Botanist explorers: the origins of modern botany
Botanist explorers are part of every tropical plant lover‘s imagination. But before I tell you about them, let’s start with a little imagination.
Imagine a world with no airplanes, no Internet, no telephones, no means of transport faster than the horse or the boat, a world with no precise land or sea maps, a world where the unknown beckoned beyond the seas and oceans… A world we’re dying to explore, with the inevitable inherent risks, but also with its promises, dreams, discoveries and potential riches… Humans couldn’t stay within its stifling borders for long, and the call of the open sea quickly overtook the surrounding, reassuring universe!
The 18th century was the most prolific in terms of explorations and great expeditions to discover the world. And with the discovery of new continents came the discovery of indigenous populations, local fauna and, of course, new flora to exploit! Not only are plants an inexhaustible source of possibilities, in fields as varied as food, medicine, dyes and decoration, they are also relatively easy to transport. Rooted parts can be harvested, seeds can be brought back, and plants can be dried for scientific study and classification.
The great botanist explorers
If you hear the words “La Boussole”, “L’Astrolabe”, “La Pérouse”, you’re immediately transported to the great expeditions in search of rare, tropical and exotic plants… These great explorers, such as James Cook and Jean-François de Galaud (comte de Lapérouse), were above all navigators in the navy and renowned cartographers. These great voyages were commissioned by the kings of England and France, who wished to discover new lands, bring back their potential riches, map the globe by sea and land, and establish new trading posts. They were particularly interested in exotic botanical varieties, whether for the purposes of research and progress (medicine, food…) or for prestige, with the creation of tropical greenhouses and other winter gardens. The kings were passionate about exotic plants and their acclimatization in European gardens, often at the cost of mad expenses and interminable journeys. On the day of his execution, Louis XVI is said to have said: “Is there any news of Monsieur de La Pérouse?
Botanists such as Daniel Solander and the famous Joseph Banks were part of the voyages. He brought back thousands of unknown species; the genus “Banksias” was named in his honor. King George III entrusted him with the management of the sublime gardens and greenhouses at Kew Gardens, near London, which are still a benchmark today.
Species that now seem commonplace were brought back by Banks. In addition to the kangaroo, these include different varieties of Strelitzia (Birds of Paradise), Artocarpus altilis (Breadfruit), Eucalyptus, Mimosa, Sugar Cane, Flax…
They understood, for example, that scurvy was caused by a lack of vitamins due to a shortage of fresh fruit and vegetables. James Cook introduced the “Peruvian bark”, quiquina, whose active ingredient, quinine, helped combat this disease, into the diets of his officers.
Herbarium, the great legacy of botanist explorers
Purpose of the herbariums
For botanist explorers, bringing exotic plants back to port was no easy task, as exploration missions could last many months! When plants were brought back for research purposes, the simplest method was to dry them horizontally between two sheets of newspaper or blotting paper, with a heavy support placed on top to ensure that the plant dried flat. Ideally, the plant’s harvest should be as exhaustive as possible, including leaves, stems, branches, roots, flowers and fruit. Once back, the plant could be correctly identified and glued to a sheet of paper, known as a plate. Collections of plates form herbariums, also known as dried gardens. They are the equivalent of stuffed animals for the study of fauna.
Herbariums today
Plates were often produced in multiple copies, allowing discoveries to be sent to other botanists and enabling more precise and rapid collaborative scientific advances. Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778) played a decisive role in the identification and classification of living organisms. He established a system of genus and species nomenclature, still in use today.
The rise of photography in the 19th century, followed by the digital world in the 20th and 21st centuries, has made the use of herbariums obsolete. We can deplore the loss of poetry of a digitized image compared to a pretty herbarium plate, annotated with a fine pen by hand! But herbariums were fragile, easily destroyed by pests, floods, fires, poorly controlled hygrometry.
But herbariums have not lost all their nobility, and in addition to their patrimonial and affective value, they make it possible to go back in time and retrace certain events. Recently, for example, a scientific team succeeded in extracting DNA from bacteria that had infected citrus leaves preserved in an ancient herbarium. They compared the resulting genome with current genomes of the bacteria and were able to reconstruct the history and progression of this disease.
The boards we see today in museums such as the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris are still from those distant times!
The role of botanist explorers
Naturalists are specialists in the natural sciences, which encompass the study of minerals, animals and plants. Naturalists specializing in plants are called botanists. Botany grew in importance in the 18th century, becoming a fashionable discipline and, for many naturalists, the leading science of natural history.
Botanists were responsible for collecting plant specimens, examining, describing, inventorying and classifying them, preserving them in herbariums or by drawing them. Botanists are also responsible for identifying plants that are useful to mankind, and which could have significant economic potential.
They are also responsible for acclimatizing plants that arrive alive, both ornamental and utilitarian, such as edible plants. Royal gardens and greenhouses were created, such as the Jardin des Plantes in Paris and the Kew Botanical Gardens in England.
Usefulness of plants brought back from botanical expeditions
Edible plants
The plants brought back first attracted attention for their gastronomic value. The discovery of new vegetables, new fruits, and of course the fascination for spices… But also the enthusiasm for tea, coffee and chocolate, which we would find hard to imagine excluded from our lives today…
Useful plants
But plants offer many other virtues besides taste: medicinal plants for treatment, cotton for textiles, dye plants for dyes (Roucou, Henna, Curcuma, Noni, Tamarind…) and also the discovery of tobacco…
Ornamental plants
The French gardens took on their noble character, their structured architecture and geometric parterres requiring numerous ornamental plants. Kings in particular, but also aristocrats and wealthy landowners, were passionate about discovering new species, new colors and new fragrances from the other side of the world. Orangeries now housed citrus collections.
Botanical gardens were also created, allowing less fortunate members of the public to discover these tropical and exotic varieties.
In conclusion, people have always lived with plants and always needed them. Food and medicine, of course, but also the manufacture of tools and musical instruments, and a contribution to the oxygen we breathe… Each era has had its own means of investigating the plant world, from the most experimental to the most scientific. But even today, even if we’ve moved on from random explorations by boat and herbariums as a means of conservation, plants still have a lot to teach us…
