Tournefort, JosephPitton de

views updated

Tournefort, JosephPitton de (1656–1708)A French botanist who became a professor at the Jardin du Roi in Paris and is remembered for producing a system of plant classification and nomenclature in the 1690s. His Institutiones Rei Herbariae (1700) might be described as the most important precursor of Linnaeus's work. He also wrote A Voyage into the Levant (1718) in which he was the first to describe the common azalea and rhododendron, as well as other plants he collected during this journey. The genus Tournefortia of the Boraginaceae was named for him.

More From encyclopedia.com