Dora Emilia Mora de Retana

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Dora Emilia Mora de Retana
Orchid family

Dora Emilia Mora de Retana (24 August 1939 – 12 July 2001), also known as Dora Emilia Mora-Monge de Retana, was a noted

Orchidaceae
in the country for over a decade.

There are at least five species of orchids named in her honor and in 2011, a plaque bearing her name was installed at the Lankester Botanical Garden to recognize her contributions to its development.

Early life

Dora Emilia de los Angeles Mora Monge was born on 24 August 1939 in Cartago Province, Costa Rica.[1][2][Notes 1] After completing her primary schooling at Escuela Sagrado Corazón de Jesús (Sacred Heart of Jesus School), she finished her high school studies in a school of the same name.

Going on to university, she enrolled in the

Acnistus arborescens Schltdl), evaluated a type of Solanaceae.[5][7]

Career

In 1969 Mora became the Chair of Fundamentals of Biology at the University of Costa Rica (UCR) and then in 1973 assumed the Chair for General Biology. In 1978, she was promoted to Chair of General Botany,[2] and the following year was named as the first director of the Lankester Botanical Garden. Under her direction, the private orchid farm was transformed into a botanical garden and research facility.[8] She developed the first infrastructure of the garden and coordinated its landscape development, inviting scientists to conduct research activities.[6] She is widely credited with bringing the facility to international acclaim.[9][10][3]

In 1984, Mora collaborated with

Paul Standley had published Flora of Costa Rica.[12] The meticulous work became a consultative text for all researchers wanting to study the family Orchidaceae in Costa Rica for the next decade.[13]

In 1989, her work with other scientists led to the inclusion of 300 illustrations of Costa Rican orchids, of which most samples were found in the Lankester Garden, in the series Icones Plantarum Tropicarum.

Maxillarieae tribe of orchids native to Costa Rica,[14] which would be her most important legacy to orchid taxonomy.[8]

Death and legacy

A year before her death de Retana was diagnosed with

amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, [14] which prompted her retirement.[12] Numerous new orchid species have been named in her honor, including: epidendrum mora-retanae [sv] named by Eric Hágsater, kefersteinia retanae [sv] identified by Günter Gerlach [es], sobralia doremiliae [sv] recorded by Robert Louis Dressler, stelis morae [sv] described by Carlyle A. Luer, and telipogon retanarum [sv] distinguished by Calaway H. Dodson and Rodrigo Escobar.[8] In 2011, the University of Costa Rica dedicated a plaque to her memory in the Lankester Garden.[6]

Selected works

Mora published over 25 scientific articles concerning mainly orchids. Her most important publications include:[6]

  • Mora de Retana, Dora E.; García, Joaquín B. (1992). Lista actualizada de las orquídeas de Costa Rica (in Spanish). San José, Costa Rica: Museo Nacional de Costa Rica.
    OCLC 43409456
    .
  • Atwood, John T.; Mora de Retana, Dora Emilia (1999). Burger, William (ed.). Flora costaricensis. Family #39 Orchidaceae, tribe Maxillariaceae, subtribes Maxillariinae and Oncidiinae. Botany: New Series. Vol. 40. Chicago, Illinois:
    OCLC 266719624
    .

Notes

  1. ^ Her birth year is often cited as 1940,[2][3] though civil records in Costa Rica give the year as 1939.[1]

References

Citations

  1. ^ a b Registros civiles 1939, p. 847.
  2. ^ a b c d Morales-Sánchez 2001.
  3. ^ a b c British Natural History Museum 2001.
  4. ^ Ossenbach Sauter 2003, p. 72.
  5. ^ a b University of Costa Rica 2005.
  6. ^ a b c d La Gaceta Universitaria 2011, p. 6.
  7. ^ Mora de Retana 1969.
  8. ^ a b c d Ossenbach 2006, p. 270.
  9. ^ Meisel, Kaufmann & Pupulin 2014, p. 126.
  10. ^ Ossenbach 2014, p. 372.
  11. ^ a b Ossenbach 2014, p. 371.
  12. ^ a b Ossenbach 2006, p. 272.
  13. ^ Valverde Arias & Quesada Chanto 2003, p. 173.
  14. ^ a b Grayum & Hammel 2001.

Bibliography

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