Flowers of the Amazon Forests
豆瓣
The Botanical Art of Margaret Mee
Margaret Mee
简介
Margaret Mee must rank as one of the most remarkable women of the twentieth century. She was an intrepid explorer of the Brazilian rainforest and an outstanding botanical artist, acclaimed by botanists and art critics worldwide. At the age of 47, Mee started exploring the Amazon in the footsteps of great British explorers such as Richard Spruce and Henry Walter Bates travelling throughout the wildest parts of Amazonia for the next thirty years. Mee learned to live with the forest and its plants, animals and people and learnt much from the Indians about the trees and plants she so meticulously painted. Mee initially sketched the plants in the forest and then worked on the large illustrations of the entire plant in her studio in Rio de Janeiro. Nine of these plants recorded by Mee, previously unknown to science, are now named after her. "Flowers of the Amazon Forests: The Botanical Art of Margaret Mee" illustrates more than sixty of Mee's major works with additional sketches painted whilst in the forest. The text is taken directly from the diaries she kept whilst travelling giving a wonderful insight into the Amazon - something very few people have actually seen. Mee was an ardent conservationist and was well known for her outspoken views on the destructive exploitation of the Amazon forests. This book is a small tribute to her great work.
contents
PREFACE 7
MAP OF THE AMAZON 8
INTRODUCTION 10
Chapter 1. GUSTAVIAS ON THE RIO GURUPI 1956 12
Chapter 2. CATASETUMS IN THE MATO GROSSO 1962 20
Chapter 3. HELICONIAS AROUND UAUPÉS 1964/5 32
Chapter 4. CATTLEYAS ON ROUTE TO PICO DA NEBLINA 1967 50
Chapter 5. HETEROSTEMONS BY THE RIO MARAUIÁ 1967 60
Chapter 6. ONCIDIUMS GRACE THE RIO DEMINI 1970 70
Chapter 7. NEOREGELIA ALONG THE RIO MAUÉS 1971 80
Chapter 8. ORCHIDS ON THE RIO MAMORI AND RIO MARAU 1972 88
Chapter 9. CATASETUMS AROUND MANAUS 1974/75 106
Chapter 10. IN SEARCH OF THE LOST BLUE QUALEA AND THE EXTINCT RIO CAUHY 1977 122
Chapter 11. LORANTHACEAE IN THE ARQUIPÉLAGO DAS ANAVILHANAS 1982 136
Chapter 12. LOST FORESTS AROUND RIO TROMBETAS 1984 146
Chapter 13. THE MOONFLOWER ON THE RIO NEGRO 1988 158
EPILOGUE 165
GLOSSARY 166
INDEX OF PLANT ILLUSTRATIONS 167
