The Botanical Expedition to the Viceroyalty of Peru (Spanish: Expedición Botánica al Virreinato del Perú) was a Spanish expedition to the colonial territories of the Viceroyalty of Peru and Chile between 1777 and 1788.
Spanish or Castilian, is a Western Romance language that originated in the Castile region of Spain and today has hundreds of millions of native speakers in the Americas and Spain. It is a global language and the world's second-most spoken native language, after Mandarin Chinese.
A botanical expedition is a scientific journey or voyage designed to explore the flora of a particular region. The expedition could be specifically designed for exploring the flora, or this could have been a part of studying the natural history of the region. A naturalist or botanist was charged with drawing and describing the flora, collecting specimens of unknown plants in a plant press, and identifying potential economically important plants. On botanical expeditions funded by governments, the plants were often collected by the person in the field, but described and named by a government sponsored scientists at botanical gardens and universities. For example, many of the species collected on the Lewis and Clark Expedition were described and named by Frederick Traugott Pursh.
The Viceroyalty of Peru was a Spanish imperial provincial administrative district, created in 1542, that originally contained modern-day Peru and most of Spanish-ruled South America, governed from the capital of Lima. The Viceroyalty of Peru was one of the two Spanish Viceroyalties in the Americas from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries.
Charles III was King of Spain (1759–1788), after ruling Naples as Charles VII and Sicily as Charles V (1734–1759). He was the fifth son of Philip V of Spain, and the eldest son of Philip's second wife, Elisabeth Farnese. A proponent of enlightened absolutism, he succeeded to the Spanish throne on 10 August 1759, upon the death of his half-brother Ferdinand VI, who left no heirs.
Hipólito Ruiz López, or Hipólito Ruiz, was a Spanish botanist known for researching the floras of Peru and Chile during an expedition under Carlos III from 1777 to 1788. During the reign of Carlos III, three major botanical expeditions were sent to the New World; Ruiz and José Antonio Pavón Jiménez were the botanists for the first of these expeditions, to Peru and Chile.
José Antonio Pavón Jiménez or José Antonio Pavón was a Spanish botanist known for researching the flora of Peru and Chile.
Background
During the 18th century, Europe saw a flowering interest in the science of botany that in Spain crystallized in the organization of a series of scientific expeditions to Spanish colonial territories in America, the Pacific islands and Asia. King Charles III of Spain was very much in favor of this type of scientific research and provided funding for several explorations in the later part of the century.
Casimiro Gómez de Ortega was a Spanish physician, and botanist who was the First Professor of the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid. Under Charles III of Spain Gómez de Ortega directed the formation of the Royal Botanical Garden as a place, in particular, to collect and study the new species of plants being identified by European explorers. Gómez de Ortega published extensively on plant species, and on the economic botany of plants collected during Spanish sponsored explorations of South America.
Joseph Dombey was a French botanist. He was involved in the "Dombey affair" which was precipitated by British seizure of a vessel his collections were on and diversion of the collections to the British Museum.
Two prestigious botanical illustrators, Joseph Bonete and Isidro Gálvez, also accompanied the expedition.
Expedition
The expedition sailed from Cádiz in 1777 and arrived at Lima in April 1778. For over ten years, from 1778 to 1788, they explored the territories of present Peru and Chile studying and collecting specimens.
Cádiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia.
Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central coastal part of the country, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima Metropolitan Area. With a population of more than 9 million, Lima is the most populous metropolitan area of Peru and the third-largest city in the Americas, behind São Paulo and Mexico City.
The expedition suffered all kinds of setbacks during this time, ranging from the sinking of the ship San Pedro de Alcantara in 1784 that carried numerous botanical samples, a 1785 fire in the Peruvian population in Macora that resulted in the loss of additional samples and equipment, to quarrels between the members of the expeditionary team, specially between Ruiz and Dombey, that resulted in the latter leaving the group in 1784. He was replaced by Juan José Tafalla Navascués that same year.
In 1788, the bulk of the expedition returned to Spain, leaving only Tafalla in Peru with a mandate to continue sending material. Painters Xavier Cortes and Jose Gabriel Rivera joined botanist Agustin Jose Manzanilla in 1793. Between 1799 and 1808, an herbarium was set up in the territory of present Quito (Ecuador) to further study the Huayaquilensis Flora, that continued making regular mailings of material to Spain until the death of Tafalla in 1811.
All together, more than 3,000 specimens of plants were collected and 2,500 life-sized botanical illustrations were produced, and when they returned to Spain they brought back a great many living plants, among which was a medicinal remedy for the flu as well as toothaches, using as a base the boiled sprouts of Buddleja incana.
Buddleja, or Buddleia, commonly known as the butterfly bush, is a genus comprising over 140 species of flowering plants endemic to Asia, Africa, and the Americas. The generic name bestowed by Linnaeus posthumously honoured the Reverend Adam Buddle (1662–1715), an English botanist and rector, at the suggestion of Dr. William Houstoun. Houstoun sent the first plants to become known to science as buddleja to England from the Caribbean about 15 years after Buddle's death.
The collections that arrived in Cádiz in 1788 were in the most part in good condition, and were housed in Madrid's Royal Botanical Garden and the Gabinete de Historia Natural, the precursor of the Museum of Natural History. The discoveries included about 150 new genera and 500 new species, which still retain the names given them by Ruiz and Pavón. Unfortunately, a part of the collection consisting of 53 crates with 800 illustrations, dried plants, seeds, resins and minerals was lost when the ship transporting it was wrecked on the coast of Portugal.
Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid is an 8 hectares botanical garden in Madrid (Spain). The public entrance is located at Plaza de Murillo, next to the Prado Museum.
The Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales is the National Museum of Natural History of Spain. It is situated in the center of Madrid, by the Paseo de la Castellana. It is managed by the Spanish National Research Council.
Publications
Flora Peruviana, et Chilensis.
Hipólito Ruiz López and José Antonio Pavón Jiménez published Flora Peruviana et Chilensis prodromus in ten volumes, richly illustrated with engravings of the specimens. The first four volumes were published between 1798 and 1802. The last six volumes were published after the death of Ruiz.
Ruiz and Pavón also published together Systema vegetabilium florae peruvianae chilensis in 1798, and Flora peruviana, et chilensis, sive descriptiones, et icones, between 1798 and 1802.
The journals Ruiz produced for his exploration of South America during these years are remarkable for their breadth of ethnobotanical and natural history knowledge. Of particular interest at the time was pharmacological knowledge of New World plants such as Chinchona, the source of the anti-malarial, quinine. In addition to detailed descriptions and paintings of the flora and fauna of Peru and Chile, Ruiz observed the geology and weather of the area, and included cultural information about the life of the Indians and the colonists of the area. The result of these observations was the publication of Quinología o tratado del árbol de la quina in Madrid, 1792, that was promptly translated into Italian in 1792, German in 1794 and English in 1800.
In addition to the detailed descriptions and paintings of the flora and fauna of Peru and Chile, Ruiz also reflected on the geology and the weather conditions of the explored territories. He also included ethnological information about the lifestyle of both the indigenous population and the colonists that had settled in those areas.
Hipólito Ruiz López was named a member of the Royal Academy of Medicine in 1794, and he published various works in that body's Memoires.
After Ruiz died on 1816, Pavón sold a part of the collections of the expedition to Aylmer Bourke Lambert, who had translated several botanical papers from the expedition, and to Philip Barker Webb. Thanks to Lambert, he was later elected member of the Linnean Society of London.
The main collection consisting of more than ten thousand engravings remained at the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid, together with 2,254 botanical drawings with descriptions. Most of the documentation related to the expedition and the Flora peruviana publication is at the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, in Madrid. The ethnological material from the expedition can be found today at the Museum of the Americas, also in Madrid.
Also in the Archives of the Real Jardín Botánico in Madrid was Flora Huayaquilensis an expedition by Juan José Tafalla Navascués, a Spaniard who was one of the first who traveled to South America and documenting the different plants with wonderful paintings and written descriptions. All of this work was in the archives and only published by Dr. Estrella after searching the Real Jardín Botánico in Madrid archives and finding the informaction that formed, Flora Huayaquilensis and finally the life work of Tafalla was published.
Alonsoa is a genus of 12 species of flowering plants in the family Scrophulariaceae. The genus includes both herbaceous and shrubby species.
Martín Sessé y Lacasta was a Spanish botanist, who relocated to New Spain during the 18th century to study and classify the flora of the territory.
Heliconia rostrata is an herbaceous perennial native to Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Ecuador, and naturalized in Puerto Rico. Other Heliconias grow in the upright position, their cup-shaped flower bracts storing water for birds and insects. This plant, however, has downward-facing flowers, the flowers thus providing a source of nectar to birds.
Soliva is a genus of South American plants in the sunflower family. Burrweed is a common name for some species in this genus.
Manuel de Guirior was a Spanish naval officer and colonial administrator. He was viceroy of New Granada from 1772 to 1776 and of Peru from July 17, 1776 to July 21, 1780.
Juan José Ruperto de Cuéllar y Villanueba was a Spanish pharmacologist and botanist. From 1786 to 1797 he was the leader of a royal botanical expedition to the Philippines.
Galinsoga is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. It is native to North and South America and the West Indies, and naturalized in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia.
Conanthera is a genus of small bulbous plants with small panicles of blue, purple or white and purple flowers. Propagation is by offsets or seed. All species are native to Chile, but there is an old 18th-Century report of C. bifolia occurring in colonial Peru as well. This could possibly be attributed to changes in boundaries between the two countries, as modern sources list the species as endemic to Chile.
Conanthera bifoliaRuiz & Pav. - from Valparaíso to La Araucanía
Conanthera campanulataLindl. - from Antofagasta to La Araucanía
Conanthera parvula(Phil.) Muñoz-Schick - from Valparaíso to La Araucanía
Conanthera trimaculata(D.Don) F.Meigen - central Chile
Conanthera urceolataRavenna - Atacama
Tessaria is a genus of South American plants in the stinkwort tribe within the daisy family.
Moscharia is a genus of flowering plants in the daisy family native to South America. It has two recognized species.
Plazia is a genus of South American plants in the gerbera tribe within the daisy family.
Plazia cheiranthifoliaWedd. - Coquimbo in Colombia
Plazia confertaRuiz & Pav. - Junín in Peru
Plazia daphnoidesWedd. - Bolivia, Peru (Ayacucho), Chile (Tarapacá), Argentina
Plazia robinsoniiM.O. Dillon & Sagást - Peru (Huamachuco)
Chaetanthera is a genus of South American flowering plants in the daisy family.
Eduardo Estrella Aguirre was an Ecuadorian doctor and researcher who published Flora Huayaquilensis: The Botanical Expedition of Juan Tafalla 1799-1808.
Flora Huayaquilensis is the popular name for the body of work produced by botanist Juan José Tafalla Navascués while he was in South America.
Cosmibuena is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. The genus is native to Chiapas, Central America, and South America as far south as Brazil.
Berberis flexuosa is a shrub in the Berberidaceae described as a species in 1802. It is endemic to Peru.
Columellia is a group of plant species in the Columelliaceae described as a genus in 1794.
References
↑ Robert Steele, Arthur (1964). Flowers for the King: the Expedition of Ruiz and Pavon and the Flora of Peru. Durham: Duke University Press. ISBN1-151-80977-2.
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