Benjamín Máximo Laguna y Villanueva (December 2, 1822 - January 3, 1902) was a Spanish botanist and entomologist. While the standard form of his name is "Laguna", he is sometimes referred to by both surnames "Laguna y Villanueva".

Education

Máximo Laguna was born in

Santa Cruz de Mudela Santa Cruz de Mudela is a municipality of the Spanish Province of Ciudad Real located in the southeastern corner of the autonomous community Castilla–La Mancha. Geography Santa Cruz de Mudela has a Mediterranean–Continental climate that cons ...

, in the

province of Ciudad Real The province of Ciudad Real () is a province in the southwestern part of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha, Spain. It is bordered by the provinces of Cuenca, Albacete, Jaén, Córdoba, Badajoz, and Toledo. It is partly located ...

. In 1848 he enrolled at the Spanish forestry school, the '' Escuela Especial de Ingenieros de Montes'', which had been recently founded at the Castle of Villaviciosa de Odón near Madrid. He received a grant to continue his studies in the

Kingdom of Saxony The Kingdom of Saxony () was a German monarchy in Central Europe between 1806 and 1918, the successor of the Electorate of Saxony. It joined the Confederation of the Rhine after the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, later joining the German ...

, where he enrolled at the

Royal Saxon Academy of Forestry The Royal Saxon Academy of Forestry (German: ''Königliche-Sächsische Forstakademie'') in Tharandt, Saxony, near Dresden, was founded by silviculturist Heinrich Cotta in 1811. Established in conjunction with the school, and later integrated wit ...

Tharandt Tharandt () is a municipality in Saxony, Germany, situated on the Weißeritz, southwest of Dresden. It has a Protestant Church and the oldest academy of forestry in Germany, founded as the Royal Saxon Academy of Forestry by Heinrich Cotta in 181 ...

, near Dresden.

Research

The

International Plant Names Index The International Plant Names Index (IPNI) describes itself as "a database of the names and associated basic bibliographical details of seed plants, ferns and lycophytes." Coverage of plant names is best at the rank of species and genus. It inclu ...

lists his botanical interests as

Pteridophytes A pteridophyte is a vascular plant (with xylem and phloem) that reproduces by means of spores. Because pteridophytes produce neither flowers nor seeds, they are sometimes referred to as " cryptogams", meaning that their means of reproduction is h ...

and

Spermatophytes 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 ...

.Author Details
International Plant Names Index He published on the flora of Spanish forests. He also studied the botany of the Philippines, which was at the time a Spanish colonial possession, although he did not visit the country. He described a tree, ''

Quercus An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

jordanae'' Laguna, which had been collected in

Luzon Luzon ( , ) is the largest and most populous List of islands in the Philippines, island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the List of islands of the Philippines, Philippine archipelago, it is the economic and political ce ...

by one of his forestry service colleagues. (The tree has been reclassified as a

lithocarpus ''Lithocarpus'' is a genus in the beech family, Fagaceae. Trees in this genus are commonly known as the stone oaks and differ from ''Quercus'' primarily because they produce insect-pollinated flowers on erect spikes and the female flowers hav ...

since Laguna made the species known to science). His interest in insects related to his studies of their impact on trees.

Honours and legacy

* Laguna was a member of the

Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences The Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences (Spanish: ''Real Academia de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales'') is an academic institution and learned society that was founded in Madrid in 1847. It is dedicated to the study and research of mathematic ...

. * A school is named after him in his native town. * The “Máximo Laguna” Arboretum at Valsaín in the

Sierra de Guadarrama The Sierra de Guadarrama (Guadarrama Mountains) is a mountain range forming the main eastern section of the Sistema Central, the system of mountain ranges along the centre of the Iberian Peninsula. It is in Spain, between the systems Sierra de ...

was planted in 1997 to commemorate World Forestry Day. Valsaín has since been included by UNESCO in a

Biosphere reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

, "Real Sitio de San Ildefonso-El Espinar".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Laguna, Benjamin Maximo 19th-century Spanish botanists Forestry academics Spanish foresters People from the Province of Ciudad Real 1822 births 1902 deaths Forestry in Spain Royal Saxon Academy of Forestry alumni