Benedetto Scortechini (1845–1886) was an Italian botanist, explorer, and Roman Catholic priest.
Biography He graduated from the Sapienza University of Rome as a priest and a lawyer. Accompanied by the priest Jerome Davadi (1846–1900) and one other Italian priest, Scortechini arrived in Brisbane on 28 February 1871. The three Italian priests were brought, shortly after the end of the First Vatican Council, to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane by Bishop James Quinn, the first Roman Catholic Bishop of Brisbane. After briefly working in Stanhope, Victoria and in Roma, Queensland, Scortechini was stationed in Gympie, Queensland from 1873 to 1875. In 1875 he was appointed the pastor of Logan Parish within the County of Ward, Queensland, where he remained the pastor for nine years until he left Australia in 1884.
George King, Director of the Royal Botanic Garden Calcutta, arranged with Sir Hugh Low, the British Resident at Perak, to employ plant collectors to work in Peninsular Malaysia. As part of this programme, King and Low recruited Hermann H. Kunstler (1837–1887) and Scortechini. Botanical specimens were sent to George King in Calcutta with duplicates sent to Kew Gardens.
Upon his death, Scortechini's collections were given to the Calcutta herbarium.
Eponyms Genus (Nitschkiaceae, Fungi) Scortechinia Sacc. (1885) (Euphorbiaceae) Neoscortechinia Pax (1897)
Species
(Acanthaceae) Filetia scortechinii C.B.ClarkeJ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, Pt. 2, Nat. Hist. 74(3): 671 1908 (IK) (Annonaceae) Cyathocalyx scortechinii (King) J.SinclairGard. Bull. Singapore 14: 244 1955 (IK) (Annonaceae) Goniothalamus scortechinii (King) (Annonaceae) Melodorum scortechinii (King) Finet & Gagnep.Bull. Soc. Bot. France 53(Mém. 4 (2)): 136 1906 (IK) (Apocynaceae) Hoya scortechinii King & Gamble (Araliaceae) Schefflera scortechinii (King) R.Vig.Ann. Sci. Nat., Bot. sér. 9, 9: 345. 1909 (IK) synonym for Heptapleurum hullettii R. VigSchefflera hullettii R. Vig, gbif.org (Arecaceae) Eleiodoxa scortechinii (Becc.) BurretNotizbl. Bot. Gart. Berlin-Dahlem 15: 735. 1942 (IK) synonym for Eleiodoxa conferta (Asclepiadaceae) Secamone scortechinii (King & Gamble) Klack.Blumea 55(3): 239 2010Secamone, The Plant List (Caesalpiniaceae) Caesalpinia scortechinii (F.Muell.) HattinkReinwardtia 9 1974 (APNI) (Convolvulaceae) Argyreia scortechinii (Prain) Prain ex HooglandBlumea vii. 182 1952 (IK) (Gesneriaceae) Didymocarpus scortechinii (Ridl.) B.L.BurttNotes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 31(1): 44. 1971 (IK) synonym of Henckelia scortechinii (Ridl.) A.WeberDidymocarpus scortechinii, The Plants List (Loranthaceae) Baratranthus scortechinii (Engl.) Tiegh.Bull. Soc. Bot. France 41: 538. 1894 (IK) synonym of Baranthus axanthus Miq.Baranthus axanthus Miq., gif.org (Rhamnaceae) Stenanthemum scortechinii (F.Muell.) Maiden & BetcheProc. Linn. Soc. New S. Wales 27(4) 1902 (APNI) synonym of Spyridium scortechiniiSpyridium scortechinii, Australian Plants Society NWS (Proteaceae) Grevillea scortechinii (F.Muell. ex Scort.) F.Muell (Rubiaceae) Carinta scortechinii (King) Thoth.Indian Forester lxxxix. 609 1963 (IK) synonym of Geophila scortechiniiGeophila scortechinii, The Plants List (Theaceae) Ternstroemia scortechinii Szyszył.Nat. Pflanzenfam. [Engler & Prantl] iii. 6 188. 1895 (IK) (Vitaceae) Tetrastigma scortechinii (King) Gagnep.Notul. Syst. (Paris) 1: 376. 1911 (IK)Tetrastigma scortechniii, Kewscience, Plants of the World online
Selected publications . 1881. . 1885. , , . 1888. Mycetes Malacenses: funghi della penisola di Malacca raccolti nel 1885 dall'ab. Benedetto Scortechini. Editor Tip. Antonelli, 42 pp.
References
External links