L. Hably szerk.: Studia Botanica Hungarica 19. 1986 (Budapest, 1986)

Szujkó-Lacza, Júlia; Debreczy, Zsolt: In memoriam Dr. Vera Csapody (1890-1985)

woods and meadows] was prepared in 1950. There are the trees and shrubs of the Pannonian plain and low hills, the high and the snow-capped mountains. In the case of this work there was no need for new field work, it meant "only" the construction of tables and repainting and redrawing the previously made drawings and the pictures of the aquarelle-collection. "During my life my aim was to paint every plant that I had not painted before in order to create a collection" - so she said. By this, time she seldom went out to the field with JÁVORKA - and mostly into the forests around Budapest. "The dendrological period" started really after the death of JÁVORKA. Between 1962 and 1967 she made 150 successive visits into different parks in Hungary, so that she could examine the same trees and shrubs (if possible) in the different seasons. Usually she painted plants which were named in the arboretums and botanic gardens, but she always checked the names in identifieating keys. Her everyday reference books were: "Rheder" (Hardy trees and shrubs), and a newer edition, KRÜSSMANNr "Die Nadelgehölze" and "Die Laubgehölze", and the renewed editions of these works, and the two-volumed dendrology by SCHNEIDER "Illustriertes Handbuch der Laubholz künde" and other, mainly North-American works about the flora. Collecting trips with DEBRECZY were made to prepare the book entitled "Télen is zöld kertek" (Gardens Green in Winter), which was completed in 1969-1970, as an afterthought of an evergreen exhibition. It was published in 1971 with the description of 860 evergreens on 85 tables, 327 tint-drawings

. The homogeneous style requires that every drawing should be made with dimensional demonstration. So this is how in 1974, with a total change of style, the dendrological work was started by the 84 years old VERA CSAPODY. Her original idea was to arrange the drawings according to their colour and the mood they convey, but in the end it remained to be a taxonomical arrangement in which from the relevant families only the most interesting and beautiful specimens were shown on the tables. The completed 120 coloured tables contain the copies (made after the original aquarelles) of 520 ornamental shrubberies and trees, with the painting of 3-5 species on each table. No descriptive text was attached to the tables that were submitted to the Mezőgazdasági Kiadó, under the title: "Virágzó fák, virágzó cserjék" [flowering Trees and Shrubs], only a few words of explanation. However, a detailed description was made of the locality of the nearly 600 species grown in the arboretums of Hungary. After the name of each species the abbreviated names of the parks in Hungary and in Malonya where the species could be found, were given . V. CSAPODY and I. TOTH' s work was published with the title: "Colour Atlas of Flowering Trees and Shrubs". "For the outstanding activity in the field of gardening-culture ..." The Council of the Academy of Horticulture and Wine-Growing presented her the "Ferenc Entz Commemorative Medallion" (5th of September, 1966). In 1979 the University of Horticulture celebrated the 12 5th anniversary of the foundation of its predecessor and the professional training of gardening itself. On the occasion of the anniversary, "in appreciation of her activity in the sphere of professional training in gardening and preservation industry ..." the University awarded VERA CSAPODY, retired research scientist, with the "Anniversary" memorial plaquette. VERA CSAPODY received her university doctorate degree in Szeged in 1932 for a dissertation entitled "Mediterranean elements in the Hungarian Flora". She was the main illustrator of numerous popular, and some scientific articles and more than 20 books. The textwriters of the botanical handbooks could always rely upon her accuracy (concerning the fixed terms as well as the quality of the work). There are 9864 aquarelles registered in the Botanical Department, but still some hundreds of her pictures are in the property of her family (mainly illustrations of orchids). Thus it happened that some of her illustrations (expiations) were used several times, while some of her aquarelles remained unpublished. Even these unknown aquarelles were shown in some encyclopedaedias, on some exhibitions held in Hungary and abroad, the largest of which was held in Budapest (Hungarian Botanical Exhibition). Her first foreign debute was in Milano (1928) and since that time she had exhibited to international audiences on several occasions. Edinburgh (1964), Pittsburgh (1967), Seattle (1969), Johannesburg (1974), Frankfurt am Main (1975). On these exhibitions the best works of the illustration masters were represented. She is considered to be one of the greatest illustrators of 20th century botanical art and illustration. Her co-authors appreciated her excellent talent, among others, by naming taxa after her: 1. Aconitum firmum Rchb. f. Csapodyae Jáv. (1930) 2. Dianthus spiculfolius Schur, var. Csapodyae Jáv. 3. Veronica bellidioides L. ssp. Csapodyi Pénzes (1948) 4. Centaurea x Csapodyana Kárp. (C. Sadleriana x salonitana var. taurica) (1949) 5. Crataegus monogyna Jacq. ssp. intermedia Schur, var. Csapodyae Pénzes (1954)