Biography

British petroleum engineer and orchidologist. Galfrid Dunsterville was born at Newton Abbot in Devon to Major General Lionel Charles D. Dunsterville (1866-1946) and his wife, Margaret. After graduating from Birmingham University, Dunsterville's career in the oil industry began in 1925, when he was recruited by Shell Oil as a petroleum engineer. Four years later he married Ellinor 'Nora' Freeman in Egypt and together they travelled to The Netherlands, Romania, the United States, Trinidad and Colombia with his work. They finally settled in Venezuela in 1947, where ten years later Dunsterville was appointed president of Shell Oil in Venezuela. He served in this post for two years before he retired and devoted the rest of his days to orchidology.

Dunsterville first became interested in orchids in the 1950s when he made oil paintings of the plants. He was encouraged by fellow enthusiast Leslie A. Garay, who identified some of the orchids in his paintings, to take up pen and ink drawing for more botanical precision. Dunsterville subsequently produced more than a thousand such drawings from live material, executed in remarkable detail. The pair collaborated even more closely after Garay was appointed curator of the Oakes Ames Orchid Herbarium at Harvard in 1957, and together they published the six volumes Venezuelan Orchids Illustrated between 1959 and 1976.

Herbarium specimens that Dunsterville collected and sent to Garay for identification were added to the Ames Herbarium, while his personal collection of spirit-preserved flowers was donated to the American Orchid Society in 1985. Duplicates were also deposited in the Venezuelan National Herbarium.

Illustrated with photographs taken by both him and his wife, Dunsterville published more than 250 articles in the American Orchid Society Bulletin and other orchid journals in Brazil, Germany and Venezuela. His World of Orchids (1962) was published in English, Spanish and German editions and Orchids of Venezuela (1987) in English and Spanish. Following his death, a series entitled "Orchidaeae Dunstervillorum" by German Carnevali and Gustavo A. Romero was published describing new orchid taxa based on material collected and illustrated by Dunsterville.

Galfrid Dunsterville was honoured by the Venezuelan government in recognition of his efforts in the taxonomy and conservation of orchids and also received the Veitch Memorial Gold Medal from the Royal Horticultural Society, London. The genus Dunstervillea Garay was named after him.

Sources:
R. Desmond and C. Ellwood, 1994, Dictionary of British and Irish Botanists and Horticulturalists: 222
G.C.K. Dunsterville and E. Dunsterville, 1988, Orchid hunting in the lost world (and elsewhere in Venezuela)
O. Huber and J.J. Wurdack, 1984, "History of Botanical Exploration in Territorio Federal Amazonas, Venezuela", Smithsonian Contributions to Botany, 56: 33
G.A. Romero, 1989, "G. C. K. Dunsterville, 1905-1988. An appreciation", Journal of the Arnold Arboretum, 70(3): 439-441.

Biography

British petroleum engineer and orchidologist. Galfrid Dunsterville was born at Newton Abbot in Devon to Major General Lionel Charles D. Dunsterville (1866-1946) and his wife, Margaret. After graduating from Birmingham University, Dunsterville's career in the oil industry began in 1925, when he was recruited by Shell Oil as a petroleum engineer. Four years later he married Ellinor 'Nora' Freeman in Egypt and together they travelled to The Netherlands, Romania, the United States, Trinidad and Colombia with his work. They finally settled in Venezuela in 1947, where ten years later Dunsterville was appointed president of Shell Oil in Venezuela. He served in this post for two years before he retired and devoted the rest of his days to orchidology.

Dunsterville first became interested in orchids in the 1950s when he made oil paintings of the plants. He was encouraged by fellow enthusiast Leslie A. Garay, who identified some of the orchids in his paintings, to take up pen and ink drawing for more botanical precision. Dunsterville subsequently produced more than a thousand such drawings from live material, executed in remarkable detail. The pair collaborated even more closely after Garay was appointed curator of the Oakes Ames Orchid Herbarium at Harvard in 1957, and together they published the six volumes Venezuelan Orchids Illustrated between 1959 and 1976.

Herbarium specimens that Dunsterville collected and sent to Garay for identification were added to the Ames Herbarium, while his personal collection of spirit-preserved flowers was donated to the American Orchid Society in 1985. Duplicates were also deposited in the Venezuelan National Herbarium.

Illustrated with photographs taken by both him and his wife, Dunsterville published more than 250 articles in the American Orchid Society Bulletin and other orchid journals in Brazil, Germany and Venezuela. His World of Orchids (1962) was published in English, Spanish and German editions and Orchids of Venezuela (1987) in English and Spanish. Following his death, a series entitled "Orchidaeae Dunstervillorum" by German Carnevali and Gustavo A. Romero was published describing new orchid taxa based on material collected and illustrated by Dunsterville.

Galfrid Dunsterville was honoured by the Venezuelan government in recognition of his efforts in the taxonomy and conservation of orchids and also received the Veitch Memorial Gold Medal from the Royal Horticultural Society, London. The genus Dunstervillea Garay was named after him.

Sources:
R. Desmond and C. Ellwood, 1994, Dictionary of British and Irish Botanists and Horticulturalists: 222
G.C.K. Dunsterville and E. Dunsterville, 1988, Orchid hunting in the lost world (and elsewhere in Venezuela)
O. Huber and J.J. Wurdack, 1984, "History of Botanical Exploration in Territorio Federal Amazonas, Venezuela", Smithsonian Contributions to Botany, 56: 33
G.A. Romero, 1989, "G. C. K. Dunsterville, 1905-1988. An appreciation", Journal of the Arnold Arboretum, 70(3): 439-441.