| Exhibit pays tribute to
father of taxonomy
Wahyuni Kamah, Contributor, Jakarta
A rare photo exhibition called Herbarium Amoris: A
Tribute to Carl Linnaeus is being held by the Swedish
Embassy in cooperation with Swedish Institute and the National
Museum Jakarta.
The 36 images by Swedish photographer Edvard Koinberg in
this so-called photographic herbarium, displayed in the
museum's right wing, are too few in number to expose to the
public the potential beauty of botany as a science -- which is
what Swedish natural scientist Carl Linnaeus considered.
Linnaeus (1707-1778) classified plants according their
sexual organs, of which he counted the stamens and pistils.
Although the classification is easy to learn and use, it was
controversial in its day.
What is more controversial perhaps his astonishing parallel
between plant sexuality and human: "The flowers' leaves serve
as a bridal bed where the stamen and pedicularis engage in
union. The strands are the sperm tubes, the pistil stylet the
mother passage or vagina, the plant ovary the human female
ovary, the seed capsules the mature human ovary and the seed
the egg."
Botany is a highly interesting and intriguing study of
plants as viewed through in the outspoken and poetic writings
of Linnaeus on plants, and this is what inspired Koinberg, a
1964-born freelance photographer, to begin collecting
photographs of plants a few years ago.
In his photographs, Koinberg tries to interpret Linnaeus'
idea about the sexual organs of plants, as cited in the
botanist's Sponsaliorum Plantarum: The Nuptials of
Flowers (1746): "Yet in the plant kingdom, these parts are
not hidden but rather displayed for all to see. Of all the
constituent parts of the plant, these are the loveliest and
most pleasing, to which our inclination, fancy and gaze are
heartily attracted."
The exhibit includes photos of the sexual organs of both
flowering and non-flowering plants, such as the fern
(Dryopteris flix-mas), lily (Lilium martagon)
and sunflower (Helianthus intermedias).
The glossy, close-up color photos expose their inner
beauty, the amazing creations of nature and the mystery of
flowers in an artistic way.
The different kinds of flowers, with their various forms
and colors of stamens and pistils, are captured clearly as if
to portray Linnaeus' descriptions in Praeludia Sponsaliorum
Plantarum.
Linnaeus is a very familiar name among biology students,
and his great contribution to biology is the method of
binomial nomenclature he developed for both plants and animals
-- the basis of modern taxonomy. He designated the first Latin
name to indicate the genus and the second to identify the
species.
The oldest plant names that are still used today are those
published in his Species Plantarum of 1753, while the
oldest animal names appear in the 10th edition of his
Systema Naturae (1758).
Linnaeus' attraction and subsequent attachment to plants
had started as early as when he was 5 years old, when he had
his own garden to tend. And instead of entering the priesthood
as suggested by his father, a parish priest and a devoted
amateur botanist and gardener, Linnaeus went on to study
plants.
In 1762, as a result of his great academic reputation and
achievements, Linnaeus was bestowed knighthood and a noble
title from King Adolph Fredrik of Sweden and took the name von
Linn‚; therefore, he is also known as Carl von Linn‚. Later,
the King and Queen of Sweden, as well as Swedish East India
Company (SOIC), became the benefactors of his biology
projects.
While Linnaeus was a professor in Uppsala, students came
from all over Europe to be his pupils. He even sheltered and
fed some of the poorest students, the same way he was treated
by several professors during academic residences in Paris and
Holland.
Among Linnaeus' students was a small group that
demonstrated great enthusiasm to learn in nature.
These pupils, whom he called "apostles", traveled to
foreign countries as doctors or priests by the SOIC's ship,
the G”theborg, to study plants and animals in Linnaeus'
spirit. They collected assorted flora and fauna from around
the globe, described them and sent specimens to Sweden, and
also wrote about the culture and natural world they
experienced.
Supported by this effort, Linnaeus was able to name around
7,700 plants and 4,400 animals during his lifetime. Linnaeus
himself never traveled to exotic lands, only to European
countries such as Denmark, Germany, Holland, England and
France.
Many of his "apostles" perished in the course of their
contributions to science, including Carl Fredrik Adler
(1720-1761), who died in Java.
The reviewer is a biology graduate of the University of
Indonesia.
Herbarium Amoris: A Tribute to Carl Linnaeus runs from
June 3-July 2, at the National Museum, Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat
12, Central Jakarta. Tel: (021) 3868172. Open Tues-Sun 10
a.m.-5 p.m.; Fri 10-11:30 a.m. and 1-5 p.m. Closed Mondays.
www.herbariumamoris.se
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