George Gardner (1812 – 1849)
‘Although the country between Parnaguá and Saco do Tanque is comparatively level, yet there is a very percebtible rise; and although the general vegetation has very much the same character as that of other Catinga districts [sic.], many of the trees and shrubs were quite new to me. At this season very few were in flower; of these, the most remarkabale was a very large tree to which the name of Sicupira is given by the inhabitants, and which I afterwards found extending far into the province of Goyaz: it belongs to the natural order Leguminosae, and has only very recently been described by Mr. Bentham, under the name of Commilobium polygalaeflorum [Pterodon polygalaeflorus]. It is easily recognized at a great distance by its numerous large panicles of lilac flowers. An essential oil, which is contained in the fruit is much used by the inhabitants to alleviate the pain of tooth-ache….
One of the finest trees I ever remember to have seen standing alone, grew by the side of a small brook which flowed at a little distance from the house; it was a species of Qualea, with a clean straight stem about one hundred feet in height, on which it supported a wide spreading top of branches; as it came into flower shortly after our arrival, and as there was no other way of obtaining specimens than by cutting the tree down, Senhor Guimerães himself proposed to do so, as soon as he knew that I wished to possess a few specimens. After about two hours’ labour on the part of himself and two of my men, this fine tree, which I was sorry to see destroyed, came to the ground with a tremendous crash.’
George Gardner. 1849. Travels in the Interior of Brazil.
Perhaps the greatest historical Central Brazilian collector of all was a Scottish botanist, born in Glasgow in 1812. Like many botanists of the time, Gardner studied medicine, his interest in botany initially being only a leisure pursuit. Enthused with Humboldt’s evocative descriptions of South America, and encouraged by William Hooker, Professor of Botany at the University of Glasgow (later, to become Director of Kew in 1841), Gardner travelled to Brazil in 1836, keen to explore the undescribed areas deep in the interior. On arrival in Rio, he remained in the country’s then capital for a year before departing by sea to the northeast province of Ceará. From there he travelled across the entire country, slicing across the states of Ceará, Piauí, Goiás and Minas Gerais. Much of this journey took him through virgin cerrado territory. Gardner returned to Britain in 1841 after collecting 60,000 specimens. These were classified primarily by George Bentham. To a great extent his collections were the initial basis from which a detailed picture of the cerrado flora first emerged. In addition to collecting, Gardner was a keen social observer and his superb book Travels in the Interior of Brazil (1846) gives a wonderful account of life in Brazil at the time. Shortly after arriving back in Britain, Gardner was appointed superintendent of the Peradeniya Botanic Garden of Ceylon, although he died shortly afterwards from ‘a fit of apoplexy whilst taking off his boots’. One theory is that Gardner’s death resulted from his contraction of Chagas’ disease, an illness prevalent in Central Brazil.
