José Manuel Restrepo Vélez (30 December 1781 – 1 April 1863) was an investigator of

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

n flora, political figure and historian. The orchid genus ''

Restrepia ''Restrepia'', abbreviated Rstp in horticultural trade, is a small genus of 50orchids in the orchid family (Orchidaceae), closely related to ''Pleurothallis''. Named in honor of Don Jose Restrepo, it tends to be more showy than most other Pleur ...

'' was named in his honor. Restrepo was born in the town of Envigado,

Antioquia Antioquia is the Spanish form of Antioch. Antioquia may also refer to: * Antioquia Department, Colombia * Antioquia State, Colombia (defunct) * Antioquia District, Peru * Antioquia Railway The Antioquia Railway ( es, Ferrocarril de Antioquia) i ...

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 was an early seventeenth century Spanish architect who worked in Peru. His most famous bridge, El Puente de Piedra in Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest ...

and Governor

Dionisio Tejada Dionisio, a variant of Dionysius, may refer to: People Given name * Dionisio Lazzari (1617-1689), Italian sculptor and architect * Dionisio Aguado y García (1784-1849), Spanish classical guitarist and composer * Papa Isio (1846-1911), Dionisio ...

during their dictatorial government over

. From 1811 to 1814 he became a Deputy Representative of

during the Congress of the United Provinces of New Granada. After the Independence from Spain was achieved by Simon Bolivar, Restrepo became governor of Antioquia in 1819 during the Greater Colombia. Restrepo was profoundly interested in geography and fauna of

References

Jorge Orlando Melo Revista Credencial Historial (Bogotá - Colombia). Tomo I. Enero-diciembre, 1990. No.1-12

External links

1781 births 1863 deaths People from Envigado 19th-century Colombian lawyers Governors of Antioquia Department 19th-century Colombian botanists Colombian abolitionists Botanists active in South America {{colombia-botanist-stub