Júlio Augusto Henriques (15 January 1838 - 15 January 1928) was a Portuguese
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 ...
and professor at the
University of Coimbra
The University of Coimbra (UC; , ) is a Public university, public research university in Coimbra, Portugal. First established in Lisbon in 1290, it went through a number of relocations until moving permanently to Coimbra in 1537. The university ...
. He developed the Herbarium of the University and Coimbra Botanical Garden. He also founded the
Broterian Society, which brought together various scientists botanists, geologists and naturalists. He was a large admirer of the work of
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...
.
[Thomas F. Glick and Elinor Shaffer . p. 580] He also wrote many articles about the flora of Portugal.
Biography
Henriques was born on 15 January 1838, in the parish of
Arco de Baúlhe
Arco may refer to:
Places
* Arco, Trentino, a town in Trentino, Italy
* Arco, Idaho, in the United States
* Arco, Minnesota, a city in the United States
* ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California, home of the Sacramento Kings
Companies
* ARCO (bran ...
.
In 1853, he married Zulmira Angelina de Magalhães Lima.
He went to school in the city of
Braga
Braga (; ) is a cities of Portugal, city and a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality, capital of the northwestern Portugal, Portuguese Braga (district), district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality ...
. In 1854, he trained to become a lawyer at College of São Bento in
Coimbra
Coimbra (, also , , or ), officially the City of Coimbra (), is a city and a concelho, municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2021 census was 140,796, in an area of .
The fourth-largest agglomerated urban area in Po ...
, (following his fathers wishes). He completed his law course in 1859, but then enrolled on a second college course in
Philosophy
Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
at the
University of Coimbra
The University of Coimbra (UC; , ) is a Public university, public research university in Coimbra, Portugal. First established in Lisbon in 1290, it went through a number of relocations until moving permanently to Coimbra in 1537. The university ...
. After gaining a bachelor's degree in Philosophy, he went on to obtain a Ph.D. doctorate.
[
Henriques was a supporter of ]Darwinism
''Darwinism'' is a term used to describe a theory of biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and others. The theory states that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural sel ...
.[ His final thesis in 1865, was entitled ''As espécies são mudáveis?'' (translated as ''Are species modifiable?'') was a defence of ]Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...
's theory of evolution.[
In 1866, he became a tutor in Philosophy at the University of Coimbra. He soon became secretary of the Philosophy Faculty, which he held until 1873. In 1869, he became a substitute lecturer in botany, agriculture, zoology, chemistry and mineralogy.][
He most favoured botany and the plant sciences, and then in 1873, this new found passion lead to him becoming head of the Botany and Agriculture. This also meant being in charge of the university botanical garden. Using other botanical gardens in Europe as his guide, he achieved new funding for the department. He acquired new laboratory resources, increased fieldwork opportunities for his botany students. He re-organised the books, to create a library, then he re-organised the botanical specimens to create a ]herbarium
A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant biological specimen, specimens and associated data used for scientific study.
The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sh ...
. This new plant collection attracted others, including a vast number of specimens from the German collector Heinrich Moritz Willkomm
Heinrich Moritz Willkomm (29 June 1821, Herwigsdorf – 26 August 1895, Schloss Wartenberg in Wartenberg am Rollberg, Bohemia) was a German botanist who served as a professor of botany at Tharandt, the University of Dorpat and at the Unive ...
(who collected in Spain and Portugal). He also added to the Botanical Garden, by collaborating (via exchanges of plants and seeds) with other botanical gardens and plant organisations.
This invigoration within the botany department, turned Coimbra into a national centre for studying Portuguese flora.[
In 1876, he wrote ''O Jardim Botanico'', published by University Press.
In 1880, he was still in contact with Heinrich Moritz Willkomm, with several letters being sent between the two botanists.
In 1880, he founded the '']Sociedade Broteriana
The Broterian Society () is a botanical scientific society, the first of its kind in Portugal, established in 1880 by Júlio Henriques, professor of Botany and Agriculture at the University of Coimbra, to promote the development of botanical stud ...
'', which was named in honour after Félix Avelar Brotero
Felix may refer to:
* Felix (name), people and fictional characters with the name
Places
* Arabia Felix is the ancient Latin name of Yemen
* Felix, Spain, a municipality of the province Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, ...
(a botanist and founder of the Botanical Garden. The botanical society brought together plant enthusiasts from all over Portugal, to write various articles in the society's bulletins. and disseminate information about plants throughout the country.[ Under the control of him and Adolpho Frederico Möller the society started in 1880 to publish and distribute annual series of specimens which resemble ]exsiccatae
Exsiccata (Latin, ''gen.'' -ae, ''plur.'' -ae) is a work with "published, uniform, numbered set of preserved specimens distributed with printed labels". Typically, exsiccatae are numbered collections of dried herbarium specimens or preserved bio ...
by printed labels with title and numbered species name, starting with ''Flora Lusitanica (Soc. Brot. 1. anno)'' and ending with ''Flora Lusitanica (Soc. Brot. 18. anno)'' and ''Flora Lusitanica (Soc. Brot. 19. anno)''.
Henriques became to travel all over the country to collect more specimens for the University and the herbarium. He also started classifying and identifying the herbarium collection (including Willkomm's and his) specimens.[
He produced many articles and publications on the fungi, lichens, algae and vascular plants (such as ]Amaryllidaceae
The Amaryllidaceae are a family of herbaceous, mainly perennial and bulbous (rarely rhizomatous) flowering plants in the monocot order Asparagales. The family takes its name from the genus '' Amaryllis'' and is commonly known as the amaryl ...
, Poaceae
Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivate ...
and Plantaginaceae
Plantaginaceae, the plantain family or veronica family, is a large, diverse family (biology), family of flowering plants in the order Lamiales that includes common flowers such as Antirrhinum, snapdragon and Digitalis, foxglove. It is unrelated ...
) of Portugal and produced a regional flora of the Mondego Basin Mondego may refer to:
* Mondego River, Portugal
* Rio Mondego, another name for the Miranda River (Brazil)
* Baixo Mondego, a subregion of Portugal
* Cabo Mondego, natural monument in Portugal
* Metro Mondego, light rail network in Coimbra, Portug ...
.
In 1882, Henriques published an article ''Carlos Darwin'', which is devoted to Charles Darwin's life and works.[
In 1883, he published ''Expedição scientifica á Serra da Estrella'', in ''Secção de botanica'', based on a botanical exploration taken of ]Serra da Estrela
Serra da Estrela (, ) is the highest mountain range in Continental Portugal. Together with the Serra da Lousã it is the westernmost constituent range of the Sistema Central and also one of the highest in the system. It includes mainland Portuga ...
(Star Mountain range) in 1881. It listed 716 plants (including 600 vascular species).[Sidney Fay Blake ]
In 1886, he published ''Uma excursão botanica na Serra do Caramullo'' in ''Bol. Soc Broteriana'', various geological, topographical and flora observations from explorations taken in June 1884.[
In 1886, he published ''Contribuição para o estudo da flora d'Africa: Flora de S. Thome'' about flora of the Portuguese commonwealth in Africa, he collected in ]São Tomé
São Tomé is the capital and largest city of the Central African island country of São Tomé and Príncipe. Its name is Portuguese for " Saint Thomas". Founded in the 15th century, it is one of Africa's oldest colonial cities.
History
Álv ...
and Príncipe
Príncipe (; ) is the smaller, northern major island of the country of São Tomé and Príncipe lying off the west coast of Africa in the Gulf of Guinea. It has an area of (including offshore islets) and a population of 7,324 at the 2012 Cens ...
as well, and is responsible for publishing the first flora of these islands in 1886. He was also interested in the development of agriculture on São Tomé and Príncipe and in Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...
, publishing instructions on successful cultivation of certain crop species (particularly quinine
Quinine is a medication used to treat malaria and babesiosis. This includes the treatment of malaria due to ''Plasmodium falciparum'' that is resistant to chloroquine when artesunate is not available. While sometimes used for nocturnal leg ...
for its protective qualities against malaria
Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...
), and sending over thousands of species of potential agricultural interest.[
In 1886 he started to issue the ]exsiccata
Exsiccata (Latin, ''gen.'' -ae, ''plur.'' -ae) is a work with "published, uniform, numbered set of preserved specimens distributed with printed labels". Typically, exsiccatae are numbered collections of dried herbarium Biological specimen, spe ...
''Flora Lusitanica exsiccata Herb. Hort. Bot. Conimbricensis''.
In 1889, he published ''Lecanora newtoniana
''Lecanora'' is a genus of lichen commonly called rim lichens.Field Guide to California Lichens, Stephen Sharnoff, Yale University Press, 2014, Lichens in the genus '' Squamarina'' are also called rim lichens. Members of the genus have roughly c ...
'' (a species of Lichen) in Ins. Guin.: 17 (1889).
He studied specimens from plant collectors, Frenchman Jules Alexandre Daveau (during 1852-1929) and M. Ferreira. (during 1860-1920).[
In 1901, he published ''De Macieira até Castro Daire'' in ''Bol. Soc Broteriana'' various geological, topographical and flora details of various regions in articles.][
Henriques did not hold a large number of administrative positions, preferring instead to concentrate on his teaching and running the gardens.
In 1907, the ]University of Uppsala
Uppsala University (UU) () is a public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation.
Initially founded in the 15th century, the university rose to s ...
(in Sweden) awarded him an honorary doctorate but, as a particularly humble man, he often refused other recognition's.[
In 1915, he wrote a letter on 5 January from Jardim Botânico, Coimbra to Sir William Abbott Herdman, the letter is now stored by the ]Natural History Museum
A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history scientific collection, collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleo ...
Archives in London.
In 1917, he wrote ''A Ilha de S. Tomé, sob o ponto de vista histórico-natural e agrícola''.
He also wrote ''Plantas Da Borracha E Da Gutta-Percha'' (Portuguese Edition). It was re-published in paperback form on 27 January 2012.
He is the botanical author of ''Iris boissieri
''Iris boissieri'' (also known as the yellowbeard iris), is a species in the genus '' Iris'', it is also in the subgenus Xiphium. It is from Europe, mainly Spain and Portugal. It has blue-purple (or deep purple) flowers with a yellow beard.
Des ...
''.
After his death in 1928, several articles ''Flora vascular de Transcow'' were published in ''Anais da Faculdade de Sciências do Porto'' in 1936 by Gonçalo Sampaio
Gonçalo António da Silva Ferreira Sampaio (29 March 1865 in São Gens de Calvos – 28 July 1937 in Porto) was a Portuguese botanist.
He studied mathematics at the University of Coimbra and chemistry, mineralogy and botany at the Polytechn ...
. This was a brief annotated list of 405 species of vascular plants collected by Henriques in July 1908.[
In 1955, ''Portugaliae acta biologica: Sistemática, ecologia, biogeografia e paleontologia'', Volumes 6-8 was also published.
In 1978, ''Sociedade Broteriana'' also published the letters sent between Julio Henriques and ]Heinrich Moritz Willkomm
Heinrich Moritz Willkomm (29 June 1821, Herwigsdorf – 26 August 1895, Schloss Wartenberg in Wartenberg am Rollberg, Bohemia) was a German botanist who served as a professor of botany at Tharandt, the University of Dorpat and at the Unive ...
.
References
Other sources
*R. T. Palian, 1849, "Júlio Henriques: Botânico e Mestre (esboço vigoráfico)", Portugaliae acta biologica, vol. Julio Henriques: V-XXXV.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Henriques, Julio Augusto
1838 births
1928 deaths
Botanists active in Europe
Botanists with author abbreviations
19th-century Portuguese botanists
University of Coimbra alumni
20th-century Portuguese botanists