Casimiro Gómez Ortega
Encyclopedia
Casimiro Gómez de Ortega (4 March 1741, Añover de Tajo
, Spain
– 30 August 1818, Madrid, Spain) 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
.
He described the genera Echeandia
(Anthericaceae), Maurandya
(Plantaginaceae
), Pascalia
(Asteraceae
), and Sesamoides (Resedaceae
).
The genus Gomortega
, a tree endemic to Chile
, is named after him.
He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1777.
Toledo, Spain
Toledo's Alcázar became renowned in the 19th and 20th centuries as a military academy. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 its garrison was famously besieged by Republican forces.-Economy:...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
– 30 August 1818, Madrid, Spain) was a Spanish physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
, and botanist who was the First Professor of the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid
Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid
The is an botanical garden located at , next to the Prado Museum in Madrid ....
. Under Charles III of Spain
Charles III of Spain
Charles III was the King of Spain and the Spanish Indies from 1759 to 1788. He was the eldest son of Philip V of Spain and his second wife, the Princess Elisabeth Farnese...
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
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
, and on the economic botany of plants collected during Spanish sponsored explorations of South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
.
He described the genera Echeandia
Echeandia
Echeandia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae. It is named for Spanish botanist Pedro Gregorio Echeandía . Species in the genus are distributed from the Southwestern United States south to Northwestern Argentina, Southern Bolivia, and Southern Peru. They...
(Anthericaceae), Maurandya
Maurandya
Maurandya is a genus of flowering plants in the plantain family, Plantaginaceae. Some authorities include in it Epixiphium and Maurandella.-Selected species:*Maurandya barclayana Lindl. – Mexican Viper...
(Plantaginaceae
Plantaginaceae
Plantaginaceae Juss. or plantain family, are a family of flowering plants in the order Lamiales. The type genus is Plantago L..In older classifications it used to be the only family of the order Plantaginales, but numerous phylogenetic studies, summarized by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group, have...
), Pascalia
Pascalia
Pascalia is a genus of flowering plants in the daisy family....
(Asteraceae
Asteraceae
The Asteraceae or Compositae , is an exceedingly large and widespread family of vascular plants. The group has more than 22,750 currently accepted species, spread across 1620 genera and 12 subfamilies...
), and Sesamoides (Resedaceae
Resedaceae
Resedaceae is a family of generally herbaceous dicotyledonous plants comprising some 70 species in six genera:*Caylusea*Ochradenus*Oligomeris*Randonia*Reseda*Sesamoides...
).
The genus Gomortega
Gomortega
Gomortega keule is a tree native to Chile. It is the sole species of the genus Gomortega and, according to the APG II system of 2003 , of the monotypic family Gomortegaceae, assigned to the order Laurales in the clade magnoliids.The plant grows...
, a tree endemic to Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, is named after him.
He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1777.