During the eighteenth century the sweet smelling Lemon Verbena (Aloysia citrodora) was one of the few survivors of a prized botanical collection deliberately sabotaged in an infamous politically motivated stratagem.
Competition between European countries to collect botanic specimens of new exotic plants was intense. In addition to giving prestige to botanic gardens, the new plants were highly prized for their possible commercial value.
In 1777 ill-fated French botanist, Joseph Dombey was sent to South America to collect new plants for cultivation in France.
His first shipment of botanic specimens was stolen on its way to France by the British. This act of piracy became an international scandal – the “Dombey Affair”.
A second shipment comprising artworks of rare plants was erroneously confiscated by the authorities in Peru and given to Spanish botanists.
Imagine Dombey’s despair when his third shipment, which he was accompanying back to France, was impounded on arrival in Cadiz and he was thrown in gaol. Dombey was released when he agreed not to publish his research before the Spanish but his priceless collection had been allowed to rot.
The Lemon Verbena survived but it was not new to Europe. Spanish botanists already had a specimen and had named it Aloysia after the wife of King Carlos IV of Spain.
The unfortunate Dombey died after being unjustly incarcerated in a Montserrat prison during another adventure but his contribution to botany was recognised posthumously when a genus was named after him, Dombeya.
Lemon Verbena now has a special place in the Sensory Garden where everybody may enjoy its scent by gently passing their hands through its leaves.
by Ian McAlister and Karen Hagan