Giovanni Gussone (8 February 1787,

Villamaina Villamaina is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Avellino, Campania, southern Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of th ...

– 14 January 1866,

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

) was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

academic and

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

, remembered for his work in

plant taxonomy Plant taxonomy is the science that finds, identifies, describes, classifies, and names plants. It is one of the main branches of taxonomy (the science that finds, describes, classifies, and names living things). Plant taxonomy is closely allied ...

and in particular his research in Sicilian flora. He studied medicine in

, where he came under the influence of botanist

Michele Tenore Michele Tenore (5 May 1780 – 19 July 1861) was an Italian botanist active in Naples, Italy. Tenore studied at the University of Naples, receiving his medical degree in 1800. Then he was a friend of botanists Domenico Maria Leone Cirillo (1739� ...

. Following graduation in 1811, he worked under Tenore as a manager of the '' Orto Botanico di Napoli'' (botanical garden in Naples). In 1817 he moved to Sicily, where he was appointed director of the botanical garden at Boccadifalco, outside of

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

. In Sicily, he conducted extensive investigations of the island's flora, publishing two major works as a result, "''Florae Siculae Prodromus''" and "''Florae Siculae Synopsis''". In 1827 he returned to Naples as superintendent of the botanical gardens. In 1861 he was named by Victor Emmanuel as

professor emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

of the

University of Naples The University of Naples Federico II ( it, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II) is a public university in Naples, Italy. Founded in 1224, it is the oldest public non-sectarian university in the world, and is now organized into 26 depar ...

.This article incorporates translated text from an equivalent article at the

French Wikipedia The French Wikipedia (french: Wikipédia en français) is the French-language edition of Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia. This edition was started on 23 March 2001, two months after the official creation of Wikipedia. It has article ...

. Plants with the specific epithet of ''gussonei'' are named in his honor, an example being ''

Petagnaea gussonei ''Petagnaea'' is a Monotypic taxon, monotypic genus of flowering plants in the family Apiaceae. Its only species is ''Petagnaea gussonei''. It is named after Naples, Neapolitan botanist Vincenzo Petagna (1734-1810). It is found only in Sicily, in ...

''.

Written works

* "Plantae rariores" (1826). * "Florae siculae prodromus" (1827-1828). * "Flora sicula" (1829). * * * * "Enumeratio plantarum vascularium in insula Inarime" (1855). English Wikisource Author:Giovanni Gussone

References

1787 births 1866 deaths 19th-century Italian people Academic staff of the University of Naples Federico II 19th-century Italian botanists People from the Province of Avellino University of Naples Federico II alumni {{Italy-academic-bio-stub