Etimologia botanica
di Alexandre de Théis
1810

Biografie botaniche

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Palisot de Beauvois

Ambroise Marie François Joseph Palisot, baron de Beauvois est un naturaliste français, né le 27 juillet 1752 à Arras et mort le 21 janvier 1820 à Paris. Il fait des études de droit et devient avocat au parlement de Paris en 1772 puis receveur–général des domaines et bois. Il décide alors de se consacrer à l’histoire naturelle et principalement à la botanique. Il suit les cours de Bernard de Jussieu (1699–1777) et est nommé correspondant de l'Académie des sciences en 1781. En 1786 il part en voyage, d'abord en Afrique où il visite des régions encore presque inconnues au Bénin et où il constitue une grande collection de plantes et d'insectes qu’il fait parvenir à Paris. Il arrive à Saint–Domingue (aujourd’hui Haïti) en 1788, sa santé est très compromise. En 1790, il devient membre du conseil supérieur de la colonie et s'oppose activement à la fin de l'esclavage. Il dénonce notamment les philanthropes britanniques qu'il accuse, non de se soucier de la cause des noirs, mais de vouloir la ruine des colonies dépendantes de l'esclavage. La révolte grondant, il est chargé d’obtenir des secours des États–Unis voisins et se rend en 1791, à Philadelphie, mais sa mission échoue. Il retourne alors dans l’île et échappe de peu à la mort. Enfin, ruiné par les révoltes qui secouent l'île, il doit s'enfuir à Philadelphie en 1793 dans la plus grande pauvreté et ayant perdu toutes ses collections. De plus, préparant son retour en France, il apprend que la Révolution française le déclare proscrit et que ses biens sont séquestrés. Pour survivre, il travaille un temps dans un orchestre d’un cirque mais consacre tout son temps disponible à l’histoire naturelle. Grâce à l’aide de l’ambassadeur de France, Pierre Auguste Adet (1763–1832), il réussit à faire un voyage dans l'intérieur de l'Amérique du Nord et passe plusieurs mois chez les Amérindiens Creeks et Cherokees. Il devient membre de l'Académie des sciences naturelles de Philadelphie où il présente ses observations. C’est alors qu’il prépare une autre expédition, en 1798, qu’il apprend qu’il a été rayé de la liste des proscrits et qu’il peut rentrer en France où il finit par obtenir la libération de ses biens. En 1806, il remplace Michel Adanson (1727–1806) à l'Académie des sciences et devient membre du conseil de l'université en 1815. Il s'est particulièrement intéressé aux cryptogames et aux graminées chez les végétaux et aux insectes pour les animaux. Il étudie particulièrement les organes de reproduction des mousses dont il précise le fonctionnement. Bibliographie partielle: Flore d'Oware et de Benin (1804–1821, deux volumes, 120 planches) – Insectes recueillis en Afrique et en Amérique (1805–1821, 90 planches) – Prodrome des cinquième et sixième familles de l'Æthéogamie, les mousses, les lycopodes (1805) – Essai d'une nouvelle agrostographie (1812) – Muscologie ou traité sur les mousses (1822).

Panzer

Georg Wolfgang Franz Panzer (1755 – June 28, 1829) was a German botanist and entomologist. He was born at Etzelwang in the Palatinate and died at Hersbruck, near Nuremberg. As physician, he practised at Hersbruck. A celebrated botanist, he had a very species–rich herbarium. He also assembled a very important insect collection which was the basis of a vast work Faunae insectorum germanicae initia (Elements of the insect fauna of Germany), published at Nuremberg between 1796 and 1813. Illustrated by Jacob Sturm (1771–1848), with more than 2,600 hand–colored plates of individual, lifesize insects, this work was issued in 109 parts over the 17–year period of its serial publication, a common pattern for illustrated natural history works in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Parkinson

John Parkinson, né en 1567 et mort en 1650, est un botaniste britannique. Apothicaire de profession, il culvite un jardin botanique à Londres où il cultive près de 500 espèces. Il est l'apothicaire de Jacques Ier et reçoit le titre d'herboriste de Charles Ier en 1629 après la publication de Paradisi in Sole, Paradisus Terrestris. Il s'agit plus d'un livre de jardinage que de botanique au sens strict. Il donne des conseils pour la culture des fleurs, des plantes culinaires et des orchidées. Il décrit un millier de plantes dont 780 font l'objet d'illustration (provenant pour la plupart des œuvres de Charles de l'Écluse (1525–1609), de Mathias de l'Obel (1538–1616) et de bien d'autres). En 1640, il fait paraître Theatrum botanicum, complément du précédent et traitant surtout des simples. Il y décrit 3.800 espèces.

Paulet

Jean–Jacques Paulet (26 April 1740 – 4 August 1826) was a French mycologist. Paulet was born in Anduze, France and studied medicine in Montpellier where he received his PhD in March 1764. He published in Paris in 1765 a book titled Histoire de la petite vérole, avec les moyens d’en préserver les enfants... (History of smallpox, with the means to protect children ...), which was followed by a French translation of the book on smallpox by Abu Bakr Mohammad Ibn Zakariya al–Razi (ninth or tenth century). He completed this series of works by three more books, published in Paris between 1768 and 1776, in which he outlined wide–scale measures of smallpox protection. Paulet was interested in ergotism and published several studies in Mémoires de l’Académie de médecine alongside such scientist as Henri Alexandre Tessier (1741–1837) and Charles Jacques Saillant (1747–1814). He was also known for his opposition to the animal magnetism. In 1805 he published a treatise on the bite of asp viper and in 1815 a review of the history of medicine by Sprengel. His expertise in mycology was summarized in Traité complet sur les champignons (1775) which was considered a seminal work on fungi. It will be followed in 1791 by Tabulæ plantarum fungosarum and two other books on botany: Examen de l’ouvrage de M. Stackhouse sur les genres de plantes de Théophraste (1816) and La Botanique ou Flore et Faune de Virgile (1824). Paulet was elected to the French Academy of Sciences in the section of medicine and surgery on 22 October 1821.

Paulli

Simon Paulli (6 April 1603 – 25 April 1680), was a Danish physician and naturalist. He was a professor of anatomy, surgery and botany at the University of Copenhagen. The genus Paullinia is named after him. Paulli was the first court physician to Frederick III of Denmark, and made valuable contributions to anatomy and botany. He authored and published several treatises in medicine and botany, notably, Quadripartitum Botanicum. He was also a driving force between the establishment of the Domus Anatomica, the first anatomical theatre in Copenhagen. Paulli was born at Rostock on 6 April 1603. His grandfather, Simon Paulli, Sr., was a German theologian and first city superintendent of Rostock. His father, Henry Paulli, was a physician to the queen Dowager of Denmark. He had three sons: Jacob Henrik (1637–1702), an anatomist and diplomat in Danish services; Daniel (1640–1684), a bookseller and publisher in Copenhagen, also Simon printer and publisher in Strasbourg; and Olliger (Holger) Paulli (1644–1714), a successful merchant, secretary to the Danish East India Company, journalist and publisher. Paulli was schooled in several places, including Rostock, Leiden, Paris and Copenhagen. He matriculated from the University of Copenhagen between 1626 and 1629. He received his M.D. from Wittenberg. He worked as a physician in Rostock and Lübeck as a medical practitioner and later became professor of anatomy at Finck College. With the aid of Frederick III, he established "Anatomical theatre" at Copenhangen. He died on 25 April 1680 at Copenhagen. The Paullinia, genus of flowering shrubs, small trees and lianas in the soapberry family in botany is named in honour of him.

Pavón

José Antonio Pavón Jiménez or José Antonio Pavón (April 22, 1754, Casatejada, Cáceres, Spain – 1840) was a Spanish botanist known for researching the flora of Peru and Chile (such as Gongora) during an expedition under Carlos III from 1777 to 1788. During the reign of Carlos III, three major botanical expeditions were sent to the New World; Pavón and Hipólito Ruiz López were the botanists for the first of these expeditions, to Peru and Chile. The standard author abbreviation Pav. is used to indicate this individual as the author when citing a botanical name.

Peiresc

Nicolas–Claude Fabri de Peiresc (Belgentier, 1 dicembre 1580 – Aix–en–Provence, 24 giugno 1637) è stato un astronomo, botanico e numismatico francese. Fu uno studioso e un saggio in altre discipline che mantenne un'ampia corrispondenza con altri scienziati e seppe organizzare con successo alcune tra le prime spedizioni di ricerca scientifica. Molto vasto il campo delle sue ricerche, tra queste si impegnò per molti anni nel determinare la differenza in longitudine di varie località in Europa, attorno al Mediterraneo, e nell'Africa del Nord. Nacque a Belgentier, nel dipartimento di Varo, in Francia, e crebbe nella ricca e nobile famiglia di un alto magistrato della Provenza. Fu educato ad Aix–en–Provence, Avignone e all'istituto superiore dei Gesuiti a Tournon. A Tolone, per la prima volta cominciò a interessarsi all'astronomia. Intraprese un viaggio ancora più lungo in Italia, in Svizzera e in Francia nel 1599 e infine finì i suoi studi legali nel 1604 a Montpellier. Dopo avere ricevuto il suo diploma di laurea, ritornò ad Aix ed ereditò la posizione di suo zio di al Parlamento della Provenza con il titolo di conseiller, immediatamente sotto il Presidente del Parlamento, Guillaume du Vair. Peiresc e du Vair viaggiarono assieme a Parigi nel 1605–1606 e nel 1607–1615. Inoltre Peiresc esercitò le sue competenze legali ad Aix. Nel 1610, il suo protettore, du Vair, acquistò un telescopio, che Peiresc e Joseph Gaultier utilizzarono per l'osservazione dei cieli, includendo le lune galileiane. Nicolas–Claude Peiresc scoprì la Nebulosa di Orione nel 1610; Joseph Gaultier divenne la seconda persona ad osservarla al telescopio. Questa scoperta cadde nel dimenticatoio fino al 1916, quando Guillaume Bigourdan la rivelò. Nel periodo 1615–1622, Peiresc accompagnò il presidente Guillaume du Vairin in una viaggio a Parigi. In seguito, fece ritorno in Provenza per servire come senatore della corte sovrana. Divenne un patrono delle scienze e delle arti, offrì l'Avorio Barberini all'inviato del cardinale Francesco Barberini (1625), studiò i fossili e ospitò l'astronomo Gassendi dal 1634 fino al 1637. Nicolas–Claude Peiresc morì il 24 giugno del 1637 ad Aix–en–Provence. Venne onorato nel 1935, quando la società astronomica internazionale gli dedicò uno dei crateri della Luna, battezzandolo "Peirescius", derivazione latina del suo cognome (46.5S, 67.6E, diametro di 61 km).

Pennant

Thomas Pennant (14 giugno 1726 – 16 dicembre 1798) è stato un naturalista e antiquario gallese. I Pennant erano una famiglia della piccola nobiltà gallese originaria della zona di Whitford (Flintshire), che aveva edificato una piccola tenuta a Bychton a partire dal XVII secolo. Nel 1724 il padre di Thomas, David Pennant, aveva inoltre ereditato da un cugino la vicina tenuta di Downing, aumentando considerevolmente il patrimonio di famiglia. Downing Hall, nella cui «stanza gialla» sarebbe nato Thomas, divenne la residenza principale dei Pennant. Pennant ricevette la prima educazione alla scuola elementare di Wrexham, prima di trasferirsi alla scuola di Thomas Croft di Fulham nel 1740. Nel 1744 fece ingresso nel Queen's College di Oxford, trasferendosi successivamente all'Oriel College. Così come molti studenti facoltosi dell'epoca, lasciò Oxford senza essersi laureato, sebbene nel 1771 il suo lavoro di zoologo sarebbe stato premiato con una laurea onoraria. A dodici anni, così come Pennant avrebbe più tardi ricordato, si appassionò alla storia naturale dopo aver ricevuto in dono l'opera Ornithology di Francis Willughby. Una gita in Cornovaglia nel 1746–1747, durante la quale incontrò l'antiquario e naturalista William Borlase, accrebbe il suo interesse per minerali e fossili, i quali furono oggetto dei suoi principali studi scientifici nel corso degli anni '50. Nel 1750, la sua testimonianza di un terremoto avvenuto a Downing venne pubblicata nelle Philosophical Transactions della Royal Society, dove nel 1756 sarebbe comparso anche uno studio su alcuni fossili coralloidi che aveva raccolto a Coalbrookdale (Shropshire). Dal punto di vista pratico, Pennant sfruttò le sue conoscenze geologiche per aprire una miniera di piombo, grazie alle quale avrebbe rimpinguato le finanze della tenuta di Downing, che ereditò nel 1763. Nel 1757, alla presenza di Carlo Linneo, venne nominato membro della Società Reale Svedese delle Scienze. Nel 1766 pubblicò la prima parte della sua British Zoology, opera più degna di nota come compilazione laboriosa che come un originale contributo alla scienza. Durante la sua stesura visitò il continente, dove incontrò Buffon, Voltaire, Haller e Pallas. Nel 1767 venne eletto membro della Royal Society. Nel 1771 venne pubblicata la sua Synopsis of Quadrupeds, in seguito riveduta e ampliata col titolo History of Quadrupeds. Alla fine dello stesso anno pubblicò A Tour in Scotland in 1769, che lo rese molto popolare, seguito nel 1774 dal diario di un altro viaggio in Scozia, pubblicato in due volumi. Queste opere si dimostrarono in seguito preziose per aver dato testimonianza di importanti pezzi di antiquariato oggi andati purtroppo perduti. Nel 1778 pubblicò un'opera simile, Tour in Wales, seguita da Journey to Snowdon (del quale la prima parte venne pubblicata nel 1781 e la seconda nel 1783), che successivamente avrebbe costituito il secondo volume dell'opera Tour. Nel 1783, venne eletto membro straniero dell'Accademia Reale Svedese delle Scienze. Nel 1782 pubblicò Journey from Chester to London e nel 1785–1787 Arctic Zoology. Nel 1790 comparve il suo Account of London, del quale vennero pubblicate svariate edizioni, e tre anni dopo l'autobiografia Literary Life of the late T. Pennant. Nei suoi ultimi anni fu impegnato nella stesura di un'opera intitolata Outlines of the Globe, della quale i volumi uno e due furono pubblicati nel 1798, e i volumi tre e quattro, pubblicati postumi da suo figlio David Pennant, nel 1800. Fu anche l'autore di un gran numero di opere minori, alcune delle quali pubblicate postume. Morì a Downing. La corrispondenza che intrattenne con Gilbert White fu alla base dell'opera di quest'ultimo The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne. Sfortunatamente, le lettere che Pennant inviò a White sono andate perdute. Il viaggio di Pennant nelle Ebridi Esterne è stato rivisitato da Nicholas Crane in un documentario televisivo trasmesso per la prima volta da BBC Two il 16 agosto 2007, la serie Great British Journeys. A Thomas Pennant è stata dedicata la prima delle 8 puntate della serie.

Persoon

Christian Hendrik Persoon (Stellenbosch, 1º febbraio 1761 – Parigi, 16 novembre 1836) è stato un botanico e micologo sudafricano. Stellenbosch è una città del Sudafrica, situata nel distretto di Cape Winelands, nella Provincia di Western Cape. È considerato come il padre della sistematica micologica e secondo C.G. Loyd è uno degli autori più importanti in questo campo. Persoon nacque nel 1761 a Stellenbosch in Sudafrica da genitori di origine olandese e tedesca e morì nel 1836, in povertà, a Parigi. Poco si conosce di lui durante gli anni in cui visse in Sudafrica. Nel 1775, a tredici anni lasciò il Sudafrica, per non tornarci mai più. Nel 1776, dopo la morte del padre, Christian Daniel Persoon, restò orfano e trascorse parte della sua infanzia in Germania, per stabilirsi poi definitivamente a Parigi. Persoon era un allievo serio e scrupoloso, si era trasferito a Lingen (Germania) per studiare prima teologia e poi medicina. Presentò subito un grande interesse per la botanica e la micologia, che poi studio all'Università di Leida (Paesi Bassi) e all'università di Gottinga (Svezia). Nel 1799 ricevette il PhD del Deutsche Akademie des Naturforscher a Erlangen, riconoscimento per il suo lavoro nella classificazione dei funghi. Organizzava il suo lavoro in un armadietto medico, dedicando il suo tempo libero alla botanica e pubblicò vari manuali sui funghi. Una sua opera importante fu la Synopsis Methodica Fungorum (1801), considerato uno dei più importanti lavori di sistematica dei funghi in letteratura micologica. Raccolse specie botaniche di tutto il mondo in un importante erbario che fu comprato nel 1825 dal governo olandese per un importo di 800 fiorini ed è attualmente ospitato presso il Nationaal Herbarium Nederland a Leida. Diede un contributo notevole all'adozione della tassonomia micologica di Linneo e subì, nei suoi studi, l'influenza di Elias Magnus Fries. In suo onore fu creato il genere Persoonia, una varietà di arbusti australiani. Tra le opere di Persoon citiamo: Observationes mycologicae (1795–1799) – Icones et Descriptiones Fungorum Minus Cognitorum (1800) – Synopsis methodica Fungorum (2 vol., 1801) – Synopsis plantarum (5 vol., 1817–1827) – Traité des champignons comestibles (1819) – Mycologica Europaea (3 vol., 1822–1828).

Petit–Thouars

Louis Marie Aubert du Petit–Thouars, ou Du Petit Thouars ou Dupetit-Thouars, est un botaniste français né le 5 novembre 1758 au château de Boumais près de Saumur et mort le 12 mai 1831 à Paris. Il fait des études au Collège royal militaire de La Flèche. Il devait accompagner son frère Aristide à la recherche de Jean–François de La Pérouse, mais, parti après lui, il tenta inutilement de le rejoindre à l'île de France, où il arriva trop tard et fut obligé de séjourner. En route, en 1793, il manqua de se retrouver abandonné involontairement sur l'archipel Tristan da Cunha, où il passa une nuit seul en pensant son navire parti sans lui. Bloqué dans le sud–ouest de l'océan Indien par les circonstances, il étudia la flore de la région. Pendant cette période, il reçut la visite de l'expédition Baudin et conduisit pour ses membres une herborisation trois jours après leur arrivée pour une escale de quelques jours. Membre du voyage d'exploration scientifique, Jean–Baptiste Bory de Saint–Vincent y participa et se lia d'amitié avec le commissaire civil du gouvernement Joseph Pierre Leboux–Dumorier à cette occasion. Après l'île de France, il passa ainsi quelques mois à Madagascar avant de visiter à nouveau les îles Mascareignes adjacentes. Il revient en France en 1802 avec un herbier de 2.000 plantes. Il publia en 1804 son Histoire des végétaux recueillis dans les îles de France, de Bourbon et de Madagascar où 55 espèces ainsi qu'une clef de détermination sont brièvement décrites. Il fut admis cette même année à l'Académie des sciences le 10 avril 1820. À partir de 1806, il dirigea la pépinière du Roule. Outre l'ouvrage déjà cité, il a publié plusieurs écrits sur la botanique et l'agriculture: il soutint à l'Académie des sciences, sur la formation des couches du bois, une théorie célèbre, qui fut vivement débattue. Pierre Flourens a prononcé son Éloge à l'Institut de France.

Petiver

James Petiver (c.1663–1718) was a London apothecary, a Fellow of the Royal Society as well as London's informal Temple Coffee House Botany Club, famous for his study of botany and entomology. Born in Hillmorton, Warwickshire where his father was a haberdasher, he studied at Rugby Free School and became an apprentice to an apothecary in London, supplying medicine to St. Bartholomew's Hospital. He is buried at St. Botolph Church. He recorded many English folk–names for butterflies, also coining some himself, and wrote some of the first butterfly books that used English names in addition to Latin. He himself was not very proficient in Latin although he was a member of several scholarly societies and an educated gentleman. He named the White Admiral butterfly, and gave the name Fritillary to another group of butterflies after the Latin word for a chequered dice box. He called skippers "hogs", swallowtails "Royal Williams", walls as "Enfield Eyes" and marbled whites as "Half–Mourners". Petiver received many specimens, seeds and much other material from correspondents in the American and British colonies. After his death, his collections were purchased by Sir Hans Sloane for £4000, and some of it is now in the Natural History Museum in London. Works – Gazophylacium (1702–6) – an illustrated catalogue of British insects – Papilionum Brittaniae Icones (1717) – included 80 British butterflies – 1698 An account of some Indian plants etc. with their names, descriptions and vertues; communicated in a letter from Mr. James Petiver...to Mr. Samuel Brown, surgeon at Fort St. George, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, London. – 1700–1703 An account of part of a collection of curious plants and drugs, lately given to the Royal Society of the East India Company, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. The standard author abbreviation Petiver is used to indicate this individual as the author when citing a botanical name.

Phélypeaux

Jérôme Phélypeaux, comte de Pontchartrain, est un homme d'État français né en mars 1674 et mort à Versailles le 8 février 1747. Il était le fils de Louis Phélypeaux de Pontchartrain et de Marie de Maupeou (1645–1714). Il épousa en premières noces, le 28 février 1697 Éléonore Christine de La Rochefoucauld de Roye, dite Mlle de Chefboutonne (1681–1708), dont il eut cinq enfants. Veuf en juin 1708, il épousa en secondes noces, le 31 juillet 1713, Marie Hélène Rosalie Angélique de L'Aubespine (1690–1770) dont il eut deux filles. Reçu conseiller au parlement de Paris le 29 mars 1692, il fut associé par son père à ses responsabilités ministérielles avant de lui succéder comme secrétaire d'État de la Maison du Roi le 5 septembre 1699 et comme secrétaire d'État de la Marine le 6 septembre 1699 et demeura en poste respectivement jusqu'au 7 novembre et 1er octobre 1715. Sa gestion de la marine, longtemps décriée, tend à être largement réévaluée par l'historiographie la plus récente. Il encouragea notamment l'exploration et la colonisation de la Louisiane. Dans ces fonctions, Jérôme Phélypeaux s'occupa également de la création de l'Académie royale des inscriptions et médailles (juillet 1701), devenue en 1716 l'académie des inscriptions et belles–lettres.

Pineda

Antonio Pineda fue un marino y botánico guatemalteco de padres españoles. Nació en 1753 en Guatemala y falleció en las Filipinas en 1792. Era un guardiamarina reconocido por sus profundos conocimientos de las ciencias naturales. Por ello fue designado, junto con Luis Née y Tadeo Haenke, para participar como encargado de las ciencias naturales en la Expedición Malaspina alrededor del mundo. Perdió su vida en el archipiélago filipino. Su hermano Arcadio, teniente de navio, fue el encargado de poner en orden sus apuntes, mientras el Capitán Alejandro Malaspina, apenado por su pérdida, erigió un monumento a su subordinado en el Jardín Botánico de Manila, Filipinas.

Piso

Willem Piso (in Dutch Willem Pies, in Latin Guilielmus Piso, also called in Portuguese Guilherme Piso) (Leiden, 1611 – Amsterdam, November 28, 1678) was a Dutch physician and naturalist who participated as an expedition doctor in Dutch Brazil from 1637 – 1644, sponsored by Earl Johan Maurits van Nassau–Siegen and the Dutch West India Company. Piso becoming one of the founders of Tropical medicine. Not only a minor planet, 11240 Piso, is named after him, but also some Nyctaginaceae, the Pisonia. Piso finished his studies in Caen in 1633 and settled in Amsterdam as a doctor, before leaving for Brazil as a private physician and in the company of the painters Albert Eckhout and Frans Post. There Piso propagated the consumption of fresh fish, vegetables and fruits, after he discovered the soldiers and seamen suffered from physical problems resulting from dietary deficiencies. Together with Georg Marcgrave and originally published by Joannes de Laet, he wrote the Historia Naturalis Brasiliae (1648), an important early western insight into Brazilian flora and fauna. According to reports in the book, he collected plants and animals in Brazil, besides studying tropical diseases and indigenous therapies. The standard author abbreviation Piso is used to indicate this individual as the author when citing a botanical name. ––– Piso – Willem Piso, médecin et naturaliste né à Leyde en 1611, mort à Amsterdam en 1678. Il étudia à Leyde, puis à Caen, où il fut reçu docteur en 1630. En 1637, il accompagna J.–Maurice de Nassau au Brésil, d'où il rapporta des collections d'histoire naturelle, et il se fixa en 1648 à Amsterdam. Stokvis l'a appelé le fondateur de la médecine coloniale: il a fait connaître la pathologie des tropiques et a introduit en Europe l'ipéca–cuanha. Il a publié: Historia naturalis Brasiliae (Leyde et Amsterdam, 1648, in–fol.); De Indiae utriusque re naturali et medica (Amsterdam, 1658, in–fol.).

Pitcairn

William Pitcairn (9 May 1712– 25 November 1791) was a British physician. He was born in Dysart, Fife, Scotland, the second son of the Revd David Pitcairn. He studied first at the University of Leiden and then at the University of Rheims, where he was awarded his MD. He returned to England and obtained a second degree in medicine from Oxford University in 1749. He moved to London and became physician to St Bartholomew's Hospital, London. He became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and gave their Goulstonian lectures in 1752. He became their President from 1775 to 1784. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1770 as someone "distinguished by his application to Botany and success in rearing scarce and foreign plants". He died in Islington, London, on 25 November 1791 and was buried in a vault in the church of St Bartholomew the Less, London, within the hospital walls.

Plukenet

Leonard Plukenet (1642–1706) was an English botanist, Royal Professor of Botany and gardener to Queen Mary. Plukenet published Phytographia (London, 1691–1692) in four parts in which he described and illustrated rare exotic plants. It is a copiously illustrated work of more than 2,700 figures and is frequently cited in books and papers from the 17th century to the present. He collaborated with John Ray in the second volume of Historia Plantarum (London, 1686–1704). Paul Dietrich Giseke (1741–1796) compared Plukenet’s species with those of Linnaeus in Index Linnaeanus (Hamburg, 1779). Pluk. mant., refers to the third volume (London, 1700) of the first edition of Historia Plantarum, the whole of which was published 1691–1705. The standard author abbreviation Pluk. is used to indicate this individual as the author when citing a botanical name. Works: Phytographia, sive stirpium illustriorum & minus cognitarum icones (1691–1692) – Almagestum botanicum sive Phytographiae Plucnetianae Onomasticon Methodo Syntheticâ digestum (1696) – Almagesti botanici mantissa (1700) – Amaltheum botanicum (1705) – Opera Omnia Botanica (1691–1705).

Pococke

Edward Pococke (baptised 8 November 1604 – 10 September 1691) was an English Orientalist and biblical scholar. He was the son of clergyman from Chieveley in Berkshire, and was educated at Lord Williams's School of Thame in Oxfordshire and at Corpus Christi College, Oxford (scholar in 1620, fellow in 1628). He was ordained a priest of the Church of England 20 December 1629. The first result of his studies was an edition from a Bodleian Library manuscript of the four New Testament epistles (2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, Jude) which were not in the old Syriac canon, and were not contained in European editions of the Peshito. This was published at Leiden at the instigation of Gerard Vossius in 1630, and in the same year Pococke sailed for Aleppo as chaplain to the English factor. At Aleppo he studied the Arabic language, and collected many valuable manuscripts. At this time William Laud was both Bishop of London and chancellor of the University of Oxford, and Pococke was recognised as one who could help his schemes for enriching the university. Laud founded a Chair of Arabic at Oxford, and invited Pococke to fill it. He entered the post on 10 August 1636; but the next summer he sailed back to Constantinople in the company of John Greaves, later Savilian Professor of Astronomy at Oxford, to prosecute further studies and collect more books; he remained there for about three years. When he returned to England, Laud was in the Tower of London, but had taken the precaution to make the Arabic chair permanent. Pococke does not seem to have been an extreme churchman or to have been active in politics. His rare scholarship and personal qualities brought him influential friends, foremost among these being John Selden and John Owen. Through their offices he obtained, in 1648, the chair of Hebrew, though he lost the emoluments of the post soon after, and did not recover them till the Restoration. These events hampered Pococke in his studies, or so he complained in the preface to his Eutychius; he resented the attempts to remove him from his parish of Childrey, a college living near Wantage in North Berkshire (now Oxfordshire) which he had accepted in 1643. In 1649, he published the Specimen historiae arabum, a short account of the origin and manners of the Arabs, taken from Bar–Hebraeus (Abulfaragius), with notes from a vast number of manuscript sources which are still valuable. This was followed in 1655 by the Porta Mosis, extracts from the Arabic commentary of Maimonides on the Mishnah, with translation and very learned notes; and in 1656 by the annals of Eutychius in Arabic and Latin. He also gave active assistance to Brian Walton's polyglot bible, and the preface to the various readings of the Arabic Pentateuch is from his hand. After the Restoration, Pococke's political and financial troubles ended, but the reception of his magnum opus––a complete edition of the Arabic history of Bar–Hebraeus (Greg. Abulfaragii historia compendiosa dynastiarum), which he dedicated to the king in 1663, showed that the new order of things was not very favourable to scholarship. After this his most important works were a Lexicon heptaglotton (1669) and English commentaries on Micah (1677), Malachi (1677), Hosea (1685) and Joel (1691). An Arabic translation of Grotius's De veritate, which appeared in 1660, may also be mentioned as a proof of Pococke's interest in the propagation of Christianity in the East. Pococke had a long–standing interest in the subject, which he had talked over with Grotius at Paris on his way back from Constantinople. Pococke married in 1646. One of his sons, Edward (1648–1727), published several contributions from Arabic literature – a fragment of Abd–el–latif's work on Egyptology and the Philosophus Autodidactus of Ibn Tufayl (Abubacer). Both Edward Gibbon and Thomas Carlyle exposed some "pious" lies in the missionary work by Grotius translated by Pococke, which were omitted from the Arabic text. The theological works of Pococke were collected, in two volumes, in 1740, with a curious account of his life and writings by Leonard Twells.

Pohl

Johann Baptist Emanuel Pohl (February 23, 1782, Česká Kamenice (German: Böhmisch Kamnitz) – May 22, 1834, Vienna) was an Austrian botanist, entomologist, geologist, and physician. Johan Emanuel Pohl grew up in Boletice nad Labem (cs) (German: Politz), studied in Prague and graduated as Doctor of Medicine in 1808. After a stint teaching at the University he worked in military hospitals in Náchod and Prague. While he taught botany at the university he became librarian and curator of the collections of the Princess Kinsky. In this period he published the Tentamen florae bohemicae of which only the two first volumes got published; Expositio generalis anatomica organi auditus per classes animalium, and Systematischer Überblick der Reihenfolge der einfachen Fossilien. He made his name in several branches of natural history. In 1817, he accompanied the Archduchess Leopoldine to Brazil on the occasion of her marriage to Dom Pedro I, and then was chosen by his government to participate in the Austrian Brazil Expedition in charge of mineralogy and geology. After the return of Dr. Mikan to Europe, he was responsible for the botany collections as well. Pohl spent four years between 1817 and 1821 in Brazil, during which he explored mainly the provinces of Minas Gerais, Goias, Bahia as well as the province of Rio de Janeiro as far as the District of Itha Grande. His voluminous collections, among them some 4000 specimens of plants, were housed with the rest of the expedition collections in the Brazil Museum of Vienna, which included also two live specimens, a pair of Botocudo tribespeople. The woman died soon after and the man was eventually returned to his native land. After his return Pohl served as a curator at the Vienna Natural History Museum and the Vienna Brazilian Museum until his death. The standard author abbreviation Pohl is used to indicate this individual as the author when citing a botanical name.

Poiret

Jean Louis Marie Poiret. L'abbé Jean–Louis Marie Poiret (Saint–Quentin, 11 juin 1755 – Paris, 7 avril 1834) était un botaniste et un explorateur. En 1785 et 1786, il fut envoyé à La Calle en Algérie par Louis XVI afin d'inventorier la flore barbaresque. Pendant la Révolution française, il se défroqua, se maria (vers 1795) et devint professeur d'histoire naturelle à l'école centrale de l'Aisne. Il travailla avec le naturaliste Jean–Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, chevalier de Lamarck, à la rédaction du Dictionnaire de Botanique de l'Encyclopédie méthodique (1785). En 1789 il publia son célèbre Voyage en Barbarie, ou Lettres écrites de l'ancienne Numidie pendant les années 1785 & 1786, sur la Religion, les Coutumes & les mœurs des Maures & des Arabes Bédouins, avec un Essai sur l'histoire naturelle de ce Pays, édité chez J.B.F. Née de la Rochelle, Paris, 2 volumes : XXIV+364 p., 317 p. En 1819, il publie une flore médicale intitulée Leçons de flore. Cours complet de botanique, suivie d'une iconographie végétale en 56 planches coloriées par J. F. Turpin. Sous la Restauration, il publie en 1825 Histoire philosophique, littéraire, économique des plantes d'Europe. À travers les âges et à travers le monde, les naturalistes ont dédié à Poiret quelques genres végétaux ou animaux. On lui a également dédié de nombreux noms d’espèces, dont les plus connus concernant la Méditerranée sont Pleurodeles poireti (Gervais, 1835), remarquable amphibien urodèle endémique de la péninsule de l’Edough (NE–Algérie), Pinus nigra J.F. Arnold var. poiretiana Asch. & Graebn., le célèbre pin noir de Corse ou pin Laricio, est le nom de remplacement de Pinus laricio Poir., Encycl. (Lamarck) 5: 339 (1804).

Pollich

Johan Adam Pollich or Johann (1 January 1741, Kaiserslautern– 24 February1780 ) was a German doctor, botanist and entomologist. Works: 1763: Dissertatio physiologico–medica de nutrimento incremento statu ac decremento corporis humani. 20 S. Argentorati: Heitz (med. Dissertation) – 1776–1777: Historia plantarum in Palatinatu electorali sponte nascentium incepta, secundum systema sexuale digesta. Bd. 1 : 454 S.; Bd. 2: 664 S.; Bd. 3: 320 S. – Mannhemii, apud Christian Friedrich Schwan – 1779: Beschreibung einiger Insecten, die noch im Linné’schen System fehlen und um Weilburg vorkommen. – 1781: Von den Insecten die in Linne's Natursystem nicht befindlich sind. Bemerk. Kuhrpfälz. phys.–oek. Ges., 1779: 252–287. – 1783: Descriptio insectorum Palatinorum. Act. Leopoldina VII.

Pomet

Pierre Pomet est un droguiste français, né en 1658 à Paris et mort le 18 novembre 1699 dans cette même ville. Après avoir été en apprentissage, il voyage en Italie, en Allemagne, en Grande–Bretagne et en Hollande. Il revient à Paris où il ouvre un magasin de drogues. Il acquiert rapidement une grande réputation. Il donne bientôt des cours pour expliquer la fabrication de ses produits. Il publie régulièrement un catalogue des drogues simples ou composées de sa vaste collection ainsi que la description de son cabinet de curiosités. Il fait paraître en 1694 l’Histoire générale des drogues, traitant des plantes, des animaux et des minéraux, etc., illustré de plus de 400 figures. La parution de l'ouvrage est quelque peu difficile, des personnes ayant volé certaines de ses notes et de ses dessins. Malgré une action en justice, il n'obtient pas réparation de ce préjudice. Son ouvrage est considéré comme le plus complet et le plus sûr de son époque. Il est traduit dans plusieurs langues dont l'allemand et l'anglais.

Pontedera

Giulio Pontedera (Vicenza, 7 maggio 1688 – Lonigo, 3 settembre 1757) è stato un botanico italiano d'origine toscana. Il cognome mostra le sue origini: deriva da una cittadina in provincia di Pisa: Pontedèra (Pons Herae in Latino) con 28.256 abitanti nel 2012, 22 km a est del capoluogo. Effettuò i suoi primi studi umanistici a Vicenza prima di trasferirsi a Padova dove studiò medicina e anatomia. Insegnò all'Università di Padova e divenne direttore dell'Orto botanico. A lui si deve la scoperta e classificazione di diverse specie di piante; la famiglia botanica delle Pontederiaceae è a lui dedicata. ––– Giulio Pontedera (1688–1757) was an Italian botanist. He was professor of botany at Padua, and director of the botanical garden there. Although he rejected Carolus Linnaeus' system, Linnaeus was a correspondent of Pontedera's, and named the genus Pontederia after him. The standard author abbreviation Ponted. is used to indicate this individual as the author when citing a botanical name.

Portland

Margaret Cavendish Bentinck, Duchess of Portland (Welbeck Abbey, 11 February 1715 – 17 July 1785, Bulstrode Park, Buckinghamshire), styled Lady Margaret Harley before 1734, Duchess of Portland from 1734 to her husband's death in 1761, and Dowager Duchess of Portland from 1761 until her own death in 1785. She was the richest woman in Great Britain of her time. She was a daughter of the 2nd Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, bibliophile, collector and patron of the arts, and the former Lady Henrietta Holles (1694–1755, the only child and heir of the 1st Duke of Newcastle and his wife, the former Lady Margaret Cavendish). She was also great–great–great–great grandmother of Queen Elizabeth II through her mother's side. Lady Margaret grew up at Wimpole Hall in Cambridgeshire surrounded by books, paintings, sculpture and in the company of writers such as Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift and Matthew Prior as well as aristocrats and politicians. As a child, she collected pets and natural history objects (especially shells) and was encouraged by her father and her paternal grandfather, the 1st Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, to do so. As a collector By the November following her marriage her collecting had gathered pace, expanding to include the decorative and fine arts as well as natural history. (She was already heiress to the Arundel collection.) Her home in Buckinghamshire, Bulstrode Hall, provided space to house the results, and her independent fortune meant that cost was no object (on her mother’s death in 1755 she also inherited the estates of Welbeck in Nottinghamshire). Bulstrode was known in court circles as "The Hive" for the intense work done there on the collections by the Duchess and her crack team of botanists, entomologists and ornithologists, headed by herself, Daniel Solander (1736–82, specialising in shells and insects) and The Revd John Lightfoot (1735–88, her librarian and chaplain). Her collection was, unlike many similar contemporary ones, well–curated. 'The Portland Museum' at Bulstrode was open to visitors, along with its zoo, aviary and vast botanic garden. Many came: scholars, philosophers, scientists and even royalty, and the collection became a cause célèbre.

Pourret

L'abbé Pierre André Pourret est un botaniste français, né en 1754 et mort en 1818, ayant vécu pour l'essentiel à Narbonne. On lui doit la description de plusieurs plantes, notamment d'espèces méditerranéennes. Il a, tout au long de sa vie, récolté de nombreuses plantes de toutes origines, se constituant un riche jardin botanique et un herbier abondant. Ruiz et Pavon lui ont dédié le genre Pourretia (1794), devenu ensuite le genre Puya, en particulier l'espèce Pourretia lanuginosa (Puya lanuginosa), plante originaire du Chili. Son nom a été également associé en 1808 par Willdenow à l'espèce Agrostis pourretii (agrostide de Pourret, ou agrostide de Salamanque).