Benedetto Scortechini

Benedetto Scortechini (1845–1886) was an Italian botanist, explorer, and Roman Catholic priest.

Benedetto Scortechini
Born1845
Cupramontana, Papal States
DiedNovember 4, 1886
Calcutta, India
NationalityItalian
Scientific career
FieldsBotany
Author abbrev. (botany)Scort.

Biography

He graduated from the Sapienza University of Rome as a priest and a lawyer. Accompanied by the priest Jerome Davadi (1846–1900) and one other Italian priest, Scortechini arrived in Brisbane on 28 February 1871.[1] The three Italian priests were brought, shortly after the end of the First Vatican Council, to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane by Bishop James Quinn, the first Roman Catholic Bishop of Brisbane. After briefly working in Stanhope, Victoria and in Roma, Queensland, Scortechini was stationed in Gympie, Queensland from 1873 to 1875.[2] In 1875 he was appointed the pastor of Logan Parish within the County of Ward, Queensland, where he remained the pastor for nine years until he left Australia in 1884.[3]

In addition to his pastoral duties he spent much time studying the botany of the area, collecting specimens alongside the colonial botanist F.M. Bailey. About 90 specimens collected by Scortechini are found in the Queensland Herbarium ...[2]

George King, Director of the Royal Botanic Garden Calcutta, arranged with Sir Hugh Low, the British Resident at Perak, to employ plant collectors to work in Peninsular Malaysia.[4] As part of this programme, King and Low recruited Hermann H. Kunstler (1837–1887)[5] and Scortechini. Botanical specimens were sent to George King in Calcutta with duplicates sent to Kew Gardens.[4]

After leaving Australia early in 1884 Scortechini worked with fellow priest-scientist Rev. Julian Tenison-Woods documenting plant life in the Straits Settlements (Malaysia), where he was appointed Government Botanist at Perak. Leaving the region in 1886 he began making his way to London, via India, to publish his results. While in Calcutta, however, he began suffering from a fever, possibly malaria, and died in November.[2]

Upon his death, Scortechini's collections were given to the Calcutta herbarium.[2]

He published much of his research in the scientific journals of the day and was awarded membership of the Linnaean Society of New South Wales and later of the same Society in London. He was a foundation member of the Royal Society of Queensland.[3]

Eponyms

Genus

Species

Selected publications
  • benedetto Scortechini. 1881. Scortechini, B. (1881). "Contribution to a South Queensland Flora". Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales. 6: 157–169. doi:10.5962/bhl.part.11864.
  • benedetto Scortechini. 1885. "A new genus of Myrtaceae". Journal of Botany. 23: 153–154.
  • pier Andrea Saccardo, giulio Paoletti, benedetto Scortechini. 1888. Mycetes Malacenses: funghi della penisola di Malacca raccolti nel 1885 dall'ab. Benedetto Scortechini. Editor Tip. Antonelli, 42 pp.

References
  1. MacMaurice, Robert (31 July 2014). "Fruit industry pioneer a priest (biographical sketch of Jerome Davadi)". Southern Free Times Warwick.
  2. "Scortechini, Benedetto (1845-1886)". JSTOR Global Plants.
  3. "Scortechini, Benedetto (1845 - 1886)". Council of Heads of Australian Herbaria, Australian National Herbarium, Biographical Notes.
  4. Kiew, Ruth. "Clarification of Hermann H. Kunstler's botanical collecting localities in Peninsular Malaysia" (PDF). Gardens' Bulletin Singapore. 65 (2): 149–156.
  5. "Kunstler, Hermann H. (1837-1887)". JSTOR Global Plants.
  6. J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, Pt. 2, Nat. Hist. 74(3): 671 1908 (IK)
  7. Gard. Bull. Singapore 14: 244 1955 (IK)
  8. Bull. Soc. Bot. France 53(Mém. 4 (2)): 136 1906 (IK)
  9. "Hoya scortechini". myhoyas.com.
  10. Rodda, Michele; Ang, W. F. (2012). "Hoya caudata Hook. f.(Apocynaceae), a new record for Singapore, and keys to the Hoya species of Singapore". Nature in Singapore. 5: 123–128.
  11. Ann. Sci. Nat., Bot. sér. 9, 9: 345. 1909 (IK)
  12. Schefflera hullettii R. Vig, gbif.org
  13. Notizbl. Bot. Gart. Berlin-Dahlem 15: 735. 1942 (IK)
  14. Blumea 55(3): 239 2010
  15. Secamone, The Plant List
  16. Reinwardtia 9 1974 (APNI)
  17. Blumea vii. 182 1952 (IK)
  18. Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 31(1): 44. 1971 (IK)
  19. Didymocarpus scortechinii, The Plants List
  20. Bull. Soc. Bot. France 41: 538. 1894 (IK)
  21. Baranthus axanthus Miq., gif.org
  22. Proc. Linn. Soc. New S. Wales 27(4) 1902 (APNI)
  23. Spyridium scortechinii, Australian Plants Society NWS
  24. Indian Forester lxxxix. 609 1963 (IK)
  25. Geophila scortechinii, The Plants List
  26. Nat. Pflanzenfam. [Engler & Prantl] iii. 6 188. 1895 (IK)
  27. Notul. Syst. (Paris) 1: 376. 1911 (IK)
  28. Tetrastigma scortechniii, Kewscience, Plants of the World online
  29. International Plant Names Index.  Scort.

Data related to Benedetto Scortechini at Wikispecies

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