Thomas Lobb ( 1820 - 1894 )

Very Little is known concerning the early lives of the Lobb Brothers. Beyond the fact that Thomas is recorded as having been born in 1820 at Cornwall ,England ,little else is known of their family connections and early youth. The first mention of Thomas in horticultural journals seems to refer to 1840 ,at which time he was engaged as a collector by James Veitch at Exeter. His brother William had been employed by the same establishment three years earlier . Both were sent on collecting trips in 1840 , William selecting Brazil as his field of exploration and Thomas proceeding to India .

Thomas Lobb was fortunate , for much of the Indo-Malayan region was itherto untouched by collectors and the virgin soil yielded a host of prized plants . Lobb for the job in 1843. Of interest is the agreement drawn up in this effect:

Thomas Lobb agrees to proceed to the British Settlement of Singapore , in the employ of James Veitch & Son as botanical collector , to make collections of living plants, seeds , and dried specimens of plants , and to collect for the said James Veitch & Son and for no other person. The understanding of this agreement is that the said Thomas Lobb's principal destination is to be China ,should that country be open to admit a botanical collector , and in the absense of any definite instructions from James Veitch & Son ,Thomas Lobb is to use his own discretion and be guided by existing circumstances as to what parts of China he proceeds to , and if on arrival at Singapore he finds circumstances are not favourable for his proceeding to China , he shall be at liberty to proceed to such of the oriental islands as may appear to him most desirable ; but next to China the island of Java appearing to offer the greatest advantages to a botanical collector (if facilities offer the greatest advantage to a botanical collector (if facilities offer for exploring the same with safety ), he is directed to proceed thither ,but it is left to his own discretion.

The Chinese were apparantly not ready to receive English collectors , for Lobb adopted the alternative ,visiting Java and the adjacent islands . In Java, collected by Mr. Thomas Lobb. The number of sets is small ,and the amount of species in each varies from 100 to 200 , or nearly so. More perfect specimens have never been offered for sale .

By a later agreement Lobb went to India for three years, leaving England for Calcutta on 25 December 1848. Visiting the Khasia Hills , Assam , Moulmein , and lower and northeast Burma , he sent home most of the finest orchids found there , many of them previously known to science but all of them introduced by him into cultivation for the first time. Some of the most outstanding were Vanda cortulea , Coelogyne (pleione) lagenaria , Coelogyne maculata , Aerides fieldingii, Aerides multiflorum var. lobbi, Aerides multiflorum var .veitchii, Dendrobium infundibulum , Calanthe (Limatodes) rosea, and Paphiopedilum villosum.

Later he visited the southern parts of the Malay Peninsula , North Borneo (labuan and Sarawak) ,and other islands ,discovering and introducing Rhododendron javanicum , jasminiflorum, lobbii, and brookianum , the ancestral forms of the later superb javanico-jasminiflorum hybrids . From these regions he also introduced some of the first nepenthes cultivated in England , including Nepenthes rafflesiana , veitchii, sanguinea , and ampullaria . Of the many orchids he sent home from the same regions were Vanda tricolor and its variety suavis ,Coelogyne Speciosa ,Clanthe vestita , paphiopediulm barbatum , Bulbophyllum lobbii, Spathoglottis lobbii ,and many others.

Turning his collecting interests farther afield , Lobb subsequently went to the Philippine Island s , collecting in the neighborhood of Manila . Among the best orchids collected there was Phalaenopsis intermedia , the first natural orchid hybrid to be proven as such at a later date . At this time there was much professional rivalry among horticultural firms and collectors , and information regarding the sources of discoveries was jealously retained . Thomas Lobb also maintained secrecy concerning his locations . In connection with his collections of living plants he prepared four duplicate dried specimens for distribution, but to protect his sources he labeled one set as being from Java , one from Borneo, one from the Malay Peninsula , and one from Luzon. This , ofcourse ,caused much consternation for years thereafter ,because botanists working with the specimens were unable to make proper geographical designation and classifications.

The end of Lobb's collecting came as the resuit of an unfortunate loss of a leg due to exposure , a circumstance that introduced him to retire at Devoran , in Cornwall. There he remained for the rest of his life except for a single visit to the home of his former employer , James Veitch ,Jr. , death in 1869 . Lobb himself lived on for many years , dying at Cornwall on 30 April 1894.

References

Chronica Botanica 1943 . 7 : 357 .

Cottage Gardener . 1860 . 13 : 274 .

Davis ,Reginald S., and Steiner , Mona Lisa . 1952 . Philippine Orchids. New York : William Frederick Press.

Gardener's Chronicle. 1894. Obituary .Vol. 15,no. 386.

Irvin ,R. 1960 .The early orchid collectors . The Orch .Rev. 68,no. 803.

Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society . 1942 . Vol. 62, no. 2 .

Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society . 1948. Vol.73 ,pt. 9.

Lemmon , Kenneth. 1963 . The Covered Garden. London: Museum Press Ltd.

Merrill ,E.D. 1945.The Philippines as a source of orchids. Amer . Orch. Soc. Bull . 13 ,no. 10.

Nature . 1942. 149: 438.

Orchid Review ,The . 1894 . Obituary .Vol.2. no. 18 .

Van Steenis ,C.G.G.J. 1950.Cyclopaedia of Collectors . Flora Malesiana .Vo. 1,ser .1.

Veitch.James H. 1906.Hortus Veitchii Chelsea , London: James Veitch & Sons Ltd.