João de Loureiro

Homalium cochinchinensis (Lour.) Druce, first described by Loureiro as Astranthus cochinchinensis Lour.

João de Loureiro (1717, Lisbon – 18 October 1791) was a Portuguese Jesuit missionary and botanist.

After receiving admission to the Jesuit Order, he served as a missionary in Goa, capital of Portuguese India (3 years) and Macau (4 years). In 1742 he traveled to Cochinchina, remaining there for 35 years. Here he worked as a mathematician and naturalist, acquiring knowledge on the properties and uses of native medicinal plants. In 1777 he journeyed to Canton, returning to Lisbon four years later.[1]

In 1790 he published a work on flora of Cochinchina titled Flora Cochinchinensis.[2] João de Loureiro has numerous species "loureiroi" dedicated to him, mostly plants but also the dinosaur Draconyx loureiroi in honour of him being the first Portuguese palaeontologist.[3]

Works

Books about João de Loureiro

  • Pe. João de Loureiro : missionário e botânico by José Maria Braga, 1938.[4]

References

  1. JSTOR, Loureiro and his botanical work by E.D. Merrill Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society Vol. 72, No. 4 (Apr., 1933), pp. 229-239
  2. Google Books Flora Cochinchinensis
  3. Mateus, O. and Antunes, M.T., 2001, January. Draconyx loureiroi, a new camptosauridae (Dinosauria, Ornithopoda) from the Late Jurassic of Lourinhã, Portugal. In Annales de paléontologie (Vol. 87, No. 1, pp. 61-73). Elsevier Masson.
  4. WorldCat Titles Pe. João de Loureiro, etc.
  5. IPNI.  Lour.


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