Antonio José Cavanilles

Antonio José Cavanilles (16 January 1745 – 5 May 1804) was a leading Spanish 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]

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

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. 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

See also

References

  1. Emilio LAGUNA LUMBRERAS (December 2004), "Sobre los géneros descritos por Cavanilles", Flora Montiberica, 28: 3–22
  2. IPNI.  Cav.

Further reading

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