Julio Augusto Henriques
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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