Brother Marie-Victorin in the Canary Islands in 1929
Article
Francisco-Ortega, J, Brouillet, L, Hall, G et al. (2017). Brother Marie-Victorin in the Canary Islands in 1929
. 72(1), 53-61. 10.1080/00837792.2017.1309744
Francisco-Ortega, J, Brouillet, L, Hall, G et al. (2017). Brother Marie-Victorin in the Canary Islands in 1929
. 72(1), 53-61. 10.1080/00837792.2017.1309744
Brother Marie-Victorin (1885–1944) was a member of the Roman Catholic congregation of the La Salle Brothers and one of the most important figures in the botanical history of Canada. In 1929, he undertook a 7-month trip across Europe, Africa and the Middle East. During this journey he visited the islands of Gran Canaria (26–27 June) and Tenerife (28 June to 3 July), where he took 118 photographs. The travelogue for this trip (447 pages) is an unpublished document, 26 pages of which are devoted to the Canaries. We provide English and Spanish translations for the portion of this travelogue devoted to the Canary Islands and a catalogue of the photos taken there. Botanical highlights of this visit include accounts for: (1) the Botanic Garden of La Orotava and its Head Gardener, Juan Bolinaga; (2) landmark specimens of Dracaena draco in Tenerife; (3) hybrids between the endemic Phoenix canariensis and the introduced Phoenix dactylifera; (4) an historical individual of Pinus canariensis found in Buen Paso (Icod municipality); and (5) endemic and invasive plants. This travelogue shows that Marie-Victorin had an interest in social, ethnobotanical and historical aspects of the Canaries.
