Benedetto Scortechini (1845–1886) was an Italian botanist, explorer, and Roman Catholic priest.
Biography
He graduated from the
Sapienza University of Rome
The Sapienza University of Rome (), formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", abbreviated simply as Sapienza ('Wisdom'), is a Public university, public research university located in Rome, Italy. It was founded in 1303 and is ...
as a priest and a lawyer. Accompanied by the priest Jerome Davadi (1846–1900) and one other Italian priest, Scortechini arrived in
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...
on 28 February 1871. The three Italian priests were brought, shortly after the end of the
First Vatican Council
The First Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the First Vatican Council or Vatican I, was the 20th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church, held three centuries after the preceding Council of Trent which was adjourned in 156 ...
, to the
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane
The Archdiocese of Brisbane is a Latin Church Metropolitan Diocese, metropolitan archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Australia located in Brisbane and covering the South East Queensland, South East region of Queensland, Australia.
Part of the ...
by
Bishop James Quinn, the first
Roman Catholic Bishop of Brisbane. After briefly working in
Stanhope, Victoria and in
Roma, Queensland
Roma is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Maranoa Region, Queensland, Australia. It is the administrative centre of the Maranoa Region. The town was incorporated in 1867 and is named after Lady Diamantina Bowen ...
, Scortechini was stationed in
Gympie
Gympie ( ) is a city and a Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Gympie Region, Queensland, Australia. Located in the Greater Sunshine Coast, Gympie is about north of the state capital, Brisbane. The city lies on the Mary River ( ...
,
Queensland
Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
from 1873 to 1875.
In 1875 he was appointed the pastor of
Logan Parish within the
County of Ward, Queensland
The County of Ward is a county (a cadastral division) in the south-eastern corner of Queensland, Australia. The main urban area within the county is the city of the Gold Coast, and it also extends to include the southern parts of the West Mor ...
, where he remained the pastor for nine years until he left Australia in 1884.
George King George King may refer to:
Politics
* George King (Australian politician) (1814–1894), New South Wales and Queensland politician
* George King, 3rd Earl of Kingston (1771–1839), Irish nobleman and MP for County Roscommon
* George Clift King (184 ...
, Director of the
Royal Botanic Garden Calcutta, arranged with Sir
Hugh Low
Sir Hugh Low, (10 May 182418 April 1905) was a British colonial administrator and naturalist. After a long residence in various colonial roles in Labuan, he was appointed as British administrator in the Malay Peninsula where he made the first t ...
, the
British Resident at
Perak
Perak (; Perak Malay: ''Peghok'') is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. Perak has land borders with the Malaysian states of Kedah to the north, Penang to the northwest, Kel ...
, to employ plant collectors to work in Peninsular Malaysia.
As part of this programme, King and Low recruited Hermann H. Kunstler (1837–1887) and Scortechini. Botanical specimens were sent to George King in Calcutta with duplicates sent to
Kew Gardens
Kew Gardens is a botanical garden, botanic garden in southwest London that houses the "largest and most diverse botany, botanical and mycology, mycological collections in the world". Founded in 1759, from the exotic garden at Kew Park, its li ...
.
[
Upon his death, Scortechini's collections were given to the Calcutta herbarium.][
]
Eponyms
Genus
* ( Nitschkiaceae, Fungi
A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one ...
) '' Scortechinia'' Sacc. (1885)
* (Euphorbiaceae
Euphorbiaceae (), the spurge family, is a large family of flowering plants. In English, they are also commonly called euphorbias, which is also the name of Euphorbia, the type genus of the family. Most spurges, such as ''Euphorbia paralias'', ar ...
) '' Neoscortechinia'' Pax (1897)
Species
* (Acanthaceae
Acanthaceae () is a Family (biology), family (the acanthus family) of dicotyledonous flowering plants containing almost 250 genera and about 2500 species. Most are Tropics, tropical Herbaceous plant, herbs, shrubs, or twining vines; some are epip ...
) '' Filetia scortechinii'' C.B.Clarke
* (Annonaceae
The Annonaceae are a Family (biology), family of flowering plants consisting of trees, shrubs, or rarely lianas commonly known as the custard apple family or soursop family. With 108 accepted genera and about 2400 known species, it is the largest ...
) '' Cyathocalyx scortechinii'' (King) J.Sinclair
* (Annonaceae) '' Goniothalamus scortechinii'' (King)
* (Annonaceae) '' Melodorum scortechinii'' (King) Finet & Gagnep.
* (Apocynaceae
Apocynaceae (, from '' Apocynum'', Greek for "dog-away") is a family of flowering plants that includes trees, shrubs, herbs, stem succulents, and vines, commonly known as the dogbane family, because some taxa were used as dog poison. Notable mem ...
) '' Hoya scortechinii'' King & Gamble
* (Araliaceae
The Araliaceae are a family of flowering plants composed of about 43 genera and around 1500 species consisting of primarily woody plants and some herbaceous plants commonly called the ginseng family. The morphology of Araliaceae varies widely ...
) ''Schefflera scortechinii'' (King) R.Vig. synonym for '' Heptapleurum hullettii'' R. Vig
* (Arecaceae
The Arecaceae () is a family (biology), family of perennial plant, perennial, flowering plants in the Monocotyledon, monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbing palm, climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly k ...
) ''Eleiodoxa scortechinii'' ( Becc.) Burret synonym for '' Eleiodoxa conferta''
* (Asclepiadaceae
The Asclepiadoideae are a subfamily of plants in the family Apocynaceae. Formerly, it was treated as a separate family under the name Asclepiadaceae, e.g. by APG II, and known as the milkweed family.
They form a group of perennial herbs, twinin ...
) '' Secamone scortechinii'' (King & Gamble) Klack.
* ( Caesalpiniaceae) ''Caesalpinia
''Caesalpinia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. It includes 10 species which range from southeastern Mexico through Central America to Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, and to Cuba, Hispaniola, and the Bahamas.
Taxonomy
His ...
scortechinii'' (F.Muell.
Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Victoria (state), Vic ...
) Hattink
* (Convolvulaceae
Convolvulaceae (), commonly called the bindweed, bindweeds or morning glory, morning glories, is a Family (biology), family of about 60 genera and more than 1,650 species. These species are primarily herbaceous vines, but also include trees, sh ...
) '' Argyreia scortechinii'' ( Prain) Prain ex Hoogland
Hoogland () is a village and former free-standing municipality in the province of Utrecht in the Netherlands. It is located north of the Amersfoort city centre. The village population is 10,587 people (2006).
Since 1974, Hoogland has been a p ...
* (Gesneriaceae
Gesneriaceae, the gesneriad family, is a family (biology), family of flowering plants consisting of about 152 genera and ca. 3,540 species in the tropics and subtropics of the Old World (almost all Didymocarpoideae) and the New World (most Ges ...
) ''Didymocarpus scortechinii'' ( Ridl.) B.L.Burtt synonym of '' Henckelia scortechinii'' (Ridl.) A.Weber
* (Loranthaceae
Loranthaceae, commonly known as the showy mistletoes, is a family of flowering plants. It consists of about 75 genera and 1,000 species of woody plants, many of them hemiparasites. The three terrestrial species are '' Nuytsia floribunda'' (the ...
) ''Baratranthus scortechinii'' (Engl.) Tiegh. synonym of '' Baranthus axanthus'' Miq.
* (Rhamnaceae
The Rhamnaceae are a large Family (biology), family of flowering plants, mostly trees, shrubs, and some vines, commonly called the buckthorn family. Rhamnaceae is included in the order Rosales.
The family contains about 55 genera and 950 specie ...
) ''Stenanthemum scortechinii'' (F.Muell.) Maiden
Virginity is a social construct that denotes the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. As it is not an objective term with an operational definition, social definitions of what constitutes virginity, or the lack thereof ...
& Betche synonym of '' Spyridium scortechinii''
* (Rubiaceae
Rubiaceae () is a family (biology), family of flowering plants, commonly known as the coffee, madder, or bedstraw family. It consists of terrestrial trees, shrubs, lianas, or herbs that are recognizable by simple, opposite leaves with Petiole ( ...
) ''Carinta scortechinii'' (King) Thoth. synonym of '' Geophila scortechinii''
* (Theaceae
Theaceae (), the tea family, is a family of flowering plants comprising shrubs and trees, including the economically important tea plant, and the ornamental camellias. It can be described as having from seven to 40 genera, depending on the sour ...
) '' Ternstroemia scortechinii'' Szyszył.
* (Vitaceae
The Vitaceae are a family of flowering plants, with 14 genera and around 910 known species, including common plants such as Vitis, grapevines (''Vitis'' spp.) and Parthenocissus quinquefolia, Virginia creeper (''Parthenocissus quinquefolia''). Th ...
) ''Tetrastigma
''Tetrastigma'' is a genus of plants in the grape family, Vitaceae. The plants are lianas that climb with tendrils and have palmately compound leaves. Plants are dioecious, with separate male and female plants; female flowers are characterize ...
scortechinii'' (King) Gagnep.''Tetrastigma scortechniii'', Kew''science'', Plants of the World online
/ref>
Selected publications
* . 1881.
* . 1885.
* , , . 1888. ''Mycetes Malacenses: funghi della penisola di Malacca raccolti nel 1885 dall'ab. Benedetto Scortechini''. Editor Tip. Antonelli, 42 pp.
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scortechini, Bendetto
1845 births
1886 deaths
Sapienza University of Rome alumni
19th-century Italian Roman Catholic priests
19th-century Italian botanists
Members of the Linnean Society of New South Wales
People from the Province of Ancona
Plant collectors
Botanical collectors active in Australia