Abstract
We examine various aspects of Joseph Quer's Flora espanola (1762–1764, 1784), taking into consideration the contributions made by Casimiro Gomez Ortega and proposing that he be credited as a co-author on the last two volumes of the work. Flora espanola comprises 2602 species, 2493 of which are vascular plants, including both wild and cultivated species. When assigned to the currently accepted species of Flora iberica, we obtain 1690 native or naturalized plant species (28 % of the total Spanish species). Most of the reported species correspond to common plants, only 3 % are considered narrowly distributed species and no more than 5 % are endemic species. In Flora espanola only two species are proposed as new. The limited number of new taxa may be due to Quer's self-taught background, strongly influenced by Tournefort's work, and the unfavourable scientific environment, characterized by the lack of resources and supporting institutions. By far the weakest points of Flora espanola are the names listed in alphabetical order and the use of old polynomials instead of Linnaean binomials. In contrast, the study of dried plants then kept at herbaria constituted a suitable working methodology, which made this Flora a solid base for subsequent works in the Iberian Peninsula. We also address the extensive field work carried out by Quer: he visited 632 different localities spread over most of the Iberian Peninsula. The information provided in Flora espanola, together with a thorough review of Quer's herbarium vouchers, the labels of which do not include information on localities, allows us to gain valuable insights into some rare and potentially extinct species.
Highlights
Joseph Quer y Martínez was likely born in Perpignan, in what is the Pyrénées-Orientales department of S France, on 26 January 1695, and died in Madrid on 19 March 1764
The authorship of the last two volumes has been attributed to Gómez Ortega in other works, for example, in the bibliographic appendices of Flora iberica (Castroviejo & al. 1990: 774)
In the first half of the 18th century, there were no botanical institutions in Spain that would have been able to train individuals interested in the discipline
Summary
Joseph Quer y Martínez was likely born in Perpignan, in what is the Pyrénées-Orientales department of S France, on 26 January 1695, and died in Madrid on 19 March 1764 He was a surgeon in the Spanish Army and travelled with his regiment across the Iberian Peninsula. While his regiment was stationed in Bologna, Quer paid frequent visits to Giuseppe Monti, who directed the botanical garden there Upon his return from Italy, Quer stopped in Montpellier to meet the French botanist François Boissier de Sauvages. On 21 November 1755 he was appointed Primer Profesor of the recently founded Real Jardín Botánico of Madrid (Gómez Ortega 1784) During this time, Quer explored different regions of the Iberian Peninsula and started developing the initial contributions to his seminal work, Flora española. In 1773, the Protomedicato ordered the completion of Flora española by Casimiro Gómez Ortega using Quer’s manuscripts as a basis
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