Weiter zum Rätsel um den "Pflanzenjäger":
Das „Orchidelirium“Von einem Freund wurde ich auf diesen Artikel aufmerksam gemacht:
http://mentalfloss.com/article/88888/da ... id-hunting Auszug: Orchid fever gripped England starting in the early 1800s after British naturalist William John Swainson used some orchids that hadn’t yet bloomed as packing material, thinking they were worthless weeds, while sending back some other exotic plants from Brazil. Upon arrival in Britain, some of the orchids burst into glorious flower, entrancing all those who saw them and sparking the growing obsession with the plant.
Collectors were quickly dispatched by rich patrons and wily businessmen to sail across the oceans to the jungles of South America, the South Pacific, and elsewhere to search out the elusive plants. Such expeditions were hugely risky given the perils from wild animals, hostile natives, and tropical diseases, and many orchid hunters met a grisly end. For example, in 1901 an expedition of eight men entered the jungles of the Philippines in search of orchids: one was eaten by a tiger, a second was doused in oil and burnt to death, and five more were never seen again. The lone survivor of this dangerous mission emerged with an enormous haul of Phalaenopsis, also known as moth orchids, and probably made his fortune. ...
The list of collectors who perished in the search for orchids is long and full of gruesome anecdotes—William Arnold drowned in the Orinoco River, Gustavo Wallis died of yellow fever and malaria, David Bowman caught dysentery in the jungles of Columbia after returning there to restock when his first haul was stolen by rivals. Albert Millican, who in 1891 published the landmark text on orchid hunting Travels and Adventures of an Orchid Hunter, took part in five perilous trips to fetch orchids from the Andes. During his final expedition, he was stabbed to death. …
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Die Orchideenjagd war demnach nicht frei von Risiken. So wurde 1901 eine Expedition zur Suche nach Orchideen auf die Philippinen entsandt. Von den acht Teilnehmern wurde einer vom Tiger gefressen, ein zweiter in Öl getaucht und verbrannt, und fünf weitere hat man nie wieder gesehen. Der einzige Überlebende dieser riskanten Mission entkam mit einer enormen Ladung von
Phalaenopsis- Orchideen, die als Schmetterlings-Orchideen bekannt sind, und machte wahrscheinlich sein Glück…
Der Artikel enthält weitere solche Beispiele für die Gefahren durch wilde Tiere, feindliche Eingeborene, Tropenkrankheiten, aber auch Rivalen und Konkurrenten. - Immerhin konnte damals die Natur noch heftig zurückschlagen!
Viel „Freude“ beim Lesen,
Merkur