Argentinian Adventures: A Planthunter in Argentina

By John Lonsdale

Argentina is a fascinating and endlessly varied country. This book accounts of four visits, the first of which was a three-month tour of the north of the country, collecting plants for the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. This first visit encouraged me to undertake two further visits while still employed by Kew Gardens. Because of these botanical connections, there is a wealth of references to the fabulous flora of the region. Flora can’t exist in isolation to fauna, and animal life is discussed whenever it is chanced upon. Several exciting episodes imposed themselves into what became increasingly eventful journeys.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris UK
• Release date: Feb 4, 2022
• ISBN: 9781664117211

John Lonsdale

John Lonsdale is a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.

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Copyright © 2022 by John Lonsdale.

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Rev. date: 02/03/2022

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Contents

The First Trip

The Second Trip

The Third Trip

The Fourth Trip

The First Trip

I found myself in David’s office on the first floor of the Jodrell Laboratory. David is a well-known plant anatomist and tree specialist and one of my previous lecturers. I’d been called there to discuss taking part in an expedition to South America. David had plans to tour Northern Argentina with colleagues from Kew and the Institutio Darwinion in Buenos Aires. This first meeting was in July 1978, a little too soon for me. I felt I was still getting established in my new job at Wakehurst Place.

It was this meeting that resulted in me greeting the others of the team late one evening in September at Gatwick Airport. I had never flown and was a little nervous. But what better way to begin? The others were David; Steve, a grass specialist; and Melanie, herbarium assistant and linguist. We were high over the Sussex Weald on our way to a stop at Madrid, where we picked up passengers and refuelled.

Madrid was a disappointment, as it was totally dark when we got there. After about an hour, we were on the way again, flying through the night; next stop, Rio! The journey was enlightened by the usual coffee and peanuts and an irritating film featuring dancing called Grease. As dawn began to light the surroundings, I managed to see the Cape Verde Islands slip past way below us.

Then, at last, a coast––we must be near! And so we were. Very soon, the unmistakable figure of Christ appeared briefly as we flew around a surprisingly small sugarloaf. Then we went over more green jungle, before landing at Rio de Janeiro. As soon as we had landed, the doors of the plane were thrown open, and all the smells of the tropics filled the plane. Away in the distance, past clumps of palm trees, the black shapes of vultures could be seen circling in the sky. Later, I learned that they were feasting on the city rubbish dumps. We were in the tropics!

A few passengers disembarked, and we refuelled. We were off again. More green jungle. Nothing ever prepared me for the vast extent of green jungle in South America. We seemed to fly for hours without seeing anything apart from trees, rivers, and occasional wisps of smoke as we followed a very wide river estuary. Then suddenly habitation appeared! We were there! Buenos Aires.

The airport at Buenos Aires was small and very close to the city, so we were soon passing great office buildings and grand shops. We were eventually discharged at a very modest hotel near the main railway station of Retiro. David liked to book into these. As he rightly said, so much time could be wasted camping out in the wild that it was better to book into a hotel where one existed.

The next few days were spent gathering supplies and meeting our collaborators. One of the first things we did was undertake a walking tour of Buenos Aires. We visited the famous cemetery of La Recoleta and explored famous tourist spots like the plaza de Mayo and the Red Palace. We also viewed the Torres de Ingleses and the British Tower, which is a copy of Big Ben. Everywhere it was apparent that we were in the tropics. Flamboyant mauve-flowered street trees (Jacaranda mimosifolia) and giant kapok trees (Ceba sp.) with hanging seedpods discharging their cotton wool-like contents were everywhere, and the flowering bougainvillea could not be missed. One of the most surprising features was the Transporter Bridge in the Boca. I had seen one before, in Middlesbrough, and was very surprised to see another.

We then had lunch. David would order, as he had a ‘little Spanish’. He spent some time telling us about the various cuts of steak and ordered what he thought was bife de chorizo for us. After a time, the waiter arrived with a plate of sausages. We looked at him, looked at the plate, and looked back at him. No response. In the