The expeditions of the research yacht Utowana and the building of the plant living collections of the oldest botanical garden of Cuba

Rosalina Montes Espín,Ileana Fernández-Santana,Javier Francisco-Ortega,Amanda Lucía Vitlloch Ramos,Leosveli Vasallo Rodríguez,Mario A Lima Cruz

doi:10.36253/jopt-10929

Rosalina Montes Espín, Ileana Fernández-Santana + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.36253/jopt-10929

Copy DOI

Abstract

Cienfuegos Botanical Garden is the oldest functioning botanical institution of Cuba. It was established originally as a joint endeavor between sugar magnate Edwin F. Atkins and Harvard University in 1901. Between 1925 and 1934, the research yacht Utowana performed ample plant germplasm collections for the USDA in the New and Old World as well as archeological and zoological surveys in the Neotropics. The botanical expeditions were conducted mostly, under the leadership of David Fairchild. In this contribution we review to what extent Utowana expeditions and collections were instrumental in building the living collections of Cienfuegos Botanical Garden. A total of 278 accessions (comprising 254 species) were introduced into this garden directly or indirectly through these expeditions. Currently 57 of these species (132 individuals) are still part of its living collections. Interestingly, five of the Caribbean expeditions of this research yacht carried plant material between the Cienfuegos Botanical Garden and two other botanic gardens that were operated by US entities, namely the Lancetilla Botanical Garden in Honduras (owned by the United Fruit Company) and the Summit Gardens in Panama City (managed by the Panama Canal governmental agency). Our study also shows that plant material collected during Utowana expeditions was sent from Old World and Caribbean Island botanic gardens to Cienfuegos Botanical Garden. Thomas Barbour, director of this botanical institution between 1927 and 1946 joined four of these plant hunting endeavors. He provided strong support for the growing of the Cienfuegos Botanical Garden living collections with plant material collected during Utowana expeditions.

Highlights

With 13 botanical gardens and 22 institutional herbaria, Cuba has the most extensive network of professional botanists of the Caribbean Islands (Thiers 2021; Hernández 2016: 64)
Through these bibliographic and archival resources, we identified those plant species introduced in Cienfuegos Botanical Garden (CBG) that were associated with Utowana expeditions (Online Supplementary Table 1)
From the collection books of David Fairchild, we are certain that USDA facilities located in Miami (Chapman Field) and Washington DC were recipients of Utowana material; we have not found details of the precise USDA germplasm repositories that sourced the accessions that were sent to Soledad

Summary

INTRODUCTION

With 13 botanical gardens and 22 institutional herbaria, Cuba has the most extensive network of professional botanists of the Caribbean Islands (Thiers 2021; Hernández 2016: 64). By 1927, the site was officially known as “Harvard Botanical Gardens, Soledad Estate (Atkins Foundation)” as indicated in the cover page of the garden’s report that Grey (1927) wrote for the 1900– 1926 period This new name highlights how the garden was focusing more and more on the introduction of a wide range of tropical plants and on sugar cane breeding. The relevance of Barbour’s contribution to the history of CBG is stressed in a letter that Clement (1946) sent to Brother León shortly after Barbour passed away This correspondence highlighted how the great Harvard professor supported the garden financially and was instrumental for the cultivation of plants from around the world; palms, bamboos, and timber trees among many others. December 30, 1931 – April 11, 1932 December 16, 1932 – January 10, 1933 February 16 – April 7, 19331

Aim of expedition

Utowana expeditions are coded as: Utowana 1925–1927

Findings

DISCUSSION

CONCLUDING REMARKS