Orchid vs. man

 February 17 1674 at Ambon an earthquake happens followed by a tsunami: this is how botanist Georg Eberhard Rumphius lost his wife and daughter.

This is also the start of Herbarium Amboinense, the book where we can read for the first time about orchids.

So anyway: this german blinded by glaucoma since 1640, somehow manage to write a manuscript about flowers; on January 11 1687 the manuscript is lost after a fire.

"Improvise, overcome, adapt" - probably said Rumphius.

He writes it again and sends it for publication in Amsterdam. This time the ship carrying the manuscript is attacked by the French and sunk. 

Fortunately, Governor Johannes Camphyus makes a copy of it (some say he was a nature lover ...). Rumphius takes the copy, makes some additions, and tries to publish it again.

Fuck it!

This time the publishers are horrified by the names of the plants discovered, such as the Naked Tree, the Adulterous Plant, or the Blue Clitoris Flower. 

The problem was not only the name but also the fact that Rumphius described the uses and flavors of each of them: which was good for diarrhea, which was an aphrodisiac (not very orthodox at the time).

Rumphius died in 1702, and it took almost 50 years until the last volume of Herbarium Amboinense was published.

Basically, we just lost 50 years not knowing about orchids because of some prude guys!

I have no idea why for this photo I chose some lyrics from Franceso Gucini: 

"But you haven't changed a lot, and if you know now what an orgasm is

You will be able to understand what it felt when I was twenty, you will be able to understand everything..."