|
J. N. Reynolds was an American explorer in the
Nineteenth Century. He planned a scientific South Sea expedition,
but was denied to take part in it himself. This expedition, as
Edgar Allan Poe wrote (see page 169 in [1]) became known under
various names such as American Expedition, Poinsett Expedition,
Dickerson Expedition, or Wilkes Expedition, but will be remembered
as The Expedition of Mr. Reynolds. The expedition brought
back more than 160,000 natural history specimens (see page 167
in [1]). The scientist Asa Gray, who helped
to sort through the botanical specimens, described a new
genus in the English ivy
family with two species, which he named
to honor his friend J. N. Reynolds:
|
|
Reynoldsia sandwicensis
|
found in a ravine of Oahu of the Hawaiian Islands which were
then called Sandwich
Islands → sandwicensis
|
|
Reynoldsia pleiosperma
|
found in the forest of the Samoan island of Savaii
|
|
Although J. N. Reynolds put a lot of effort into his expedition,
many like Edgar Allan Poe were pointing to the injustice done to Reynolds
by giving him so little credit for defending and succesfully
advocating an expedition into the South Sea. Aaron Sachs writes
(page 167 in [1]):
From a certain perspective, all Reynolds got for his effort were a
couple of species of English ivy. But names are important. Actually,
from Reynolds's point of view, the ivies might just as well have borne
the moniker of the chieftain of Interior Savaii; the truly significant
decision made by Gray was to call the whole South Sea venture by its
Reynoldsian name—and never to refer to it, under any circumstances,
as the Wilkes Expedition.
|
|
Keywords: botany,
history,
discovery,
Pacific Islands,
Polynesia.
|
