354 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1924 



George Ure Skinner, an Englishman who resided for many years in 

 Guatemala, beginning in 1831, is said to have introduced into culti- 

 vation in England nearly 100 species of orchids, a large number for 

 that day, when orchid culture in Europe was still in its infancy. 

 The famous Danish collector and botanist, Oersted, was the first to 

 visit (1846-1848) Costa Rica, where he collected some of the most 

 beautiful of all our American orchids. An extended visit to many 

 parts of Central America, including the rich regions of Guatemala, 

 Costa Rica, and Veraguas, was begun in 1846 by Warscewicz, who 

 traveled in search of orchids and hummingbirds, certainly a choice 

 of interests in which he was to be envied. Warscewicz discovered 

 many of the showy Central American representatives of this group. 

 Other botanists who took an important part in the early exploration 

 of Central America were Berthold Seemann, of the Herald expedi- 

 tion, who first made extensive collections in Panama ; Tate in Nica- 

 ragua; Fendler (famous as the first to make a collection of any im- 

 portance in the State of New Mexico) in Panama; Hoffmann and 

 Wendland in Costa Rica; and Hayes and Wagner in Panama. In 

 addition. Central America was visited by commercial collectors sent 

 from Europe in search of orchids, palms, cacti, and other plants of 

 horticultural value, and at times the export of living orchid plants to 

 Europe by native collectors was a thriving industry. Thus, many 

 dozens of persons whose names have not been preserved aided in ac- 

 cumulating our present knowledge of the orchid flora. 



It is during the past thirty years, however, that the most im- 

 portant botanical work has been carried on in Central America. In 

 Costa Rica large collections of orchids have been made by Tonduz, 

 Pittier, Werckle, Brenes, Jimenez, the Brade brothers, and others. 

 The orchid flora of Panama has been well explored by Powell, and in 

 Guatemala extensive collections have been made by von Tuerck- 

 heim, especially in Verapaz. Several collectors from the United 

 States have visited Central America, and have accumulated large 

 quantities of plants, although few have devoted special attention to 

 orchids. During the past fifteen years hundreds of new species of 

 Central American orchids have been described, mostly from Pana- 

 ma, Costa Rica, and Guatemala. These three Republics and Sal- 

 vador are those whose floras are best known. Of Honduras and Nic- 

 aragua, both of which doubtless will furnish a large number of or- 

 chid species, we still know very little, for scant exploration has been 

 conducted there, owing largely to difficulties of transportation. 



In view of the great amount of botanical exploration that has been 

 carried on in Central America it might be questioned whether it is 

 necessary to make further visits to a region of such comparatively 

 small area. There is no doubt, however, that our knowledge of the 



