José Manuel Restrepo Veléz (1781 - 1863) was an investigator of Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

n flora, political figure

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

 and historian

Historian

A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...

. The Orchid genus Restrepia

Restrepia

Restrepia, abbreviated Rstp in horticultural trade, is a small genus of 49 orchids in the orchid family , closely related to Pleurothallis. Named in honor of Don Jose Restrepo, it tends to be more showy than most other Pleurothallids...

was named in his honor.

Restrepo was born in the town of Envigado

Envigado

Envigado is a city of Colombia in the department of Antioquia, located at the south of the Aburrá Valley and belonging to the Metropolitan Area of Medellín. It has limits at its north with El Poblado, Medellín; at its south with Sabaneta; at its east with El Retiro and Caldas and at west with Itagüí...

, Antioquia in the Colombian Mid-west. He graduated as a lawyer from the Colegio de San Bartolomé in the city of Santa Fe de Bogotá. He later worked as Secretary for Juan del Corral

Juan del Corral

Juan del Corral was an early seventeenth century Spanish architect who worked in Peru. His most famous bridge, El Puente de Piedra in Lima is known as the Bridge of Eggs because the myth is that it was constructed using over 10,000 sea bird egg whites mixed with stone....

 and Governor Dionisio Tejada during their dictatorial government over Antioquia.

From 1811 to 1814 became a Deputy Representative of Antioquia during the Congress of the United Provinces of New Granada

United Provinces of New Granada

The United Provinces of New Granada was a country in South America from 1811 to 1816, a period known in Colombian history as the Patria Boba. It was formed from areas of the New Kingdom of Granada. The government was a federation with a parliamentary system, consisting of a weak executive and...

. After the Independence from 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...

 was achieved by Simon Bolivar

Simón Bolívar

Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios Ponte y Yeiter, commonly known as Simón Bolívar was a Venezuelan military and political leader...

, Restrepo became governor of Antioquia in 1819 during the Greater Colombia.

Restrepo was profoundly interested on geography and fauna of Antioquia and an orchid flower was named in his honor, the Restrepia

Restrepia

Restrepia, abbreviated Rstp in horticultural trade, is a small genus of 49 orchids in the orchid family , closely related to Pleurothallis. Named in honor of Don Jose Restrepo, it tends to be more showy than most other Pleurothallids...

.