Biography:Antonio José Cavanilles

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Short description: Spanish botanist (1745-1804)
Antonio José Cavanilles
Cavanilles R01.jpg
Statue of Cavanilles at the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid
Born(1745-01-16)16 January 1745
Valencia, Spain
Died5 May 1804(1804-05-05) (aged 59)
Madrid, Spain
Known forTaxonomy of Iberian, South American and Oceanian flora
Scientific career
FieldsBotany
Academic advisorsThouin, Jussieu
Author abbrev. (botany)Cav.
Sterculia balanghas from the 1790 edition of Monadelphiæ classis dissertationes decem by Antonio José Cavanilles.

Antonio José Cavanilles (16 January 1745 – 5 May 1804) was a leading Spain taxonomic botanist of the 18th century. He named many plants, particularly from Oceania. He named at least 100 genera, about 54 of which were still used in 2004, including Dahlia, Calycera, Cobaea, Galphimia, and Oleandra.[1] The standard author abbreviation Cav. is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.[2]

Biography

Cavanilles was born in Valencia. He lived in Paris from 1777 to 1781, where he followed careers as a clergyman and a botanist, thanks to André Thouin and Antoine Laurent de Jussieu. He was one of the first Spanish scientists to use the classification method invented by Carl Linnaeus.

From Paris he moved to Madrid, where he was director of the Royal Botanical Garden and Professor of botany from 1801 to 1804.

In 1804, Cavanilles was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia.[3]

He died in Madrid in 1804.

Selected publications

  • Icones et descriptiones plantarum, quae aut sponte in Hispania crescunt, aut in hortis hospitantur..., Madrid, 1791-1801 [1]

See also

  • List of plants of Caatinga vegetation of Brazil
  • List of plants of Cerrado vegetation of Brazil
  • List of Roman Catholic scientist-clerics

References

Further reading

External links