Meanwhile, there was still more to explore on the original Teagueia mountain,
Mayordomo, so in December of last year I set off to try to
get higher, this time accompanied by my friends Robert and
Daisy. The high forest was exceptionally beautiful, and indeed
there were three new species of Teagueia hidden in the moss, including one with beautifully textured
pebbly leaves reticulated with purple. One of these was not
in flower but I managed to keep it alive in my greenhouse
for a year, when it finally bloomed and confirmed my suspicion
that it was new.. Not only the Teagueia
species but most of the other orchids up there were unknown—two
more new Lepanthes, a new Maxillaria, a new Ponthieva,
a new Epidendrum, and maybe a new Trichosalpinx. During that trip the weather was extraordinarily
clear and dry for days on end, something that almost never happens here. This
made for magnificent views of our exploding volcano, Tungurahua,
but so much nice weather meant that we could not collect rainwater
to drink. There were no streams on the knife-edge ridgeline
that was the only possible access to the summit, so we tried
to squeeze dew out of the moss (this was how I discovered
the new Maxillaria),
but that proved impractical. The only solution was to go back
down without reaching the summit. I am sure there are still
some more new Teagueia species waiting for me up
there.
I occasionally give talks about orchids
to college students here in Ecuador. After one of those talks two students, Andy
Shepard from the US and Pailin Wedel from Thailand, asked if they could help me in my research.They
seemed capable and committed, so I came up with a plan. I
trained them to recognize the creeping Teagueia
species by taking them to see wild populations and showing them my cultivated
examples. I then sent
them off on a short trial camping trip near one of my known
Teagueia populations. They came back from this with new respect for
the wet and cold, but they also brought back yet another new Teagueia, the biggest and most beautiful
of all these creeping species. With that experience under
their belts, and with improved tent and clothing, I sent them
off for a week with Ali Araujo and another guide, Mario Gamboa,
to explore Cerro Negro, a mountain that neither I nor any
other scientist had ever visited.
They came back tired and
wet, saying it was the hardest thing they had ever done (Pailin
losing one of her toenails in the process), but they had succeeded
in reaching the area I had sent them to. As we started going
through their collections I soon realized that they had hit
another Teagueia jackpot. They told me I looked
like an excited kid opening his Christmas presents. One after
another of the Teagueia plants we pulled out of their
bags was new to science. When the dust had settled and we
had a chance to examine them under a microscope, it turned
out that seven were definitely new. Two others were more difficult
and the jury is still out on them, awaiting additional material.