''Flora Huayaquilensis'' is the popular name for the body of work produced by botanist Juan José Tafalla Navascués while he was in South America. Navascués made one of the first expeditions to South America with a Spaniard who documented plants of the area. His unpublished works were kept in the archives for 200 years. In 1985,

Eduardo Estrella Rafael Eduardo Estrella Virella (born June 5, 1953) is a civil engineer and Dominican politician, current senator and president of the Senate since 2020. He served as Minister (formerly known as Secretary) of State for Public Works and Communic ...

was researching in the archives of the Royal Botanical Gardens in Madrid, Spain, when he found the documents of the "Fourth Division," for the expedition of Ruiz and Pavon in Peru and Chile. Estrella found descriptions of plants whose origins correspond to the places belonging to the

Royal Audience of Quito The of Quito (sometimes referred to as or ) was an administrative unit in the Spanish Empire which had political, military, and religious jurisdiction over territories that today include Ecuador, parts of northern Peru, parts of southern Colo ...

. The folios were numbered and contained the mysterious initials FH. Other folios that did not correspond to the flora of the Royal Court had the initials FP. The work was eventually published, credited to Navascués' expedition. The

Botanical Expedition to the Viceroyalty of Peru The Botanical Expedition to the Viceroyalty of Peru ( es, Expedición Botánica al Virreinato del Perú) was a Spanish expedition to the colonial territories of the Viceroyalty of Peru and Chile between 1777 and 1788. It was commissioned by King ...

was very similar to Navascués' expedition. Estrella founded the Ecuador National Museum of Medicinebr>
Not all early explorers of Ecuador had their documents survive.

Theodor Wolf Franz Theodor Wolf (February 13, 1841 - June 22, 1924) was a German naturalist who studied the Galápagos Islands during the late nineteenth century. Wolf Island (Wenman Island) is named after him. The peak Volcán Wolf on Isabela Island is a ...

(February 13, 1841 - June 22, 1924) was a German naturalist who studied the

Galápagos Islands The Galápagos Islands ( Spanish: , , ) are an archipelago of volcanic islands. They are distributed on each side of the equator in the Pacific Ocean, surrounding the centre of the Western Hemisphere, and are part of the Republic of Ecuador ...

during the late nineteenth century. Wolf Island (Wenman Island) is named after him. Wolf had performed a geologic survey of mainland Ecuador, but his collections were lost in storage.Edward John Larson, ''Evolution’s Workshop: God and Science on the Galapagos Islands'' (Basic Books, 2001), 107.

Flora Huayaquilensis

* ''Flora Huayaquilensis Juan Tafalla''. (Research, Annotations and Historical Study Edition). Madrid: Institute for the Conservation of Nature (ICONA)-Royal Botanical Gardens, 1989. 2 volumes. Second Edition Guayaquil: Guayaquil Botanical Garden-Banco del Progreso, 1995. * ''Flora Huayaquilensis'' Matriti : Editio facta ab Instituto ad Conservandam Naturam (ICONA, M.A.P.A.) ; et ab Horto Regio Matritense (C.S.I.C.) 1989

References

External links

''Flora Huayaquilensis sive descriptiones et icones plantarum Huayaquilensium secundum systema Linnaeanum digestae / Auctore Johanne Tafalla''
. 1989 vol. I: Icona, Real jardín botánico. Estudio introductorio Eduardo Estrella.
''Flora Huayaquilensis sive descriptiones et icones plantarum Huayaquilensium secundum systema Linnaeanum digestae / Auctore Johanne Tafalla''
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304210848/http://bibdigital.rjb.csic.es/spa/Libro.php?Libro=3968 , date=2016-03-04 . 1991 vol. II: Icona, Real jardín botánico. Florae (publication) Herbalism Botany in South America