Eric (Don Ericus) Ragnor Sventenius (born Erik Ragnar Svensson; also known simply as Eric (Erich, Enrico) Ragnor) (10 October 1910 — 23 June 1973) was a

Hispano The term Hispanic () are people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an ethnic or meta-ethnic term. The term commonly applie ...

- Swedish

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

Born in the small town of Skirö,

Vetlanda Vetlanda () is a locality and the seat of Vetlanda Municipality, Jönköping County, Sweden with 13,050 inhabitants in 2010. History Vetlanda was still nothing more than a village for several centuries. With the 1840s population boom in Småland ...

, he studied in various universities across

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. In

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, he studied at the Marimurta Botanical Garden in

Blanes Blanes () is a town and Municipalities of Spain, municipality in the Comarques of Catalonia, comarca of Selva (comarca), Selva in Province of Girona, Girona, Catalonia, Spain. During Roman rule it was named Blanda or Blandae. It is known as the ...

which had been founded in 1920 by Karl Faust. In 1931, he traveled to the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

. In 1952, he began working at the Botanical Garden of

Tenerife Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...

(''Jardín de Aclimatación de la Orotava''). He studied and cataloged unclassified Canarian

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

. Sventenius proposed creating a botanical garden dedicated to Canarian

flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

, continuing the work begun by José de Viera y Clavijo. At

Gran Canaria Gran Canaria (, ; ), also Grand Canary Island, is the third-largest and second-most-populous island of the Canary Islands, a Spain, Spanish archipelago off the Atlantic coast of Northwest Africa. the island had a population of that constitut ...

, he founded

Jardín Botánico Canario Viera y Clavijo Jardín Botánico Canario Viera y Clavijo is the full name of the botanical garden on Gran Canaria, one of the Canary Islands. "Jardín Botánico Canario" means "Botanical Garden of the Canaries", while the additional words "Viera y Clavijo" honor ...

in 1952 at Tafira Alta, c. 7 km southwest of

Las Palmas Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital city of the Canary Islands (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife) and the m ...

. It opened its doors to the public in 1959. He worked as the garden's director until his death in 1973 in a

car accident A traffic collision, also known as a motor vehicle collision, or car crash, occurs when a vehicle collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road debris, or other moving or stationary obstruction, such as a tree, pole or building. T ...

. His grave is in the Canarian Botanical Garden "Viera y Clavijo", right next to a rock where he used to sit and meditate, relax and listen to the birds. *The standard

botanical author abbreviation In botanical nomenclature, author citation is the way of citing the person or group of people who validly published a botanical name, i.e. who first published the name while fulfilling the formal requirements as specified by the ''International Cod ...

Svent. is applied to the

he described.

Works by Sventenius

* Gerhard Benl, Eric R. Sventenius: ''Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Pteridophyten-Vegetation und-Flora in der Kanarischen Westprovinz (Tenerife, La Palma, Gomera, Hierro)'' (aus: Nova Hedwigia 20, S. 413-462, 1970), Lehre: Cramer Vlg., 1970 * E. R. Sventenius et D. Bramwell: ''Acta phytotaxonomica Barcinonensia'' ; Vol. 7 ; Heywoodiella genus novum, NBarcelona: Dep. de Botánica, Fac. de Ciencias, Univ. Autónoma, 1971 * G. Kunkel y Sventenius: ''Los Tiles de Moya. Enumeración florística y datos sobre el futuro parque natural'', (Cuadernos de Botánica Canaria, 14/15: 71-89), Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 1972 * Ericus R. Sventenius: ''Additamentum ad floram Canariensem'', Matriti: Agronomiarum investigationem nationale hispanicum Inst. (Instituto nacional de investigaciones agronómicas), 1960 * ''Plantae macaronesiensis novae vel minus cognitae'', in: Index Seminum Horti Acclimatationis Plantarum Arautapensi, 1968 * Ericus R. Sventenius, Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agrarias, Centro de las Islas Canarias (Hrsg.): ''Notas sobre la flora de las Cañadas de Tenerife'', (Cuaderno/INIA; 78), p. 149-171, Madrid: Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agrarias, Centro de las Islas Canarias, 1946 * Ericus R. Sventenius, Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agrarias (España) (Hrsg.): ''Contribución al conocimiento de la flora canaria'',(Cuaderno/INIA; 79), p. 176-194, Madrid: Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agrarias, Centro de las Islas Canarias, 1946 * Ericus R. Sventenius, Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agrarias, Centro de las Islas Canarias (Hrsg.): ''Plantas nuevas o poco conocidas de Tenerife'', (Cuaderno/INIA; 111), p. 22-33, Madrid: Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agrarias, Centro de las Islas Canarias, 1949 * Ericus R. Sventenius, Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agrarias, Centro de las Islas Canarias (Hrsg.): ''Specilegium canariense III'', (Cuaderno/INIA; 125), Madrid: Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agrarias, Centro de las Islas Canarias, 1950 * "Additamentum ad Floram Canariensem" Svensson Sventenius, Eric R. 1960.

External links

*
Biografía de Sventenius
*
Página oficial del Jardín Botánico Canario
*

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sventenius, Eric Ragnor 20th-century Swedish botanists 20th-century Spanish botanists Swedish expatriates in Spain Botanists with author abbreviations Road incident deaths in Spain 1910 births 1973 deaths History of the Canary Islands People from Vetlanda Municipality

Works by Sventenius

See also

External links