Smithsonian Libraries: Orchids Through Darwin’s Eyes Exhibit at NMNH

February 03, 2009

Orchids Through Darwin’s Eyes Exhibit at NMNH

For this year’s annual orchid exhibit, which celebrates Charles Darwin’s 200^th Birthday, the Smithsonian Institution Libraries (SIL) has played a small, but pivotal role. In the middle of the exhibit room, you will find a beautifully displayed first edition of Darwin’s book, On the various contrivances by which British and foreign orchids are fertilized by insects and on the good effects of intercrossing published in 1862. It is bound in a plum cloth with an orchid gilt on the front cover. You’ll also find quotes from this book on several of the interpretation panels.

In this book, he describes the relationships between orchids and the insects that fertilized them. The observations Darwin made by studying orchids and their pollinators, gave support to the theory of natural selection that he describes in his more famous book “On the Origins of Species”. “Fertilization of Orchids” was praised at the time by his contemporaries in natural history and botany.

However, initially, the book was not a bestseller, selling only six thousand copies by the turn of the century. Later editions found the title shorten a bit by removing “On”,“British and foreign” and "and on the good effects of intercrossing". Darwin updated the second edition which was published in 1877. Today, the book is still in print and considered an important early work in the science of orchidology and pollination biology.

The exhibit Orchids through Darwin’s Eyes is located on the first floor of the National Museum of Natural History from January 24, 2009 to April 26, 2009. Go to: http://www.mnh.si.edu/exhibits/orchids/index.html —Robin Everly