Antonio Bertoloni (February 8, 1775 in
Sarzana
Sarzana (, ; lij, Sarzann-a) is a town, ''comune'' (municipality) and former short-lived Catholic bishopric in the Province of La Spezia, Liguria, Italy. It is east of Spezia, on the railway to Pisa, at the point where the railway to Parma div ...
– April 17, 1869 in
Bologna
Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...
) was an Italian
physician
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
and
botanist who made extensive studies of Italian plants. He also collected notable samples of
Central America
Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...
n flora.
Biography
He studied medicine and botany at the
University of Pavia
The University of Pavia ( it, Università degli Studi di Pavia, UNIPV or ''Università di Pavia''; la, Alma Ticinensis Universitas) is a university located in Pavia, Lombardy, Italy. There was evidence of teaching as early as 1361, making it on ...
, afterwards (1796) continuing his medical education in
Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of t ...
. For a period of time he practiced medicine in his home town of Sarzana. In 1811 he returned to Genoa, where he served as a professor of physics at the Imperial Lyceum. In 1815 he was appointed professor of botany at the
University of Bologna
The University of Bologna ( it, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, UNIBO) is a public research university in Bologna, Italy. Founded in 1088 by an organised guild of students (''studiorum''), it is the oldest university in continuo ...
.
His son
Giuseppe
Giuseppe is the Italian form of the given name Joseph,
from Latin Iōsēphus from Ancient Greek Ἰωσήφ (Iōsḗph), from Hebrew יוסף.
It is the most common name in Italy and is unique (97%) to it.
The feminine form of the name is Giusep ...
(1804-1874) was a botanist and entomologist in Bologna.
Tributes
* ''
Bertolonia
''Bertolonia'' is a genus consisting of 14 species of pretty, dwarf, creeping, tender perennials, native to tropical South America. These herbaceous plants are grown for their colorful, velvety, ornamental foliages, vary from shimmery white with ...
'', botanical genus from the family
Melastomataceae
Melastomataceae is a family of dicotyledonous flowering plants found mostly in the tropics (two-thirds of the genera are from the New World tropics) comprising c. 175 genera and c. 5115 known species. Melastomes are annual or perennial herbs, s ...
.
* Plants with the specific epithet of ''bertolonii'', an example being ''
Ophrys bertolonii
''Ophrys bertolonii'', commonly known as Bertoloni's bee orchid, is a species of orchid native to the western and central Mediterranean (Spain, France, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, mainland Italy, Albania, and Croatia
, image_flag = ...
'' (Bertoloni's bee orchid).
Selected works
His major work, "Flora Italica; sistens plantas in Italia et in insulis circumstantibus sponte nascentes", was issued in several volumes from 1833 to 1854. This was followed by a monograph on Italian
cryptogam
A cryptogam (scientific name Cryptogamae) is a plant (in the wide sense of the word) or a plant-like organism that reproduces by spores, without flowers or seeds. The name ''Cryptogamae'' () means "hidden reproduction", referring to the fact ...
s called "Flora italica cryptogama" (1858). Other noteworthy publications by Bertoloni include:
* "Rariorum Liguriae plantarum", 1803.
* "Mantissa plantarum florae alpium Apunanarum", 1832.
*
* "Florula guatimalensis sistens plantas nonnullas in Guatimala sponte nascentes", 1840.
Other works include:
* ''Elenchus plantarum vivarum quas cum aliis vivis plantis commutandas exhibet Hortus Botanicus Archigymnasii Bononiensi'' 1820.
*
He published many papers, in both Italian and Latin, in the journals ''Nuovi annali delle scienze naturali'' (1834-1854), and ''Novi Commentarii Academiae Scientiarum Instituti Bononiensis'' (1834-1849) and its successor ''Memorie della Accademia delle Scienze dell'Istituto di Bologna'' (from 1850 onward).
A large number of the papers in the second and third of those journals were part of an extended series entitled ''Miscellanea Botanica'' (starting in 1842), which included everything from the discussion of botanical references in Biblical and Ancient Greek and Roman sources through the systematisation of published knowledge to the formal description of new species.
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bertoloni, Antonio
1775 births
1869 deaths
People from Sarzana
19th-century Italian botanists
University of Genoa faculty
University of Bologna faculty
University of Pavia alumni