How to Pronounce Charles Wesley Powell
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May 05, 1854 Richmond, Virginia, United States Died on 18 Aug 1927 (aged 73)
botanist (1854-1927)
TaurusCharles Wesley Powell - Place of Birth, Date of Birth, Age, Wiki, Facts, Net Worth, Birthday, Biography and Family
Charles Wesley Powell, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Family, Facts, Age, Net Worth, Biography and More in FamedBorn.com
About Charles Wesley Powell
- Charles Wesley Powell (May 5, 1854 – August 18, 1927) was an American hobbyist turned horticulturist specializing in the study of orchids (Orchidaceae).
- He is credited with providing scientists the first large-scale collection of orchid specimens found in Panama.
- In the early 1900s, he became internationally famous for his new discoveries and valuable contributions to orchidology by gathering, rediscovering, cultivating, preserving, documenting, and submitting-for-study a diverse assortment of hundreds of distinct specimens: yielding many new to science species.Powell's specimen records (also known as herbarium specimens) and his Panama garden were studied by researchers at the Royal Botanical Gardens, the Berlin Botanical Garden, the Orchid Herbarium of Oakes Ames at Harvard University, the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institution, and the Missouri Botanical Garden (MBG).
- Dozens of orchid species were named in his honor.
- In 1922, German botanist Rudolf Schlechter published his 95-page Orchidaceae Powellianae Panamenses (Panama orchid collections by C.
- Powell): principally on the basis of Powell's efforts.
- Powell's work remains relevant not only because his records document valuable scientific data, but they continue to provide material for study – many of his digitized herbarium specimens are freely available online via virtual herbaria. In 1926, Powell donated his world-class orchid garden (orchidarium) to the renowned MBG of St.
- Louis, Missouri.
- Under Powell's direction, a Tropical Station was created by the MBG in Balboa, Panama; 7,000 plants from Powell's orchid garden populated the satellite operation.
- For the MBG, a snowball effect occurred in the tropics; orchid collecting began there in earnest and over the next 13 years, orchids from its Tropical Station would appreciably augment the collection of the parent garden in St.
- Louis.
- "Today, the Missouri Botanical Garden’s orchid collection represents one of the largest and finest in the United States."
