Pierfelice (Pedro Félix, Pierre Félice) Ravenna (1938–2022) was a Chilean
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 ...
of
Italian Jewish
Italian Jews (; ) or Roman Jews (; ) can be used in a broad sense to mean all Jews living in or with roots in Italy, or, in a narrower sense, to mean the Italkim, an ancient community living in Italy since the Ancient Roman era, who use the It ...
origin. His research interests were mainly in the field of South American
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 ...
Iridaceae
Iridaceae () is a family of plants in order Asparagales, taking its name from the Iris (plant), irises. It has a nearly global distribution, with 69 accepted genera with a total of about 2500 species. It includes a number of economically importan ...
.
Selected publications
* 1970a. ''Nuevas especies de Amaryllidaceae''. Notic. Mens. Mus. Nac. Hist. Nat. Santiago 269 : 1-7
* 1970b. ''Contributions to South American Amaryllidaceae III''. Pl. Life 37: 73–103, figs. 18-25
*
* 1972. ''Latin American Amaryllidis 1971''. Pl. Life 28: 119–127, figs. 28-30
* 1974. ''Contributions to South American Amaryllidaceae VI''. Pl. Life 30: 29-79
* 1978. ''Studies in the Alliaceae‑II (error tip. "Alliae”)''. Pl. Life 34 (2): 3-10
*
* 1983. '' Catila and Onira, two new genera of South American Iridaceae''. Nordic Journal of Botany 3 ( 2): 197-205
* 1988. ''New species of South American Habranthus and Zephyranthes (Amaryllidaceae)''. Onira 1 (8): 53-56
* 2000a. ''New or noteworthy Leucocoryne species (
Alliaceae
Allioideae is a subfamily of monocot flowering plants in the family Amaryllidaceae, order Asparagales. It was formerly treated as a separate family, Alliaceae. The subfamily name is derived from the generic name of the type genus, ''Allium''. ...
)''. Onira 4 (2): 3-10
* 2000b. ''The family Gilliesiaceae''. Onira 4 (3): 11-14 (with key to genera)
* 2000c. '' Miersia scalae, a synonym of Gilliesia monophylla (Gilliesaceae)''. Onira 4 (8):30
*
* 2003b. ''Los subgéneros de
Leucocoryne
''Leucocoryne'' (glory-of-the-sun) is a genus of bulbous perennial plants in the family Amaryllidaceae. The foliage of all species is long and narrow and has an onion-like scent. The blue, white or lilac flowers are held in umbels.
The entire ge ...
y la ilegitimidad de
Pabellonia
''Leucocoryne'' (glory-of-the-sun) is a genus of bulbous perennial plants in the family Amaryllidaceae. The foliage of all species is long and narrow and has an onion-like scent. The blue, white or lilac flowers are held in umbels.
The entire ge ...
(Alliaceae)' Chloris Chilensis 6 ( 2) * 2005a. ''Gilliesia dimera and Gilliesia isopetala two new species from central Chile (Gilliesiaceae)''. Onira 9 (17): 60-63
* 2005b. '' Solaria brevicoalita and S. curacavina two Chilean species of Gilliesiaceae''. Onira 9 (16): 64-67
* 2005c. ''On the absence of the genus Gilliesia (Gilliesiaceae) in the Argentine flora''. Onira 9 (15): 59
* 2005d. ''Especies nuevas de Gilliesia y Solaria (Gilliesiaceae) y claves para el reconocimiento de las especies de ambos géneros'' Chloris Chilensis 8 ( 1)
Awards
Ravenna was awarded
The Herbert Medal
The Herbert Medal is awarded by the International Bulb Society to those whose achievements in advancing knowledge of ornamental bulbous plants is considered to be outstanding.
Legacy
The
International Plant Names Index
The International Plant Names Index (IPNI) describes itself as "a database of the names and associated basic bibliographical details of seed plants, ferns and lycophytes." Coverage of plant names is best at the rank of species and genus. It inclu ...
lists 1,741 taxa for which Ravenna is the
botanical authority
In botanical nomenclature, author citation is the way of citing the person or group of people who validly published a botanical name, i.e. who first published the name while fulfilling the formal requirements as specified by the ''International Cod ...
. Another paper counted and listed 1025 names published by Ravenna, 681 of which were newly described at the species or infraspecific level. Although some of his herbarium specimens are deposited at international herbaria, his own personal herbarium including many type specimens was destroyed.