Ana María Ragonese (2 July 1928 – 19 July 1999) was an Argentine botanist and

paleobotanist Paleobotany or palaeobotany, also known as paleophytology, is the branch of botany dealing with the recovery and identification of plant fossils from geological contexts, and their use for the biological reconstruction of past environments (pale ...

. She researched

plant anatomy Plant anatomy or phytotomy is the general term for the study of the internal Anatomy, structure of plants. Originally, it included plant morphology, the description of the physical form and external structure of plants, but since the mid-20th centu ...

, focusing on

dicotyledon The dicotyledons, also known as dicots (or, more rarely, dicotyls), are one of the two groups into which all the flowering plants (angiosperms) were formerly divided. The name refers to one of the typical characteristics of the group: namely, ...

s and the anatomy of the fruit and foliage of

Frankeniaceae ''Frankenia'' (sea heath) is the only genus in the Frankeniaceae family of flowering plants. Other genera have been recognized within the family, such as ''Anthobryum'', ''Hypericopsis'' and ''Niederleinia'', but molecular phylogenetic studies h ...

. Ragonese taught at the

University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires (, UBA) is a public university, public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is the second-oldest university in the country, and the largest university of the country by enrollment. Established in 1821 ...

and was a researcher for the

National Scientific and Technical Research Council The National Scientific and Technical Research Council (, CONICET) is an Argentina, Argentine Government of Argentina, government agency which directs and co-ordinates most of the scientific and technical research done in List of universities i ...

(CONICET). Later in her career, she conducted paleobotanical research at the

Bernardino Rivadavia Natural Sciences Argentine Museum The Bernardino Rivadavia Natural Sciences Argentine Museum () is a public museum located in the Caballito neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina. History The museum owes its existence to a proposal made by Bernardino Rivadavia before the Fi ...

and worked at the Darwinian Institute of Botany.

Early life and education

Ana María Ragonese was born on 2 July 1928 in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

. She attended the

, earning a doctorate in natural sciences at the

Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences The Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences (''Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales''; FCEN), commonly and informally known as Exactas, is the natural science school of the University of Buenos Aires, the largest university in Argentina. It oc ...

in 1960.

Botany career

Ragonese taught

at the University of Buenos Aires in the Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences. She was an assistant to the chief of practical work and she became an adjunct professor, a position she held until 1974. In 1962, Ragonese became a researcher for the

(CONICET) and the Faculty of Agronomy at the University of Buenos Aires. Ragonese was awarded a CONICET scholarship in 1971 and conducted research at the

Jodrell Laboratory Kew Gardens is a botanical garden, botanic garden in southwest London that houses the "largest and most diverse botany, botanical and mycology, mycological collections in the world". Founded in 1759, from the exotic garden at Kew Park, its li ...

of the

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,10 ...

in London. In 1974, Ragonese was the technical secretary of the Miguel Lillo Institute of the

National University of Tucumán The National University of Tucumán (; UNT) is an Education in Argentina, Argentine national university located in Tucumán Province and the largest in Argentina's northwest region. Founded on 25 May 1914 in San Miguel de Tucumán, access to the ...

and a researcher at the Institute of Agricultural Botany. Ragonese's research focused on

s and the anatomy of the fruit and foliage of

. She also studied the genera '' Pterocaulon'', '' Dimorphandra'', '' Adesmia'', ''

Rhynchospora ''Rhynchospora'' (beak-rush or beak-sedge) is a genus of about 400 species of sedges with a cosmopolitan distribution. The genus includes both annual and perennial species, mostly with erect 3-sided stems and 3-ranked leaves. The achenes bear a ...

'', and ''

Mora Mora may refer to: People * José Maria Mora (1847–1926), Cuban-American photographer, often credited as "Mora" * Mora (singer) (born 1996), a Puerto Rican singer * Mora (surname), a Spanish name (includes a list of people with the name) Plac ...

''. She studied fossil wood

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines *Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts *Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...

and the wood anatomy of

Asteraceae Asteraceae () is a large family (biology), family of flowering plants that consists of over 32,000 known species in over 1,900 genera within the Order (biology), order Asterales. The number of species in Asteraceae is rivaled only by the Orchi ...

Myrtaceae Myrtaceae (), the myrtle family, is a family of dicotyledonous plants placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtle, pōhutukawa, bay rum tree, clove, guava, acca (feijoa), allspice, and eucalyptus are some notable members of this group. All ...

, and

Araliaceae The Araliaceae are a family of flowering plants composed of about 43 genera and around 1500 species consisting of primarily woody plants and some herbaceous plants commonly called the ginseng family. The morphology of Araliaceae varies widely ...

. She was also involved in taxonomic revision, publishing numerous articles in her fields. She collected fossils of terrestrial plants and

spermatophyte A seed plant or spermatophyte (; New Latin ''spermat-'' and Greek ' (phytón), plant), also known as a phanerogam (taxon Phanerogamae) or a phaenogam (taxon Phaenogamae), is any plant that produces seeds. It is a category of embryophyte (i.e. la ...

s from 1967 to 1981 alongside Elisa G. Nicora and Encarnación Rosa Guaglianone. Ragonese conducted research in the paleobotany division of the

in Buenos Aires. She later worked at the Darwinian Institute of Botany until she retired in 1990. She was a member of the International Association of Wood Anatomists and the Argentine Society of Botany. Ragonese died on 19 July 1999.

Selected publications

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Early life and education

Botany career

Selected publications

References

Further reading