- Paolo Boccone
Paolo Silvio Boccone (
24 April 1633 -22 December 1704 ) was an Italianbotanist fromSicily , whose interest in plants had been sparked by a visit to thebotanical garden s ("l'Orto Botanico") founded inMessina by the Roman doctorPietro Castelli , who became his instructor.Life
Born in
Palermo , he traveled acrossSicily ,Corsica ,Paris , andLondon and later became a lecturer inPadua . He published "Recherches et observations naturelles" (Paris , 1671), which concerned itself with various theories of nature, and supplied important contributions to the fields ofmedicine andtoxicology .He was employed as court botanist to
Ferdinando II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany as well as to Ferdinando's son,Cosimo III .In the work "Museo di piante rare della Sicilia, Malta, Corsica, Italia, Piemonte, e Germania" (1697), Boccone described many rare plants of
Sicily ,Malta ,Italy ,Piedmont , andGermany . Afungus scientifically named "Pisolithus tinctorius " was called in the Siciliandialect "catatùnfuli", and Boccone writes that this fungus was employed by the women ofMessina in order todye cloth.In the same year, Boccone entered the order of the
Cistercians and took the name Silvio.Boccone had been widely regarded by the scientific community, and was in contact with many European naturalists. The French botanist
Charles Plumier studied under him atRome .Boccone died in
Altofonte .Linnaeus named the genus "Bocconia ", in the family of thePapaveraceae , after him.Works [http://www.bium.univ-paris5.fr/boccone/03.htm]
*"Recherches & observations touchant le corail, la pierre étoilée, les pierres de figure de coquilles, etc....," Amsterdam, 1674.
*"Recherches et observations naturelles. Amsterdam: Chez Jean Jansson", 1674.
*"Icones et descriptiones rariorum plantarum Siciliae, Melitae, Galliae et Italiae... auctore Paulo Boccone",... (Edidit R. Morison.), Oxford, "e theatro Sheldoniano", 1674. In-4 ? , XVI-96 p., fig.
*"Icones et descriptiones rariorum plantarum Siciliae, Melitae, Galliae et Italiae... auctore Paulo Boccone,...cum praefatione Roberti Mossiockii, Lugduni, apud Robertum Scott", 1674.
*"Novitiato ala segreteria del signore Paolo Boccone, gentiluomo di Palermo, lettura grata non meno a principi che a loro segretari, per mostrare con faciltà e brevità l'arte d'un accorto secretario, Genuae, apud haeredes Calenziani", sd. In-12°.
*"Osservazioni naturali, ove si contengono materie medico-fisiche, e di botanica, produzioni naturali fossofori diversi, fuochi sotterranei d'Itali e altre curiosità, disposte en trattati familiari, Bononiae, apud Monolessos", 1684. In-12°.
*"Lettre de Monsieur Boccone,... écrite à Mr. l'Abbé Bourdelot,... touchant l'embrasement du mont Etna", S. l. n. d. In-12, paginé 67-78, carte.
*"Museo di fisica e di esperienze variato e decorato di osservazioni naturali, note medicinali...," Venetia : J. B. Zuccato, 1697. In-4 ? , VIII-319 p., pl. et portr.
*"Della pietra Belzuar minerale siciliana lettera familiare, Monteleoni, apud Dominicum Ferrum", 1669.
*"Museo di piante rare della Sicilia, Malta, Corsica, italia, Piemonte e Germania con figure 133 in rame, Venetiis, apud Ioannem Baptistam Zuccarum", 1697.
*"Epistola botanica"
*"Recherches et observations naturelles touchant le corail, pierre estoilee, embrasement du mont Etna, Parisiis, apud Baloin ad Palatum", 1672.
*"Museum experimentale-physicum, complectens observationes eruditis et curiosis, Francofurti, apuc Michaelem Rohrbach", 1697. In-12°.External links
*fr [http://www.bium.univ-paris5.fr/boccone/debut.htm L'herbier de Paolo Boccone]
*((Italian)) [http://gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de/no_cache/dms/load/img/?IDDOC=274375] Museo di fisica e di esperienze variato e decorato di osservazioni naturali, note medicinali..
Named after Boccone
*The
genus "Bocconia "
*Among others, the following species: "Chiliadenus bocconei ", "Eryngium bocconei ", "Heliotropium bocconei ", "Helleborus bocconei ", "Jurinea bocconei ", "Limonium bocconei ", "Odontites bocconei ", "Seseli bocconi ", "Spergularia bocconi ".
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