and all were a great source of help. The March 2007 Orchid Fayre was a fantastic success with
the addition of over 40 new members! And finally, after a
Soon after, we were stunned by the death of Jacques
couple of years of low submissions, the members show table
Grandjean. Jacques was a fantastic and enthusiastic IOS
had been the best advertisement we could have hoped for the
founding member having been a persistent instigator of the
IOS. 21 plants grown to perfection.
formation of the IOS since the mid 90’s as Brendan will
testify. He was and still is sorely missed both as a personal Unfortunately Ian Millichip and Tony Cullen had decided to
friend and a great source of orchid knowledge. step back from their committee duties due to other
commitments. Ian and Tony were founding members of the
IOS Membership stood at 146 at that time.
IOS. Ian was the original editor of Pollinia and Tony’s
The Society held 11 monthly meetings per year incl potting presentations on his plants were always memorable.
workshops, informal nights, guest speakers, member and
I was delighted to welcome Scott McNaughton and Shane
guest presentations and Christmas fun nights. The ever
Kerr to the committee
popular Orchid Fayre included UK Nursery attendance and
Marie Hourigan’s well attended tours of the Orchid Houses Pollinia had now expanded to 32 pages. The pressure of four
were always eagerly anticipated. Member show table plants issues per year with low volumes of membership
always offered the opportunity of “bragging” rights for contributions continued to pressure me for content. It was
another 12 months calculated that just 3% of membership submitted 95% of
Pollina’s content. Improving that statistic was to prove
The field trips were always a highlight whether they were to
frustrating.
Bull Island, the Burren in Co Clare or the long drive up to
Mullaghmore in Co Sligo. Ulli Peiler, Petra Janssen and Brendan Sayers presentation in May 2007 on his recent trip to
Trudy Lomax always ensured a warm welcome to the West Costa Rica to attend the 3rd International Orchid
while Brendan and Marie were always on hand to guide the Conservation Congress was of great interest and delivered to
Bull Island trips. We are indeed fortunate to live on an island the great interest of all attendees.
with such a wealth of native orchid species. It was a great eye
At the AGM of June 2007, after two years in the role, I gave
opener for me, as up until those field trips, I was completely
my last chairman’s address as I was stepping down due
unaware of the beauty and diversity of our native
increasing work commitments and ongoing health issues.
orchidaceous flora.
Membership now stood at 181
Highlights of my tenure as chairman included visiting lecturer
Dr David Roberts from Kew Gardens on the Orchids of In six short years our newsletter, Pollinia had grown from a
Madagascar in March 2006 followed 3 weeks later by the black and white, photocopied twelve page document to its
ever popular Orchid Fayre. The field trip in May 2006 to the then format in 2007 as a 32 page, full colour, professionally
Burren to see Orchis mascula and Neotinea maculate was printed magazine.
also memorable. With a cash balance of over €6000 in the bank, it had been a
The visit in July 2006 of Orquideas de Valle, from Columbia good financial spell for the society, due to the tireless work of
for a lecture on the orchids of Columbia was very satisfying the committee especially Tom and Michael who kept a sharp
for me as it had been a nightmare to organise but to be present eye on events and fundraising. However, a society does not
and see all the hard work come to fruition was fantastic. The exist to have a healthy balance sheet. In retrospect, my one
subsequent sales booth was also a great opportunity to obtain regret as chairman is that the available funds could have been
hard to source species. put to greater use in the form of grants for students in the
orchid field or a significant contribution to an orchid
When Brendan also requested to step down as acting editor of

conservation effort could have been arranged. Additional It was an honour to serve as founding member, committee
visiting lecturers could also have been sourced despite to member, webmaster and editor of the Pollinia newsletter. The
difficulty in organising such events. greatest honour however is having served as Chairman of the
IOS. Despite my long absences from meetings due to distance
June 2007: Brendan Sayers then stepped back into the
and poor health in the time since I stood down, I made many
chairman’s shoes
great friends in the society, learned a great deal about the
October 2007, Laurence May took over as Editor of Pollinia orchid world and had many laughs along the journey. It is
hoped that the IOS goes from strength to strength in the
2008: Website was transferred to the current webmaster Lisa
coming years. Happy anniversary!
Coffey and vastly improved using new technology and
software.
SEAN PHELAN
CHAIRMAN 2005-2007
About the All Ireland Pollinator Plan 2015–2020

One third of our bee species are threatened with extinction from Ireland. We know it’s because we have drastically reduced
the areas where they can nest and the amount of food our landscape provides for them. We can stand back and watch the
problem happen, or we can try to do something. The All-Ireland Pollinator Plan is about all of us, from farmers to local
authorities, to schools, gardeners and businesses, coming together to try to create an Ireland where pollinators can survive
and thrive.
The plan provides an important framework to bring together pollinator initiatives from the North and South, and is the start
of a process by which we can collectively take positive steps to protect our pollinators and the service they provide into the
future. It is a shared plan of action. By working together we can reverse pollinator losses and help restore populations to
healthy levels. Over the next five years this Plan aims to build a foundation to bring about a landscape where pollinators can
flourish.
The Plan proposes taking specific actions across five objectives. Within each objective, targets have been set and actions
have been identified to help achieve that target.
Making Ireland pollinator friendly (farmland, public land & private land)
Raising awareness of pollinators and how to protect them
Managed pollinators – supporting beekeepers and growers
Expanding our knowledge of pollinators and pollination service
Collecting evidence to track change and measure success
if you would like to support our pollinators, there are many ways to help. you can plant pollinator
friendly plants, or become a bee monitor, where you go for a monthly walk and record the bees that you see.
http://www.biodiversityireland.ie/projects/irish-pollinator-initiative/get-involved/
The National Botanic Gardens supports the Pollinator Plan as a Pollinator Plan Partner

MY RECOLLECTIONS - BRENDAN SAYERS
A
s a younger gardener in the late 1990s I had various Wildlife are few and far between. The Society's first aim to
visitors to the orchid house at the National Botanic assist in this would be to actively record and encourage
Gardens. They were more than the usual number and recording of native species on the National Biodiversity Data
all had the same mantra – 'you will have to set up a Society Centre web portal. An important tool in their conservation
for orchid growers'. For years I resisted while Myrad Best, information on how common or rare a species is. This, in time
Jacques Grandjean, Scott McNaughten, Ulli Peiler, Tony may lead to the Society being an active participant in a
Cullen and some others persisted. When the time came to conservation project or to be a source of funding for such
relent I was adamant that the Society should be Glasnevin activities.
based. For here is the natural home of an Irish Orchid Society,
However, for the moment we do need to continue what we are
within the walls and railings were our famous plants that
doing in promoting and enjoying orchids.
carry that history were grown, and where the archive resides.
It is remarkable that in all the years that have passed, orchids
still hold a mystique in relation to their cultivation and that BRENDAN SAYERS
there are still few amateurs in Ireland that have a dedicated
CHAIRMAN 2013-2018
orchid house. On the whole, we remain a group of growers
who fill porches, windowsills and tables with our favoured
plants. Therefore, I have always advocated that a reasonable
balance be maintained when scheduling activities so that the
amateur and more professional members of the Society are
satisfied. It was also important over the years to try to keep
native orchids on the agenda, thought most members have a
preference for those they grow indoors.
My highs over the years were in seeing members bring plants
to flower and return them to that state year after year. It is
also very satisfying to see members grow plants that one
seldom sees in Irish collections and, most especially, species
that have never flowered in cultivation in Ireland!
There is also the unseen side to the IOS that many members
may not know about. The website is very much the world
wide face of the IOS and a large amount of queries, most in
relation to Irish natives, come our way. These are mainly
answered by staff at the National Botanic Gardens but
occasionally other members may be involved especially in
relation to southern and western counties.
The most satisfying reflection is when we question the aims
of our Society in bringing interested people together,
educating ourselves and others about the orchid family and
helping to conserve rare species. It is only on the last point
that we do not score well but the opportunity to correct that
may come in time.
Looking forward it would be nice to see the burden of running
the Society shared among more than the few who seem
omnipresent. It is a difficulty with small groups but I am sure
there are members who may struggle with confidence but are
well able to learn the various tasks needed in running a
successful society.
When this is achieved we can set our sights further than we
do now and may look at issues that fulfil the aim in which we
do not score well – conservation. Active conservation projects
other than those led by the National Parks and

Appendix 1 from Orchids of Glasnevin listing plants described in The Kew Bulletin using material
or information from the collection at Glasnevin
PLANTS NAMED FOR FREDERICK MOORE 452 Bulbophyllum robustum R. A. Rolfe (1918)
ARE IN BOLD. plant which flowered at Kew sent from
Glasnevin in 1914.
A
250 Aeranthes caudata R. A. Rolfe (1901) 205 Bulbophyllum spectabile R. A. Rolfe (1898)
type specimen from Glasnevin (ex Madagascar); type specimen from Glasnevin (ex Assam);
flowered and sent for identification in August 1900; painted flowered and sent for identification in May 1896.
August 1898, LS.
C
294 Calanthe burmanica R. A. Rolfe (1907)
268 Aeranthes ramosa R. A. Rolfe (1906) published type specimen from Glasnevin (ex Burma);
in Orchid review; type specimens from Glasnevin and flowered and sent for identification in September 1896 and
Madagascar (leg. Warpur); flowered and sent for subsequently.
identification in October 1901; painted in 1901, LS.
374 Cirrhopetalum micholitzii R. A. Rolfe (1912)

48 Aerides platychilum R. A. Rolfe (1893) flowered and sent for identification in October
type specimen from Glasnevin (origin unknown); 1910.
flowered and sent for identification in April 1892; painted
April 1892, LS.
382 Cirrhopetalum miniatum R. A. Rolfe (1913)
type specimen from Glasnevin (ex Annam, per
378 Angraecum andersonii R. A. Rolfe (1912) Sanders, collector not recorded); flowered and sent for
type specimen from Glasnevin (ex Gold Coast, identification in September 1910.
leg. Anderson); flowered and sent for identification in
December 1911.
299 Cleisostoma secundum R. A. Rolfe (1907)
B
flowered and sent for identification after 1890;
262 Bulbophyllum capituliflorum R. A. Rolfe (1906) painted June 1905, LS.
type specimen from Glasnevin (ex west tropical
Africa); flowered and sent for identification in October 1900;
painted November 1900, LS. 282 Coelia densiflora R. A. Rolfe (1906) type
specimen from Glasnevin (ex central America, per Messrs
John Cowan); flowered and sent for identification c. 1906.
373 Bulbophyllum congestum R. A. Rolfe (1912)
type specimens from Glasnevin, Burma (leg.
Mokum) and China (leg. A. Henry); flowered and sent for 316 Coelogyne albolutea R. A. Rolfe (1908)
identification in September 1910. flowered and sent for identification after May
1896.
291 Bulbophyllum dichromum R. A. Rolfe (1907)

type specimen from Glasnevin (ex Annam, per 414 Coelogyne annamensis R. A. Rolfe (1914)
Sanders, leg. W. Micholitz); flowered and sent for type specimen from Glasnevin (ex Annam, per
identification in February 1907; painted February 1907, LS. Sanders); flowered and sent for identification in November
1913; painted 22 November 1913, AJ.
261 Bulbophyllum kerrii R. A. Rolfe (1906)

flowered and sent for identification in January 24 Coelogyne flexuosa R. A. Rolfe (1892)
1901 (leg. A. F. G. Kerr). flowered and sent for identification in May 1889;
painted May 1909, AJ.

293 Coelogyne mooreana R. A. Rolfe (1907) 444 Epidendrum tricarinatum R. A. Rolfe (1917)
flowered and sent for identification about type specimen from Glasnevin (ex Peru, per,
December 1906; painted January 1907, LS. Sanders, leg. L. Forget); flowered and sent for identification
in June 1916; painted June 1916, AJ.
260 Colax tripterus R. A. Rolfe (1906) type

specimen from Glasnevin (ex Brazil); flowered and sent for 443 Eria albolutea R. A. Rolfe (1917) type
identification in June 1896. specimen from Glasnevin (ex Phillipines); flowered and sent
for identification in August 1916.
489 Cryptophoranthus lehmannii R. A. Rolfe (1922)
flowered and sent for identification in November I
1899.
422 Ione flavescens R. A. Rolfe (1914) type
specimen from Glasnevin (ex Burma (Mount Victoria), leg.
252 Cryptophoranthus moorei R. A. Rolfe (1906) Charlotte Wheeler Cuffe); flowered and sent for identification
published in Orchid review (1903): type in September 1914.
specimen from Glasnevin (ex tropical America); flowered and
sent for identification in September 1899.
313 Ione grandiflora R. A. Rolfe (1908) flowered
and sent for identification after November 1902; painted
112 Cryptophoranthus oblongifolius R. A. Rolfe November 1904, LS.
(1895) type specimens from Glasnevin and Andes (leg. L
J. Charlesworth); flowered and sent for identification in
November 1895. 59 Luisia amesiana R. A. Rolfe (1893) flowered
and sent for identification c. 1893; painted June 1892, LS.
D
14 Dendrobium platycaulon R. A. Rolfe (1892)
flowered and sent for identification in c. 1891; M
painted December 1892, LS.
271 Masdevallia peruviana R. A. Rolfe (1906)
E type specimen from Glasnevin (ex Peru, collector
unknown); flowered and sent for identification in July 1898
384 Epidendrum congestum R. A. Rolfe (1913) and subsequent occasions; painted June 1898, LS.
type specimen from Glasnevin (ex Costa Rica);
flowered and sent for identification in January 1911.
65 Masdevallia pusilla R. A. Rolfe (1893)
type specimen from Glasnevin (origin unknown);
77 Epidendrum hartii R. A. Rolfe (1894) flowered and sent for identification in August 1891 and
type specimens from Glasnevin and Trinidad subsequent occasions; painted October 1891, LS.
(leg. J. H. Hart); flowered and sent for identification in May
1890.
487 Maxillaria insignis R. A. Rolfe (1922)
type specimen from Glasnevin (ex Peru, per
45 Epidendrum laucheanum R. A. Rolfe (1893) Sanders, leg. L. Forget); flowered and sent for identification
flowered and sent for identification in September
in May 1912.
1892; painted September 1894, LS; September 1895, JH.
129 Maxillaria mooreana R. A. Rolfe (1895)

7 Epidendrum mooreanum R. A. Rolfe (1891)
flowered and sent for identification c. 1895;
flowered and sent for identification in May 1889.
painted April 1892, LS.
56 Epidendrum pumilum R. A. Rolfe (1893)

118 Maxillaria sanguinea R. A. Rolfe (1895)
flowered and sent for identification early in 1893;
flowered and sent for identification after 1890;
painted November 1893, LS.
painted April 1892, LS.

93 Megaclinium pusillum R. A. Rolfe (1894) 66 Polystachya buchananii R. A. Rolfe (1893)
type specimen from Glasnevin (ex east tropical flowered and sent for identification in September
Africa); flowered and sent for identification in June 1894; 1889 and in succeeding years.
painted June 1894, JH.
R
23 Restrepia dentata R. A. Rolfe (1892) type
401 Megaclinium ugandae R. A. Rolfe (1913) specimen from Glasnevin (origin uncertain); flowered and
type specimen from Glasnevin (ex Uganda, per J. sent for identification on several occasions before 1892;
O'Brien); flowered and sent for identification in March 1912 painted May 1891, LS.
and 1913.
S
399 Mystacidium gracillimum R. A. Rolfe (1913)
type specimen from Glasnevin (ex Uganda, leg. 49 Saccolabium mooreanum R. A. Rolfe (1893)
E. Brown); flowered and sent for identification in December flowered and sent for identification in October
1911. 1892.
O 276 Saccolabium rubescens R. A. Rolfe (1906)

flowered and sent for identification after March
78 Ornithidium fragrans R. A. Rolfe (1894) 1906; painted April 1906, LS.
flowered and sent for identification in March
1893.
277 Sarcanthus inflatus R. A. Rolfe (1906)
P
type specimen from Glasnevin (ex Annam, per
247 Panisea tricallosa R. A. Rolfe (1901) type Sanders, leg. W. Micholitz); flowered and sent for
specimen from Glasnevin (ex Assam); flowered and sent for identification in April 1906; painted July 1905, LS.
identification in April 1896.
40 Pelexia maculata R. A. Rolfe (1893) type
318 Scaphyglottis alba R. A. Rolfe (1908)
specimen may be from Glasnevin (origin uncertain); flowered
type specimen may be from Glasnevin (origin not
and sent for identification in July 1892.
known, per Sanders); flowered and sent for identification in
436 Phalaenopsis latisepala R. A. Rolfe (1920) May 1908; painted May 1908, AJ.
sent for identification through Glasnevin.]
1 Physosiphon guatemalensis R. A. Rolfe (1891)
409 Signatostilax bicornuta R. A. Rolfe (1913)
type specimen from Glasnevin (ex Guatemala);
type specimen from Glasnevin (ex Peru, per
flowered and sent for identification in June 1890 and 1891
Sanders, leg. L. Forget); flowered and sent for identification
41 Physosiphon lindleyi R. A. Rolfe (1893) in January 1912. ■
type specimens from Glasnevin and Mexico (leg.
J. Linden 1234); flowered and sent for identification in April
1892.
202 Platyclinis rufa R. A. Rolfe (1898) type

specimen from Glasnevin (ex tropical Asia); flowered and
sent for identification in February 1894.
331 Pleurothallis attenuata R. A. Rolfe (1909)

flowered and sent for identification in August
1892.
71 Pleurothallis inflata R. A. Rolfe (1894)

flowered and sent for identification in c. 1892;
painted December 1891, LS.
51 Pleurothallis puberula R. A. Rolfe (1893)

Neomoorea irrorata
type specimen from Glasnevin (origin unknown);
flowered and sent for identification in January 1892 and 1893.

3793 Miltonia candida var. flavescens (April 1840)
3929 Catasetum abruptum (March 1842)
3942 Catasetum globiferum (May 1842)
5990 Masdevallia lindenii (September 1872)
7026 Calanthe striata (October 1888)
7123 Lueddemannia pescatorei (July 1890)
7143 Acineta densa (November 1890)
7262 Moorea irrorata (November 1892)
7431 Pleurothallis scapha (August 1895)
7958 Bulbophyllum weddelii (June 1904)
7968 Vanda pumila (August 1904)
8000 Bulbophyllum crenulatum (February 1905)
8041 Momordes buccinator var. aurantiacum (May 1905)
8062 Arachnanthe annamensis (March 1906)
8131 Cymbidium erythrostylum (April 1907)
8160 Bulbophyllum dichronum (October 1907)
8273 Megaclinium purpureorchis (September 1909)
8297 Coelogyne mooreana (February 1910)
8662 Eria tomentosa (May 1916)
8809 Odontoglossum cristatum (July 1919)
8949 Maxillaria fletcheriana (February 1923)
8954 Cirrhopetalum tripudiana (February 1923)
9376 Maxillaria fuscata (October 1934)
9440 Lycaste longiscapa (May 1935)
See Appendix 2 in E. C. Nelson and E. M. McCracken, The brightest jewel. A history of the National Botanic Gardens,
Glasnevin, Dublin (Kilkenny, Boethius Press. 1987) for other orchid plates associated indirectly with Glasnevin.
Neomoorea wallisii, Costa Rica.

Lankester Botanical Garden. Photo by
Franz Xaver

BOTANICAL ART WORLDWIDE
The 18th of May 2018 has been chosen as a worldwide day of botanical art with many botanical art societies
around the world putting on an exhibition on the same day. Among the countries taking part are Australia,
America, Bermuda, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Russia,
Scotland, South Africa, South Korea, Thailand, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
Exhibitions of original botanical art will be curated by each participating country based on an indigenous or native
plants theme. At the same exhibition, images will be shown digitally from other exhibitions around the world.
Some goals of the exhibition include:
• Presenting a unified message about the ability to link people to plants through botanical art.
• Acknowledging and building upon the increasing connections between botanical artists worldwide.
• Increasing appreciation and understanding of the world’s plant diversity and its interconnectedness.
• Raising awareness about the worldwide movement in botanical art.
The Irish exhibition is being organised by the ISBA and will run from Saturday 5th May until Sunday 27th May at
the National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin. An adjudication panel will select the paintings that will appear in the
exhibition. A book/catalogue containing all the paintings will be launched at the Exhibition Opening.
To date, there are sixty-four artists participating in the Irish project.
We are delighted to welcome Zoë Devlin as an adviser on this project. Zoë has written two beautiful books on Irish
wildflowers: Wildflowers of Ireland: A Personal Record and The Wild Flowers of Ireland: A Field Guide. She has
a wealth of knowledge to share. She also has a great website that goes into more detail on where to find some of
these plants. You will find this at http://www.wildflowersofireland.net
There is still time to register as a participating artist, so if you are interested in taking part, please contact: Lynn
Stringer at lynnstringer@eircom.net
IRISH SOCIETY OF BOTANICAL ARTISTS

The Library, National Botanic Gardens
Glasnevin, Dublin D09 E7F2,
Ireland

BOTANICAL ARTISTS
No history of orchids in any country could be complete without paying homage to the botanical artist. The essence of no other
plant family has been captured to such perfection in painting than that of the orchid. Their exquisite works have amazed us but
have also been of immense value to taxonomy in a manner the camera has seldom achieved. Here we list a few of the
prominent Irish orchid artists.
Susan Sex
Susan Sex lives in Dublin and is widely regarded as Ireland’s finest living orchid artist. She has won several RHS gold medals
for her outstanding watercolours and has several landmark publications on Irish orchids in partnership with Brendan Sayers of
the National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin.
Margareta Pertl
Margareta Pertl is Austrian by birth but has developed a close association with Ireland and her beautiful watercolours are
much loved here. She has thrice been honoured with the prestigious Fuger Prize in Austria and has received amongst many
other accolades, a silver medal from the RHS. Since 1998 she has been painting tropical orchids from the Irish national
collection at Glasnevin as well as from the Botanischer Garden Wien in her native homeland.
Deborah Lambkin
Deborah Lambkin was born in Ireland and trained at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin. She currently lives in
London and is the official orchid artist to the RHS Orchid Committee since 2005 and has since painted over 200 orchids. She
also contributes paintings to Curtis's Botanical Magazine regularly.
Wendy Walsh (1915 – 2014)

Born in Cumbria, England she lived in Ireland for over fifty years. A precocious and unsurpassed watercolour artist of Irish
wildflowers and wildlife she published many books and produced designs for postage stamps, textiles and pottery. Her
accolades include several RHS gold medals.
Raymond Piper (1927 - 2007)

Born in London, he moved to Belfast when he was six. He became a respected portrait artist but it was orchids that captured
his heart while on a visit to Cork in 1960 and he then went on to devote his talents to them. In 1974 his studies were exhibited
in the Natural History Museum in London and that year he was awarded the coveted RHS John Lindley Medal.
Lydia Shackleton (1828 - 1914)

Born in Ballitore, County Kildare into a wealthy family she undertook commissioned work at the Glasnevin Botanic Gardens
from 1884 to 1907 under the then curator Sir Frederick Moore. She completed an astonishing 1400 botanical portraits many of
which depicted the individual flower, a trade-mark of her style. Much of her work is retained for posterity in the Botanic
Gardens Library.

ORCHIDACEAE
T
he Orchidaceae are a diverse and widespread family
of flowering plants, with blooms that are often a food reserve for wintry periods, and provides for the
colourful and fragrant, commonly known as the development of the other one, from which visible growth
orchid family. develops.
Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest In warm and constantly humid climates, many terrestrial
families of flowering plants. The Orchidaceae have about orchids do not need pseudobulbs.
28,000 currently accepted species, distributed in about 763
genera. The determination of which family is larger is still Epiphytic orchids, those that grow upon a support, have
under debate, because verified data on the members of such modified aerial roots that can sometimes be a few meters
enormous families are continually in flux. Regardless, the long. In the older parts of the roots, a modified spongy
number of orchid species nearly equals the number of bony epidermis, called velamen, has the function to absorb
fishes and is more than twice the number of bird species, and humidity. It is made of dead cells and can have a silvery-grey,
about four times the number of mammal species. The family white or brown appearance. In some orchids, the velamen
also encompasses about 6 – 11% of all seed plants. The includes spongy and fibrous bodies near the passage cells,
largest genera are Bulbophyllum (2,000 species), Epidendrum called tilosomes.
(1,500 species), Dendrobium (1,400 species) and Pleurothallis The cells of the root epidermis grow at a right angle to the
(1,000 species). axis of the root to allow them to get a firm grasp on their
The family also includes Vanilla (the genus of the vanilla support. Nutrients for epiphytic orchids mainly come from
plant), Orchis (type genus), and many commonly cultivated mineral dust, organic detritus, animal droppings and other
plants such as Phalaenopsis and Cattleya. Moreover, since the substances collecting among on their supporting surfaces.
introduction of tropical species into cultivation in the 19th The base of the stem of sympodial epiphytes, or in some
century, horticulturists have produced more than 100,000 species essentially the entire stem, may be thickened to form a
hybrids and cultivars. pseudobulb that contains nutrients and water for drier periods.
Orchids are easily distinguished from other plants, as they The pseudobulb has a smooth surface with lengthwise
share some very evident, shared derived characteristics, or grooves, and can have different shapes, often conical or
"apomorphies". Among these are: bilateral symmetry of the oblong. Its size is very variable; in some small species of
flower (zygomorphism), many resupinate flowers, a nearly Bulbophyllum, it is no longer than two millimeters, while in
always highly modified petal (labellum), fused stamens and the largest orchid in the world, Grammatophyllum speciosum
carpels, and extremely small seeds. (giant orchid), it can reach three meters. Some Dendrobium
All orchids are perennial herbs that lack any permanent species have long, canelike pseudobulbs with short, rounded
woody structure. They can grow according to two patterns: leaves over the whole length; some other orchids have hidden
or extremely small pseudobulbs, completely included inside
Monopodial: The stem grows from a single bud, leaves are the leaves.
added from the apex each year and the stem grows longer
accordingly. The stem of orchids with a monopodial growth With ageing, the pseudobulb sheds its leaves and becomes
can reach several metres in length, as in Vanda and Vanilla. dormant. At this stage, it is often called a backbulb.
Sympodial: Sympodial orchids have a front (the newest Backbulbs still hold nutrition for the plant, but then a
growth) and a back (the oldest growth). The plant produces a pseudobulb usually takes over, exploiting the last reserves
series of adjacent shoots which grow to a certain size, bloom accumulated in the backbulb, which eventually dies off, too.
and then stop growing and are replaced. Sympodial orchids A pseudobulb typically lives for about five years. Orchids
grow laterally rather than vertically, following the surface of without noticeable pseudobulbs are also said to have growths,
their support. The growth continues by development of new an individual component of a sympodial plant.
leads, with their own leaves and roots, sprouting from or next
to those of the previous year, as in Cattleya. While a new lead Etymology
is developing, the rhizome may start its growth again from a The type genus (i.e. the genus after which the family is
so-called 'eye', an undeveloped bud, thereby branching. named) is Orchis. The genus name comes from the Ancient
Sympodial orchids may have visible pseudobulbs joined by a Greek ὄρχις (órkhis), literally meaning "testicle", because of
rhizome, which creeps along the top or just beneath the soil.the shape of the twin tubers in some species of Orchis. The
Terrestrial orchids may be rhizomatous or form corms or term "orchid" was introduced in 1845 by John Lindley in
tubers. The root caps of terrestrial orchids are smooth and School Botany, as a shortened form of Orchidaceae.
white. In Middle English, the name bollockwort was used for some
Some sympodial terrestrial orchids, such as Orchis and orchids, based on "bollock" meaning testicle and "wort"
Ophrys, have two subterranean tuberous roots. One is used as meaning plant.

Distribution
Orchidaceae are cosmopolitan, occurring in almost every habitat apart from glaciers. The world's richest diversity of orchid
genera and species is found in the tropics, but they are also found above the Arctic Circle, in southern Patagonia, and two species
of Nematoceras on Macquarie Island at 54° south.
The following list gives a rough overview of their distribution:
Oceania: 50 to 70 genera
North America: 20 to 26 genera
Tropical America: 212 to 250 genera
Tropical Asia: 260 to 300 genera
Tropical Africa: 230 to 270 genera
Europe and temperate Asia: 40 to 60 genera
THE IRISH ORCHID SOCIETY CALENDAR
THREE THREADS Thursday, March 29th to Wednesday, April 25th

THREE THREADS – An exhibition exploring the orchid tapestry created by Sir Frederick William Moore
IOS members are invited to a preview of the exhibition which runs from Thursday 29th March until Wednesday 25th April.
The exhibition will be held in the Visitor Centre, National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin.
With watercolours by Margareta Pertl and Deborah Lambkin and historic material from the National Botanic Gardens archive.
DUBLIN ORCHID FAIR 2018 Saturday & Sunday April 21st & 22nd • 10am – 5pm, Admission free
The annual orchid fair organised by the National Botanic Gardens is to be held this weekend in the conservatory at the gardens
in Glasnevin. This is the premier annual orchid event in Ireland with a large selection of species and hybrids for sale.
On Saturday the Royal Horticultural Society's Orchid Committee will sit and judge plants in the Meeting Room at the rear of the
Curvilinear Range. The Gallery in the Visitor Centre will hold an exhibition of paintings by Margareta Pertl and Deborah
Lambkin along with some material from the archives in the National Botanic Gardens, Library. This is an exciting weekend for
both orchid lovers and gardeners alike. There will be plenty to see and do so please come and enjoy.
MEMBERS’ NIGHT Monday, May 14th, 7.30pm

Please bring along your orchids for discussion, whether you have problems with them, need advice or simply just want to show
them off. We can also discuss the recent Orchid Fair and plants purchased.
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Monday, June 11th, 7.30pm

The traditional state of the Society address will be given with the Committee putting forward ideas to advance the society in the
year ahead. It is also the forum for members to give their feedback and suggestions.
ANNUAL NORTH BULL ISLAND WALK Thursday, June 21st, 6.30pm

Join Ireland's orchid expert Brendan Sayers and discover some of Ireland's wild orchids in the sand dunes of Bull Island in
Dublin. Be prepared for good or bad weather! Meet at the Interpretive Centre. All welcome. Walk will be about 1.5 hours.
http://irishorchidsociety.org/calendar.php

LIST OF IRISH PLANT COLLECTORS
This is a list of several other famous Irish plant collectors. An important part of taxonomy and botany is the collection of
samples from different locales.
John Ball, 1818–1889, first president Alpine Club, 1858–1860

Patrick Browne, (c1720–1790) born in Woodstock, County Mayo, doctor and botanist in Jamaica
Thomas Coulter, 1793–1843, collected plants in North and Latin America
Lady Charlotte Wheeler Cuffe (née Williams), 1867–1967
Michael Pakenham Edgeworth, 1812–1881, born in Edgeworthstown, County Longford; namesake of genus Edgeworthia
Eugene Fitzalan, 1830–1911, born in Derry; collector, nurseryman, and poet
Robert D. FitzGerald, 1830–1892, born in Tralee, County Kerry; botanist, artist, collector; collected orchids
Dr. A. Gogarty, sent plants, seeds, orchids, ferns and bulbs to the Irish National Botanic Gardens
Augustine Henry (1857, Dundee – 1930, Dublin) collected some 16,000 dried specimens, of which more than 1,000 species
proved new to science.
William Henry Harvey, 1811–1866, born in Limerick, collected plants in South Africa 1848–56
James Keys, 1841–1916, born in Irvinestown, County Fermanagh
Edward Madden, from Kilkenny, ca. 1840
Robert Patterson, 1802–1872, Belfast, collected in Ireland, Australia
Samuel Alexander Stewart 1826-1910
William Taylor Whan 1829–1901, born in Moneymore, County Derry
William Thomas Locke Travers, 1819–1903, born in Newcastle West, County Limerick
Willbrook House, Whitechurch Road, Ballyboden, South Dublin County

A simple, elegant entrance screen with a modest lodge set inside, leading to mature grounds containing many unusual
specimens, planted by Sir Frederick Moore, former Director of the National Botanic Gardens at this, his residence.
Detached former country house. Entrance screen comprising four rendered gate piers, cast-iron gates and railings on low
plinth wall. Detached three-bay single-storey gate lodge, c.1820, now derelict, set within. Smooth rendered walls, canted
bay window, blocked openings, pitched slate roof. Photo: National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
THE NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDENS • GARRAITHE NÁISIÚNTA NA LUS
The National Botanic Gardens (Irish: Garraithe Náisiúnta na Lus) are located in Glasnevin, 5 km north-west of Dublin city
centre, Ireland. The 19.5 hectares are situated between Prospect Cemetery and the River Tolka where it forms part of that
river's floodplain.
The gardens were founded in 1795 by the Dublin Society (later the Royal Dublin Society) and are today in State ownership
through the Office of Public Works. They hold 20,000 living plants and many millions of dried plant specimens. There are
several architecturally notable greenhouses. Today the Glasnevin site is the headquarters of the National Botanic Gardens of
Ireland which has a satellite garden and arboretum at Kilmacurragh in County Wicklow.
The gardens participate in national and international initiatives for biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. The
Director, Dr. Matthew Jebb, is also Chairman of PlantNetwork: The Plant Collections Network of Britain and Ireland. It is
Ireland's seventh most visited attraction, and the second most visited free attraction.
History
The poet Thomas Tickell owned a house and small estate in Glasnevin and, in 1795, they were sold to the Irish Parliament and
given to the Royal Dublin Society for them to establish Ireland's first botanic gardens. A double line of yew trees, known as
"Addison's Walk" survives from this period. The original purpose of the gardens had been to advance knowledge of plants for
agriculture, medicine and dyeing. The gardens were the first location in Ireland where the infection responsible for the 1845–
1847 potato famine was identified. Throughout the famine, research to stop the infection was undertaken at the gardens.
Walter Wade and John Underwood, the first Director and Superintendent respectively, executed the layout of the gardens, but,
when Wade died in 1825, they declined for some years. From 1834, Director Ninian Nivan brought new life into the gardens,
performing some redesign. This programme of change and development continued with the following Directors into the late
1960s.
The gardens were placed into government care in 1877.
In the winter of 1948/9 Ludwig Wittgenstein lived and worked in Ireland. He frequently came to the Palm House to sit and
write. There is a plaque commemorating him on the steps he sat on.
Facilities
As well as being a tourist destination and an amenity for nearby residents, the gardens, admission to which is free, also serve
as a centre for horticultural research and training, including the breeding of many prized orchids.
The soil at Glasnevin is strongly alkaline (in horticultural terms) and this restricts the cultivation of calcifuge plants such as
rhododendrons to specially prepared areas. Nonetheless, the gardens display a range of outdoor "habitats" such as a rockery,
herbaceous border, rose garden, bog garden and arboretum. A vegetable garden has also been established.
The National Herbarium is also housed at the National Botanic Gardens. The museum collection contains some 20,000
samples of plant products, including fruits, seeds, wood, fibres, plant extracts and artefacts, collected over the garden's two-
hundred-year history. The gardens contain noted and historically important collections of orchids. The newly restored Palm
House houses many tropical and subtropical plants.
In 2002, a new multistory complex was built; it includes a cafe and a large lecture theatre.
The gardens are also responsible for the arboretum at Kilmacurragh, County Wicklow, a centre noted for its conifers and
calcifuges. This is located some 50 kilometres (31 miles) south of Dublin.
A gateway into Glasnevin Cemetery adjacent to the gardens was reopened in recent years.

ARCHITECTURE
The Palm House

The gardens include some glasshouses of architectural importance, such as the Palm House (rear cover) and the Curvilinear
Range.
The Curvilinear Range was completed in 1848 by Richard Turner, and was extended in the late 1860s. This structure, has
also been restored (using some surplus contemporary structural ironwork from Kew Gardens) and this work attracted the
Europa Nostra award for excellence in conservation architecture.
There is also a third range of glasshouses: the Aquatic House, the Fern House and the original Cactus House. These
structures were closed off in the early 2000s, and are currently undergoing restoration. As these glasshouses were specialised
in the plants they housed, many specimens such as the Giant Amazonian Water Lily have not been grown in the gardens since
the closure of the structures.
The College of Amenity Horticulture (Teagasc)

Building on the training and education legacy of the gardens, the Teagasc College of Amenity Horticulture is located in the
gardens. It runs full- and part time courses training students for the amenity horticulture industry. Training is run in association
with the Office of Public Works (OPW), Dublin local authority parks departments, and the Golfing Union of Ireland.
Directors
The Director is the chief officer of the Gardens, with a residence provided on site. Directors have included:
Dr Walter Wade, Professor of Botany to the Dublin Society (until 1825)

Samuel Litton (1825–1834)
Ninian Nivan (1834–1838)
Dr David Moore (1838–79)
Sir Frederick Moore (1879–1922)
J. W. Besant (1922–44)
Dr T. J. Walsh (1944–68)
Aidan Brady (1968–1993)
Donal M. Synnott (1994–2004)
Dr Peter Wyse Jackson (2005–2010)
Dr Matthew Jebb (2010– )

POLLINIA POLLINIA
Volume 16, Issue One Volume 15, Issue Two
The Hidden Memories of Plants; New Orchid Genome; Book IOS Calendar ; Prince Charles visits NBG; February Meeting;
Review: UK Orchid Hunter; Two Exciting Irish Discoveries; Book: Jim Endersby Orchids; Flies, bees and Helleborines;
Possible Orchid extinctions; Hurricane Damage to Orchids; The Ram's Head Lady's Slippers; 2017 AGM; Pollination by sexual
Great Cymbidium Myth; Peter Stiller; October Meeting; deception; Zoë Devlin; Robotic Bee Pollination; Dublin Orchid
Cypripedium hotei atsumorianum; Gastrodia bambu; Hylda J. Fair; Cypripedium Arietinum; March Meeting; Cymbidium -
Beckett; Seeds. More Tom Doran; Orchid Phylogeny; More
POLLINIA POLLINIA
Volume 15, Issue One Volume 14, Issue Two
IOS Calendar – January to June 2017; Dr Karl Duffy; IOS 2016 AGM; Editor's Notes; Johan Hermans; February
Rosalinda Luna; Four Gentlemen; British Ghost Orchid; Beetle Meeting; Dublin Orchid Fair Winners; New Orchid Discoveries;
in Amber; IOS Christmas Party; Growing Vanilla in NL; Plant Identification Apps; Bulbophylum fletcherianum; Dracula
Angreacum sesquipedale; Rare Darwin Orchid; Amesiella; lafleuri; Eulophia graminea; Telipogon diabolicus; Dendrobium
Caladenia granitora; Decoding Botanical Latin; More anosmum; German Native Orchids; More

The Great Palm House is situated in the southern parts of the gardens, and is connected to the cactus house
on its west side, and the orchid house on its east side. The main building measures 65 feet in height, 100 feet
in length and 80 feet in width.
The Palm House was originally built in 1862 to accommodate the ever increasing collection of plants from
tropical areas that demanded more and more protected growing conditions. The construction was overseen
by David Moore,the curator of the gardens at the time. The original structure was built of wood, and was
unstable, leading to it being blown down by heavy gales in 1883, twenty one years later. Richard Turner, the
great Dublin ironmaster, had already supplied an iron house to Belfast Gardens and he persuaded the Royal
Dublin Society that such a house would be a better investment than a wooden house, and by 1883
construction had begun on a stronger iron structure. Fabrication of the structure took place in Paisley,
Scotland, and shipped to Ireland in sections. By the early 2000s, the Palm House had fallen into a state of
disrepair. After more than 100 years, the wrought iron, cast iron and timber construction had seriously
deteriorated. Prior to its restoration a large number of panes of glass were breaking each year due to the
corrosion and instability of the structure. As part of the restoration the house was completely dismantled into
more than 7,000 parts, tagged for repair and restoration off-site. 20 meter tall cast iron columns within the
Great Palm House had seriously degraded and were replaced by new cast iron columns created in moulds of
the originals. To protect the structure from further corrosion, new modern paint technology was used to
develop long-term protection for the Palm House, providing protection from the perpetually tropical internal
climate. For Health and Safety reasons, overhead glass was laminated and vertical panes toughened, and
specialised form of mastic was used to fix the panes, replacing original linseed oil putty that had contributed
to the decay of the building over the century. The Palm House was reopened in 2004 after a lengthy
replanting programme following the restoration process.
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SPECIAL EDITION TO HONOUR THE VISIT TO THE NATIONAL

BOTANIC GARDENS, GLASNEVIN AND MEETING OF THE

Cumann Magairlíní na hÉireann

Brendan Sayers (Chairperson) ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION

Laurence T. May (Editor)

The compact packets of pollen found in orchid

Contributions of articles, photos or comments may be sent by email to:

The Irish Orchid Society SPECIAL EDITION April 2018 [ 2 ]

O n the occasion of the RHS Orchid Committee’s first visit to Ireland it

THE IRISH CONNECTIONS

Clare and Johan Hermans

Eulophiella roempleriana photographed for Moore

EAGRÁN SPEISIALTA Volume 18, Special [ 3 ]

FREDERICK BURBIDGE (1847-1905)

The Irish Orchid Society SPECIAL EDITION April 2018 [ 4 ]

Cymbidium Irish Melody AM RHS in 1948,

CLARE AND JOHAN HERMANS

EAGRÁN SPEISIALTA Volume 18, Special [ 5 ]

In 1804, a group of enthusiastic gardeners in London formed the Horticultural

The present Orchid Committee consists of 25 members, including the chairman

The Irish Orchid Society SPECIAL EDITION April 2018 [ 6 ]

EAGRÁN SPEISIALTA Volume 18, Special [ 7 ]

THE ORCHID COMMITTEE

The Irish Orchid Society SPECIAL EDITION April 2018 [ 8 ]

(Fig. 1.) Frederick William Moore

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Fig. 5. Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach . From

The Irish Orchid Society SPECIAL EDITION April 2018 [ 10 ]

CORRESPONDENCE AND REGISTERS

EAGRÁN SPEISIALTA Volume 18, Special [ 11 ]

Fig. 24. Acineta moorei Rolfe (now Acineta hrubyana Rchb.f.),

The Irish Orchid Society SPECIAL EDITION April 2018 [ 12 ]

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Fig. 10. A painting of the inflorescence of an orchid with

The Irish Orchid Society SPECIAL EDITION April 2018 [ 14 ]

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The Irish Orchid Society SPECIAL EDITION April 2018 [ 16 ]

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The Irish Orchid Society SPECIAL EDITION April 2018 [ 18 ]

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The Irish Orchid Society SPECIAL EDITION April 2018 [ 20 ]

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The Irish Orchid Society SPECIAL EDITION April 2018 [ 22 ]

Cryptophoranthus hypodiscus, Rolfe (Masdevallia hypodiscus, Rchb.f.) (ex descriptione)

EAGRÁN SPEISIALTA Volume 18, Special [ 23 ]

And, on 13 August 1909:

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Volume 18, Special [ 27 ]

The Irish Orchid Society SPECIAL EDITION April 2018 [ 28 ]

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Fig. 22. Coelogyne mooreana Rolfe, painted by Margareta Pertl.

The Irish Orchid Society SPECIAL EDITION April 2018 [ 30 ]

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Fig. 23. Acineta moorei Rolfe (now Acineta hrubyana Rchb.f.),

The Irish Orchid Society SPECIAL EDITION April 2018 [ 32 ]

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The Irish Orchid Society SPECIAL EDITION April 2018 [ 34 ]

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NOTES & SOURCES

The Irish Orchid Society SPECIAL EDITION April 2018 [ 36 ]

My interest in the Irish Orchid Society

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