Las exploraciones botánicas en el Boletín de la Academia Nacional de Ciencias, Córdoba, Argentina (1874-1887)

Abstract

The objective of the research is to describe the development of botanical
explorations organized by the National Academy of Sciences in the period
1874-1887 through the Bulletin of the National Academy of Sciences in three
aspects: the purposes of the explorers in the framework of the Argentine
government’s interest in natural resources; the relationship between
academics and the different local informants about the flora; and the
different scientific results. The conclusions show that between 1870 and
1887 the Academy was an important institution for the beginning of the
scientific prospecting of Argentine flora through foreign and national
academics, an issue that generated the bases for a greater understanding of
the national vegetation, its comparison with other floras of the world and
their economic use. For the appreciation of Botany as a useful science to the
Argentine State, academics linked their scientific projects with government
interests for the appropriation of plant resources taking advantage of local
knowledge about the flora, an issue that materialized in listings, tables,
tables, collections and specialized books. The originality of the article lies in
the analysis of the set of botanical explorations in Argentina through the
bulletin in the foundational years of the Academy, since historiography has
been overlooked in this publication and its relationship with the history of
the national Botany. The source of the research consists of the reports of five
academics, both foreign and national: Georg Hieronymus, Paul Günther
Lorentz, Ludwig Brackebusch, Fritz Kurtz y Eduardo L. Holmberg.