Benedikt Roezl (13 August 1824, Horomeritz (Bohemia,

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, ...

) – 14 October 1885,

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

) was a traveller, gardener and botanist (sometimes Benedict or Benito Roezl as called by the Indians). Probably the most famous collector of

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

s of his time. Despite the loss of a hand (in an accident in Cuba), Roezl travelled the world and discovered more than 800 species of orchid, with more than forty named in his honour.Kew: A year at Kew: Plants: Orchids: at Kew
Roezl was also the founder of the Czech botanical magazine, Flora, in 1880. There is a statue (depicting him holding an orchid with a Native American kneeling beside him) of Roezl in Prague, located on the southern end of Charles Square.

Some of the Roezl's Travels

left, Benedikt Roezl Statue in Prague 3 August 1872: New York Benedikt Roezl travelled with his nephew and collector František Klaboch to New York. Klaboch later died of yellow fever. Through St. Louis they left to Denver. 6 September 1872: Denver Roezl collected ''Yucca angustifolia'' (6 boxes) and ''Calochortus'' (1000). He was robbed here and left to New Mexico. Left again to California. 31 October 1872: San Francisco From San Francisco he left to Acapulco and to the surrounding Sierra Madre where he collected over 2000 orchids. When looking for the ''Oncidium tigrinum'' orchid, he climbed to 3000 metres above sea level. From Mexico he left for Caracas. 10 February 1873: Caracas, Venezuela Roezl was looking for an unknown orchid called "flor de mayo". Collected 8 boxes and left for Mexico via Havana. March 1873: Sontecomapan, Mexico Stopped by to pick up his nephew Eduard Klaboch. Then left for Havana and to New York again. From New York travelled to Peru. August 1873: Peru He climbed the 5000-metre-high mountains to bring back more than 10.000 orchids to Lima. Roezl then travelled to southern Peru. Bolivia, Ecuador He visited lake Titicaca, La Paz and through the Illimani mountain walked the Yungas territory, bringing back many orchids. Once again climbed the Andes, visited Ecuador, Chimborazo mountain and at the 6000 metres above sea level he discovered the new Pescatorea roezlii orchid. April 1874: London 1875: Prague

Plants named in Roezl's Honour

Among the orchids named in his honour are: *'' Miltoniopsis roezlii'' *'' Pescatorea roezlii'' *'' Selenipedium roezlii'' *''

Sobralia roezlii ''Sobralia'' is a genus of Orchidaceae, orchids native to Mexico, Central America, Central and South America. The plants are more commonly terrestrial, but are also found growing Epiphyte, epiphytically, in wet forests from sea level to about 8, ...

'' * genus ''

Roezliella ''Oncidium'', abbreviated as Onc. in the horticultural trade, is a genus that contains about 330 species of orchids from the subtribe Oncidiinae of the orchid family (Orchidaceae). As presently conceived (May 2014), it is distributed across much ...

'' Other plants named in his honour: *''

Zamia roezlii ''Zamia roezlii'' is a species of cycad, a palm-like pachycaulous plant in the family Zamiaceae. It is found in Colombia (Choco, Nariño, Valle del Cauca, and Amazonas departments) and the Pacific coast of Ecuador. It is named for the Czech bot ...

'' - a

cycad Cycads are seed plants that typically have a stout and woody (ligneous) trunk (botany), trunk with a crown (botany), crown of large, hard, stiff, evergreen and (usually) pinnate leaves. The species are dioecious, that is, individual plants o ...

of the family

Zamiaceae The Zamiaceae are a family of cycads that are superficially palm or fern-like. They are divided into two subfamilies with eight genera and about 150 species in the tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, Australia and North and South America. ...

*''

Ribes roezlii ''Ribes roezlii'' is a North American species of currant known by the common name Sierra gooseberry. Distribution ''Ribes roezlii'' is native to many of the mountain ranges of California, its distribution extending east into Nevada and north in ...

'' - Sierra gooseberry
List of plants described by Roezl
can be found here.

Literature

* Benedikt Roezl: Catalogue des graines de conifères mexicains. 1857. * Benedikt Roezl: My last trip to the western coast of Mexico, 188? translated into Czech, magazine Flora as "Poslední má cesta na západní pobřeží mexické" * Benedikt Roezl: Plants I have discovered in North and South America, 188? translated into Czech, magazine Flora as "Rostliny mnou v severní a jižní Americe objevené"

References

Books and external links

Benedikt Roezl on Orchids.co.in

Benedikt Roezl on Czech radio
in Spanish

in Czech * Lev V.: Benedikt Roezl, Orbis, Praha, 1949 - the main biography on Roezl in Czech * The Garden Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society, Vol. 122, Feb. 1997 * Healey B.J.: The Plant Hunters, Charles Scribners sons, 1975 * Lemmon K.: The Golden Age of Plant Hunters, Phoenix House,1968 * Coats A. M.:The Plant Hunters,

McGraw-Hill McGraw Hill is an American educational publishing company and one of the "big three" educational publishers that publishes educational content, software, and services for pre-K through postgraduate education. The company also publishes referenc ...

, 1970 * Toufar P.: Tajemnou českou krajinou, Regia, Praha, 2001 * Garden, The . 1885. Obituary .Vo. 28, no. 727. * Gardeners' Chronicle. 1885. Benedict Roezl. Vol. 24. no. 617. * Gardeners' Chronicle . 1892. Benedict Roezl.Vol. 11,no. 263. * Gardening World, The. 1885. October 24. * Kline, Mary C. 1963. Benedict Roezl- Famous orchid collectors .Amer.Orch. Soc. Bull. 32,no. 8. * Sander,F. 1952. Benedict Roezl and Cattleya aurea . The Orch.Rev. 60, no. 710.
Luigi Berliocchi,Mark Griffiths: The Orchid in Lore and Legend
- available on Google Books {{DEFAULTSORT:Roezl, Benedikt 19th-century Czech botanists Orchidologists 1823 births 1885 deaths Botanists active in South America Czech explorers People from Prague-West District