However, his interest to the unknown Cuban
biodiversity trapped him for the following 10 years. Despite the
refusal of the Stockholm Science Academy who financed his trip,
Ekman continued his research on the island.
Specialists from the Cuban Botanic Society consider him an
extraordinarily
talented scientist and with a huge working capacity.
He collected over 2 000 new and unknown plants for science in
Cuba, Haiti
and Dominican Republic, but in total, he gathered 35 750
Caribbean
materials, which including its double, amounts to 100 000.
Many were analyzed later by researchers and have
been the base for the registration of species which are
dedicated to the renowned scientist
because it has the specific name of ekmanii.
The excursions in the country have his name, but the emphasis of
his research was found in the eastern part of the country, area
where he drew attention to a special center for vegetable
diversity.
Ekman climbed the Turquino Peak in April of 1915
and measured its height.
He was given the attribution of the names of two
important peaks in the
Sierra Maestra Mountains: Cuba and Suecia.
The commemorative plaque found in the Havana
municipality of Centro
Havana, recalls his stay there and in the National Botanical
Gardens in an
area called “Rincón Ekman” , where several of his plants are
exhibited.
In 1929, he sent 19 212 Cuban plants to Sweden,
which totaled some 50 000
species and close to one thousand of these were new, confirming
that Ekman
was very knowledgeable of his botanical work.
However, during the summer of 1924 he left Cuba
for Haiti and never
returned, although he never returned to his country of birth,
and passed
away in Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic on
January 15th,
1931 at the age of 47.
According to letters he wrote, despite the great difficulties he
underwent, Ekman found satisfaction in his fascinating botanic
collections in the Caribbean, never before achieved.
In 1926, from Haiti, he wrote: I am satisfied with the fact that
I gave the best of me where I am now and that the approval of my
mind is enough compensation.
Without a doubt, I was born to be what I am,
modern adventurer, a wanderer in the green land of God”.
