Caetano Xavier dos Remedios Furtado (14 October 1897 – 13 June 1980) was a

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

who specialized in palms. He worked at the Singapore botanical gardens. He described nearly 104 species of palms, worked on the African genus ''

Hyphaene ''Hyphaene'' is a genus of palms native to Africa, Madagascar, the Middle East, and the Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay ...

'' and on the family Araceae. The species '' Maxburretia furtadoana'' was named after him by

John Dransfield John Dransfield (born 1945) is former head of palm research at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom. Dransfield has written or contributed to several books on palms, notably both the first and second editions of '' Genera Palmarum''. ...

in 1978. He was also involved in clarifying the terms "illegitimate" and "superfluous" names in taxonomic nomenclature. He also coined the word "basinym" which was modified as

basionym In the scientific name of organisms, basionym or basyonym means the original name on which a new name is based; the author citation of the new name should include the authors of the basionym in parentheses. The term "basionym" is used in both botan ...

Early life

Furtado was born in Merces,

Portuguese Goa The State of India, also known as the Portuguese State of India or Portuguese India, was a state of the Portuguese Empire founded seven years after the discovery of the sea route to the Indian subcontinent by Vasco da Gama, a subject of the ...

. He was the son of physician Jose Irneu das Augustias dos Remedios and Maria Eloisa Anacleta de Sousa and went to the Poona Agricultural College, receiving a B.Ag. in 1921. He then went to

British Burma British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and cultur ...

as an agronomist and joined the

Singapore Botanic Gardens The Singapore Botanic Gardens is a -year-old tropical garden located at the fringe of the Orchard Road shopping district in Singapore. It is one of three gardens, and the only tropical garden, to be honoured as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Th ...

in 1923. He received a D.Sc. from the

University of Bombay University of Mumbai is a public university, public List of largest universities and university networks by enrollment, state university in Mumbai. It is one of the List of largest universities and university networks by enrollment, largest univ ...

in 1939. He knew Portuguese and English from early on and studied Italian so as to be able to read the works of

Odoardo Beccari Odoardo Beccari (16 November 1843 – 25 October 1920) was an Italian botanist famous for his discoveries in Indonesia, New Guinea, and Australia. He has been called the greatest botanist to ever study Malesia. Life Youth and education (18 ...

, as well as Spanish, French and German in order to read systematic literature.

Career

Apart from palm taxonomy, he also wrote on matter of systematics and also wrote extensively including some biographical notes on I.H. Burkill.

Personal life

Furtado's wife Ana Sebastiana da Piedade was from

Calangute Calangute is a town in the North Goa district of the Indian state of Goa. It is famous for its beach, the largest in North Goa and a popular tourist destination. The peak tourist season is during Christmas and New Year, and during the summer i ...

descent and they had 3 sons and 3 daughters.

Legacy

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Furtado, Caetano Xavier 1897 births 1980 deaths Scientists from Goa