Australian orchids and the doctors they commemorate

Abstract

Botanical taxonomy is a repository of medical biographical information. Such botanical memorials include the names of some indigenous orchids of Australia. By searching reference texts and journals relating to Australian botany and Australian orchidology, as well as Australian and international medical and botanical biographical texts, I identified 30orchids indigenous to Australia whose names commemorate doctors and other medical professionals. Of these, 24 have names that commemorate a total of 16doctors who worked in Australia. The doctors and orchids I identified include: doctor-soldiers Richard Sanders Rogers (1862-1942), after whom the Rogers' Greenhood (Pterostylis rogersii) is named, and Robert Brown (1773-1858), after whom the Purple Enamel Orchid (Elythranthera brunonis) is named; navy surgeon Archibald Menzies (1754-1842), after whom the Hare Orchid (Leptoceras menziesii) is named; radiologist Hugo Flecker (1884-1957) after whom the Slender Sphinx Orchid (Cestichis fleckeri) is named; and general medical practitioner Hereward Leighton Kesteven (1881-1964), after whom the Kesteven's Orchid (Dendrobium kestevenii) is named. Biographic references in scientific names of plants comprise a select but important library of Australian medical history. Such botanical taxonomy commemorates, in an enduring manner, clinicians who have contributed to biology outside clinical practice.