João de Loureiro (1717,Lisbon – 18 October 1791) was aPortugueseJesuitmissionary andbotanist.[1]
After receiving admission to theJesuit Order, João de Loureiro served as a missionary inGoa, capital ofPortuguese India (3 years) andMacau (4 years). In 1742 he traveled toĐàng Trong (known to the Europeans asCochinchina), remaining there for 35 years. Here he worked as amathematician andnaturalist for the king of Đàng Trong,[2] acquiring knowledge on the properties and uses of nativemedicinal plants. In 1777, he journeyed toCanton, inBengal, returning to Lisbon four years later.[3] During this period, Captain Thomas Riddel gave Loureiro the booksSystema Naturae,Genera Plantarum andPhilosophia Botanica byCarl Linnaeus, which greatly influenced the Portuguese botanist.[4]
João de Loureiro stayed in Vietnam forty years inventorying indigenous herbal remedies. His local garden contained 1,000 unique herbal species, making it one of the greatest botanist collectors of the 18th century.[2]
João de Loureiro published the bookFlora Cochinchinensis 1790, sponsored by the Royal Portuguese Academy of Sciences.[4] João de Loureiro has numerous species dedicated to him by the epitheton "loureiroi", mostly plants but also a dinosaurDraconyx loureiroi in honour of his being the first Portuguese palaeontologist.[5]
The taxonomistElmer Drew Merrill later argued that Loureiro's work contained various mistakes caused by a misunderstanding of the Linnaean system.[4]
The standardauthor abbreviationLour. is used to indicate this person as the author whenciting abotanical name.[6]
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