FRITZ HAMER AND THE GERMAN TRADITION OF BOTANY IN MESOAMERICACARLOS OSSENBACH

摘要

Fritz Hamer 1912-2004, the most prominent and perhaps the only authentic expert on the orchids of El Salvador and Nicaragua in the second half of the 20th century, was the last of a long list of German collectors and scientists who played a role inthe history of Central American botany and, in particular, orchidologyFrom the first years of independent life of the young republics, German botanists showed great interest in Mesoamerica. It all began with the German Carl Sartorius 1796-1872, who in 1826 acquired the legendary hacienda El Mirador in the Mexican state of Veracruz El Mirador would become the meeting point for all naturalists who visited the area and perhaps the most frequently mentioned locality of collection during the 19th century. Among its first guests were Ferdinand Deppe, Count of Sack 1794-1861, and Christian Julius Wilhelm Schiede 1789-1836, who in 1828 discovered numerous new orchid species in El Mirador and described Tre-virana grandiflora Gesneriaceae, Friedrich Ernst Leibold '1804-1864 arrived in 1839, as did Ludwig Hahn 1836-1881 in 1855. Carl Albert Purpus 1851-1942 and Johann Heinrich Rudolf Schenck 1860-1927 also collected at El Mirador in the 1890s and in the first years of the 20th century.