Hipólito Ruiz López
Encyclopedia
Hipólito Ruiz López is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 – 1816, Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

), or Hipólito Ruiz, was a Spanish botanist known for researching the floras of Peru and Chile during an expedition under Carlos III
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...

 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
José Antonio Pavón Jiménez
José Antonio Pavón Jiménez or José Antonio Pavón was a Spanish botanist known for researching the flora of Peru and Chile during an expedition under Carlos III from 1777 to 1788...

 were the botanists for the first of these expeditions, to Peru and Chile.

Background

After studying Latin with an uncle who was a priest, at the age of 14 Ruiz López went to Madrid to study logic, physics, chemistry and pharmacology. He also studied botany at the Migas Calientes Botanical Gardens (now the Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid
Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid
The is an botanical garden located at , next to the Prado Museum in Madrid ....

), under the supervision of Casimiro Gómez Ortega
Casimiro Gómez Ortega
Casimiro Gómez de Ortega was a Spanish physician, and botanist who was the First Professor of the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid...

 (1741–1818) and Antonio Palau Verdera (1734–1793).

Ruiz had not yet completed his pharmacology studies when he was named the head botanist of the expedition. The French physician Joseph Dombey
Joseph Dombey
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.-Biography:He ran away from home and acquired a thorough knowledge of botany in...

 was named as his assistant, and the pharmacologist José Antonio Pavón y Jimenez was also appointed. Completing the expedition were the botanical illustrators Joseph Bonete and Isidro Gálvez.

The expedition

The expedition sailed from Cádiz
Cádiz
Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....

 in 1777, arriving at Lima
Lima
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 part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...

 in April 1778. They explored throughout Peru and Chile for ten years (1778–1788), collecting specimens. The expedition collected 3,000 specimens of plants and made 2,500 life-sized botanical illustrations. When they returned to Spain they brought back a great many living plants.

One of the medical remedies brought back by this expedition was the boiled spouts of the quisoar plant, Buddleja incana
Buddleja
Buddleja, often misspelled Buddleia but commonly known as the Butterfly Bush, is a genus of flowering plants. The generic name bestowed by Linnaeus honours the Reverend Adam Buddle , a botanist and rector in Essex, England, but who could never have seen a plant of the genus.-Classification:The...

, which was used to cure colds or, mixed with urine, to alleviate toothache.
The collections arrived in Cádiz in good order (for the most part) in 1788, and were deposited in the Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid
Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid
The is an botanical garden located at , next to the Prado Museum in Madrid ....

 and in 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.

Back in Spain, Ruiz finished his pharmacological studies, graduating in 1790. He was named a member of the Royal Academy of Medicine in 1794, and he published various works in that body's Memoires. He and Pavón published Flora Peruviana et Chilensis 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. Before his death, Ruiz also published Quinología o tratado del árbol de la quina (Madrid, 1792). This work was soon translated into Italian (1792), German (1794) and English (1800).

The journals Ruiz produced for his exploration of South America during these years are remarkable for their breadth of ethnobotanical
Ethnobotany
Ethnobotany is the scientific study of the relationships that exist between people and plants....

 and natural history knowledge. Of particular interest to the Spanish Crown at the time was pharmacological
Pharmacology
Pharmacology is the branch of medicine and biology concerned with the study of drug action. More specifically, it is the study of the interactions that occur between a living organism and chemicals that affect normal or abnormal biochemical function...

 knowledge of New World plants such as Chinchona
Cinchona
Cinchona or Quina is a genus of about 38 species in the family Rubiaceae, native to tropical South America. They are large shrubs or small trees growing 5–15 metres in height with evergreen foliage. The leaves are opposite, rounded to lanceolate and 10–40 cm long. The flowers are white, pink...

, 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.

He died in 1816 (some sources say 1815) in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

.

Genera

Genera of plants initially named by Ruiz y Pavón
Ruiz y Pavón
-Ruiz et Pavón:Ruiz y Pavón Spanish form of the combination Ruiz et Pavón, as used as authority in plant species.-Joseph Pavón:Jose Antonio Pavón y Jimenez Spanish botanist, with Hipólito Ruiz López and the French specialist Dombey visited between 1779 and 1788 Chile, Peru and other South American...

, or containing species named by them, include the following:

  • Clarisia (1794)
  • Lapageria (1802)
  • Amaryllis
    Amaryllis
    Amaryllis is a small genus of flowering bulbs, with two species. The better known of the two, Amaryllis belladonna, is a native of South Africa, particularly the rocky southwest region near the Cape...

    (1802)
  • Cordia
    Cordia
    Cordia is a genus of flowering plants in the borage family, Boraginaceae. It contains about 300 species of shrubs and trees, which are found worldwide mostly in warmer regions. Many of the species are commonly called manjack, while bocote may refer to several Central American species in Spanish...

    (1794)
  • Baccharis
    Baccharis
    Baccharis is a genus of perennials and shrubs in the aster family . They are commonly known as baccharises but sometimes referred to as "brooms", because many members have small thin leaves resembling the true brooms. They are not at all related to these however, but belong to an entirely...

    (1794)
  • Brunellia
    Brunellia
    Brunellia is a genus of trees in the family Brunelliaceae. It consists of 62 species which grow in the mountainous regions from southern Mexico to Bolivia...

    (1794)
  • Fabiana (1794)
  • Puya
    Puya (genus)
    Puya is a genus of the botanical family Bromeliaceae, subfamily Pitcairnioideae. These terrestrial plants are native to the Andes Mountains of South America and southern Central America...

    (1794)
  • Stipa
    Stipa
    This article is about a type of grass.For Speech Transmission Index for Public Address Systems, see Speech transmission index.For the Italian aircraft designer, see Luigi Stipa...

    (1794)
  • Calandrinia
    Calandrinia
    Calandrinia is a plant genus that contains many species of purslane, including the redmaids. The genus was named for Jean Louis Calandrini, an 18th century Swiss botanist. It includes around 150 species of annual herbs which bear colorful flowers in shades of red to purple and white...

    (1794)
  • Vestia
    Vestia
    Vestia is a genus of air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Clausiliidae, the door snails, all of which have a clausilium.-Species:Species within the genus Vestia include:* Vestia gulo...

    (1794)
  • Crassula
    Crassula
    Crassula is a large genus of succulent plants containing many species, including the popular Jade Plant, Crassula ovata. They are native to many parts of the globe, but cultivated varieties are almost exclusively from the Eastern Cape of South Africa....

    (1794)
  • Krameria (1794)
  • Datura
    Datura
    Datura is a genus of nine species of vespertine flowering plants belonging to the family Solanaceae. Its precise and natural distribution is uncertain, owing to its extensive cultivation and naturalization throughout the temperate and tropical regions of the globe...

    (1794)
  • Clethra
    Clethra
    Clethra is a genus of between 30-70 species of flowering shrubs or small trees. It is one of two genera in the family Clethraceae...

    (1794)
  • Graffenrieda (1794)
  • Escallonia
    Escallonia
    Escallonia is a genus of flowering plants of the Escalloniaceae family.Commonly used as a hedging plant, it grows about 1 ft per year, and reaches between 4-8 ft in height. It is happy in coastal areas, but not very tolerant of dry winds....

    (1794)
  • Miconia
    Miconia
    Miconia is a genus of flowering plants in the glory bush family, Melastomataceae, native to warm temperate to tropical regions of the Americas. The species are mostly shrubs and small to medium-sized trees up to 15 m tall...

    (1794)
  • Cyperus
    Cyperus
    Cyperus is a large genus of about 600 species of sedges, distributed throughout all continents in both tropical and temperate regions. They are annual or perennial plants, mostly aquatic and growing in still or slow-moving water up to 0.5 m deep. The species vary greatly in size, with small species...

    (1794)
  • Piper
    Piper (genus)
    Piper, the pepper plants or pepper vines , are an economically and ecologically important genus in the family Piperaceae...

    (1794)
  • Wigandia
    Wigandia
    Wigandia is a genus of flowering plants within the waterleaf subfamily, Hydrophylloideae. They are found mainly in Central America and South America, though one or two species are found as far north as the United States...

    (1794)
  • Nama
    Nama (plant)
    Nama is a genus of herbaceous plants belonging to the family Boraginaceae. Most are found in North America.-Selected species:-Formerly placed here:*Evolvulus convolvuloides Stearn...

    (1794)
  • Jaltomata (1794)
  • Jarava
    Jarava
    Jarava is a genus in the subfamily Pooideae and the true grass family Poaceae.-Species:* Jarava academica* Jarava ambigua* Jarava ameghinoi* Jarava annua* Jarava arenicola* Jarava arundinacea* Jarava atacamensis...

    (1794)
  • Heteranthera
    Heteranthera
    Heteranthera is a genus of aquatic plants in the water hyacinth family, Pontederiaceae, known generally as mud plantains. Species of this genus are native to tropical and subtropical America and Africa. They live in the water or in wet soils. They produce leaves on long petioles and some are...

    (1794)

  • Collomia
    Collomia
    Collomia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Polemoniaceae.-Species:*Collomia coccinea - collomia*Collomia debilis - alpine collomia*Collomia diversifolia - serpentine collomia*Collomia grandiflora - grand collomia...

    (1794)
  • Acaena
    Acaena
    Acaena is a genus of about one hundred species of perennial herbs and subshrubs in the Rosaceae, native mainly to the Southern Hemisphere, notably New Zealand, Australia and South America, but with a few species extending into the Northern Hemisphere, north to Hawaii and California Acaena is a...

    (1794)
  • Verbena
    Verbena
    Verbena , verbenas or vervains, is a genus in the family Verbenaceae. It contains about 250 species of annual and perennial herbaceous or semi-woody flowering plants. The majority of the species are native to the New World from Canada south to southern Chile, but some are also native in the Old...

    (1794)
  • Cinchona
    Cinchona
    Cinchona or Quina is a genus of about 38 species in the family Rubiaceae, native to tropical South America. They are large shrubs or small trees growing 5–15 metres in height with evergreen foliage. The leaves are opposite, rounded to lanceolate and 10–40 cm long. The flowers are white, pink...

    (1794)
  • Triglochin (1794)
  • Fortunatia (1794)
  • Lardizabala
    Lardizabala
    Lardizabala is a monotypic genus of flowering plants. These plants are evergreen lianas, native to temperate forests of central and southern Chile....

    (1794)
  • Myrospermum
    Myrospermum
    Myrospermum is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae. It belongs to the sub family Faboideae....

    (1794)
  • Alstromeria (1794)
  • Montiopsis (1794)
  • Renealmia
    Renealmia
    Renealmia is a plant genus in the family Zingiberaceae. Species include:* Renealmia alpinia* Renealmia aurantifera* Renealmia cernua* Renealmia dolichocalyx* Renealmia oligotricha* Renealmia sessilifolia...

    (1794)
  • Tessaria
    Tessaria
    Tessaria is a genus of flowering plants in the daisy family....

    (1794)
  • Ipomoea
    Ipomoea
    Ipomoea is the largest genus in the flowering plant family Convolvulaceae, with over 500 species. Most of these are called "morning glories", but this can refer to related genera also. Those formerly separated in Calonyction are called "moonflowers"...

    (1794)
  • Xyris
    Xyris
    Xyris is the botanical name of a genus of flowering plants in the Yellow-eyed-grass family. The genus counts over two hundred fifty species, with the center of distribution in the Guianas....

    (1794)
  • Aloysia
    Aloysia
    Aloysia is a genus of flowering plants in the verbena family, Verbenaceae. The roughly 35 species of aromatic shrubs it contains are generally known as beebrushes, with the most well-known being Lemon Verbena...

    (1794)
  • Tillandsia
    Tillandsia
    Tillandsia is a genus of around 540 species in the Bromeliad family , found in the forests, mountains, and deserts, of Central and South America, and Mexico and the southern United States in North America....

    (1794)
  • Spermacoce
    Spermacoce
    Spermacoce is a genus of flowering plants in the Rubiaceae family. It comprises about 275 species found throughout the tropics and subtropics...

    (1794)
  • Sphaeradenia
    Sphaeradenia
    Sphaeradenia is a genus of plant in family Cyclanthaceae. It contains the following species :* Sphaeradenia brachiolata, R.Erikss.* Sphaeradenia sanctae-barbarae, Harling* Sphaeradenia versicolor, R.Ekriss....

    (1794)
  • Salpiglossis
    Salpiglossis
    Salpiglossis is a is a genus of the botanical family Solanaceae.Salpiglossis derives from the Greek for "trumpet" and "tongue" ....

    (1794)
  • Schizanthus
    Schizanthus
    Schizanthus ,—common names butterfly flower, fringeflower, poor-man's-orchid—is a genus of plants in the Solanaceae family....

    (1794)
  • Pouteria
    Pouteria
    Pouteria is a genus of flowering trees in the gutta-percha family, Sapotaceae. The genus is widespread throughout the tropical regions of the world. It includes the Canistel , the Mamey Sapote and the Lúcuma...

    (1794)
  • Fuchsia
    Fuchsia
    Fuchsia is a genus of flowering plants that consists mostly of shrubs or small trees. The first, Fuchsia triphylla, was discovered on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola in 1703 by the French Minim monk and botanist, Charles Plumier...

    (1794)
  • Polylepis
    Polylepis
    Polylepis is a genus containing about twenty species of shrubs or trees native to the mid- and high-elevation regions of the tropical Andes. This group is unique in the rose family in that it is predominantly wind-pollinated. They are usually gnarled in shape, but in certain areas some trees are...

    (1794)
  • Leonia (1794)
  • Psammisia
    Psammisia
    Psammisia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae. It contains the fruiting bushes commonly called Joyapas and is distributed throughout the Neotropics.Species include:*Psammisia aberrans*Psammisia amazonica...

    (1794)

  • Thibaudia
    Thibaudia
    Thibaudia is a genus of flowering plants in the Ericaceae. They are native to Central and South America with a high concentration of species in the cloud forests of Costa Rica and Ecuador.The genus contains about 60 species, which include:...

    (1794)
  • Acunna (1794)
  • Richardella (1794)
  • Iriartea
    Iriartea
    Iriartea is a genus in the palm family Arecaceae, native to Central and South America. The best-known species – and probably the only one – is Iriartea deltoidea, which is found from Nicaragua south into Bolivia. It is the most common tree in many forests in which it occurs...

    (1794)
  • Phytelephas
    Phytelephas
    Phytelephas is a genus containing six species of palms , occurring from southern Panama along the Andes to Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru. They are commonly known as ivory palms, ivory-nut palms or tagua palms; their scientific name means "plant elephant"...

    (1794)
  • Capsicum
    Capsicum
    Capsicum is a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family, Solanaceae. Its species are native to the Americas where they have been cultivated for thousands of years, but they are now also cultivated worldwide, used as spices, vegetables, and medicines - and have become are a key element in...

    (1794)
  • Chondodendron (1794)
  • Tropaeolum (1794)
  • Sessea
    Sessea
    Sessea is a genus of plant in family Solanaceae. It contains the following species :* Sessea sodiroi, Bitter...

    (1794)
  • Geophila (1794)
  • Psychotria
    Psychotria
    Psychotria is a plant genus of 1900 species in the family Rubiaceae. Members of the genus are low trees in tropical forests. The distinction between Psychotria and the genus Cephaelis are not well known and many species were formerly placed there....

    (1794)

Orchids

  • Gongora
    Gongora
    Gongora, abbreviated Gga in horticultural trade, is a member of the Orchid family . It consists of 65 species known from Central America, Trinidad, and tropical South America, with most species found in Colombia...

    (1794)
  • Sobralia
    Sobralia
    Sobralia is a genus of about 125 orchids and the only genus of the subtribe Sobraliinae.It is native to Central and South America. The plants are more commonly terrestrial, but are also found growing epiphytically, in wet forests from sea level to about 8,800 ft. The genus was named for Dr....

    (1798)
  • Lycaste
    Lycaste
    Lycaste, abbreviated as Lyc in horticultural trade, is a genus of orchids that contains about 30 species with egg-shaped pseudobulbs and thin, plicate leaves.- Description :...

    (1798)
  • Epidendrum
    Epidendrum
    Epidendrum , abbreviated Epi in horticultural trade, is a large neotropical genus of the orchid family. With more than 1,100 species, some authors describe it as a mega-genus. The genus name refers to its epiphytic growth habit...

    (1794)
  • Bletia
    Bletia
    Bletia is a genus of about 30 species of orchids , almost of all of which are terrestrial, some are occasionally lithophytic or epiphytic. It is named after Spanish botanist and pharmacist Don Luis Blet...

    (1794)
  • Masdevallia
    Masdevallia
    Masdevallia, abbreviated Masd in horticultural trade, is a large genus of flowering plants of the Pleurothallidinae, a subtribe of the orchid family . There are over 500 species, grouped into several subgenera...

    (1794)
  • Maxillaria
    Maxillaria
    Maxillaria, abbreviated as Max in horticultural trade, is a large genus of orchids . This is a diverse genus, with very different morphological forms. Their characteristics can vary widely....

    (1794)
  • Anguloa
    Anguloa
    Anguloa, commonly known as tulip orchids, is a small orchid genus closely related to Lycaste. Its abbreviation in horticulture is Ang. This genus was described by José Antonio Pavón and Hipólito Ruiz López in 1798...

    (1794)
  • Cattleya
    Cattleya
    Cattleya is a genus of 113 species of orchids from Costa Rica to tropical South America. The genus was named in 1824 by John Lindley after Sir William Cattley who received and successfully cultivated specimens of Cattleya labiata that were used as packing material in a shipment of other orchids...

    (1794)
  • Fernandezia
    Fernandezia
    Fernandezia is a genus of flowering plants from the orchid family, Orchidaceae.- References :*Pridgeon, A.M., Cribb, P.J., Chase, M.A. & Rasmussen, F. eds. . Genera Orchidacearum 1. Oxford Univ. Press....

    (1794)
  • Rodriguezia
    Rodriguezia
    Rodriguezia, abbreviated Rdza. in the horticultural trade, is a genus of orchids. It consists of 35 species, native to tropical America, in particular Brazil.-List of species:* Rodriguezia arevaloi* Rodriguezia bahiensis...

    (1794)


Other expeditions

The four expeditions authorized by King Carlos III to the Spanish colonies were those of Ruiz and Pavón to Peru and Chile (1777–88); José Celestino Mutis
José Celestino Mutis
-External links:*** at The Catholic Encyclopedia official site...

 to New Granada
New Kingdom of Granada
The New Kingdom of Granada was the name given to a group of 16th century Spanish colonial provinces in northern South America governed by the president of the Audiencia of Bogotá, an area corresponding mainly to modern day Colombia and parts of Venezuela. Originally part of the Viceroyalty of...

 (1783–1808); Juan de Cuéllar
Juan de Cuéllar
Juan José Ruperto de Cuéllar y Villanueba was a Spanish pharmacologist and botanist...

 to the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

 (1786–97); and Martín Sessé y Lacasta
Martín Sessé y Lacasta
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.-Background:...

 to New Spain
New Spain
New Spain, formally called the Viceroyalty of New Spain , was a viceroyalty of the Spanish colonial empire, comprising primarily territories in what was known then as 'América Septentrional' or North America. Its capital was Mexico City, formerly Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire...

(1787–1803).

External links

Short biography
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