The recent discussion of color blind judges reminded me of the following
article by Richard Schultes: "Aganisia cyanea-Jewel of the Jungle" reported in
American Orchid Society Bulletin, July 1961,No. 7,pp561. In this article,
Schultes recounts an orchid collecting trip in the 'lost world' of Yapoboda for
the blue orchid Aganisia cyanea.
"It is not an easy accomplishment to see, whilst travelling
fast along the river in blinding sunlight, a pale blue flower lurking
in the dark undergrowth of the banks. Most of my collections ofAganisia cyanea
had been found either when I had stopped to collect some other riverside plant
or when i was paddling slowly so that the eye and mind had time to scan every
branch. Would we be rewarded by finding Aganisia cyanea? This was, of course,
the unspoken question in the mind of each one of us as we started off on that
23rd day of June.
Shortly, after we had entered the Kuduyari, Mr Blohm signalled
to us to stop. "Is that our blue orchid?" he asked, pointing to an
overhanging tree. None of us could see any color, but, upon paddling
nearer, we met a glorious specimen with some six or eight flowersfestooning
down a moss-covered trunk. While marvelling at Mr Blohm's
luck in finding the plant so expeditiously, we all aimed our cameras
and made photographic records of the rarity before taking it as a
specimen. Then, highly pleased, we set off again. It was not ten
minutes before Mr.Blohm once more pointed to the bank. True enought
-though none of us could see it until we were quite near-he had
discovered a second flowering specimen. It was a splendidly successful
day. Ten collections ofAganisia cyanea were made, with Mr. Blohm sighting the
blue flower almost invariably before any of the others.
In discussing amongst ourselves Mr Blohm's uncanny ability to see flowers of
Aganisia cyanea,
we decided that it was due probably to his 'color-blindness." He had
difficulty in distinguishing relatively showy flowers, such as the long
inflorescence of Norantea, against a green background of foliage. Perhaps we
were not able to see the blue Aganisia
flowers against green vegetation because, to the normal eye, this blue
and green of the foliage have about the same intensity. We came to the
conclusion that, since the green of the riverside vegetation appeared
dull grey to MrBlohm , his quickness in seeing the tiny spots of blue
from a fast moving canoe might be attributed possibly to the fact that
to his "color-blind" eye, blue and green appeared to be of different
intensities."
now in bloom-Aganisia cyanea, ofcourse.
regards
gma
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