Pierre Magnol (8 June 1638 – 21 May 1715) was a French botanist . He was born in the city of Montpellier , where he lived and worked for most of his life. He became Professor of Botany and Director of the Royal Botanic Garden of Montpellier and held a seat in the Académie Royale des Sciences de Paris for a short while. He was one of the innovators who devised the botanical scheme of classification. He was the first to publish the concept of plant families as they are understood today, a natural classification of groups of plants that have features in common.
27-416: See text The Gomphidae are a family of dragonflies commonly referred to as clubtails or club-tailed dragonflies . The family contains about 90 genera and 900 species found across North and South America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa. The name refers to the club-like widening of the end of the abdomen (abdominal segments 7 through 9). However, this club is usually less pronounced in females and
54-399: A flat mentum, part of the mouthparts, and their antennae have only four segments. They burrow in the sediment at the bottom of the water body, with the nymphs of the dragonhunter ( Hagenius brevistylus ) living among damp bark and leaf litter at the edge of the water. Some larvae variations actually differ from this typical burrowing. Some will only come out during daytime, which differs from
81-701: A general history of plants, in which the families of plants are arranged in tables] 1697 , Hortus regius Monspeliense, sive Catalogus plantarum quae in Horto Regio Monspeliensi demonstrantur. Montpellier. [The royal garden of Montpellier, or rather a catalogue of the plants that are on show in the royal garden of Montpellier] 1720 , Novus caracter [sic] plantarum, in duo tractatus divisus: primus, de herbis & subfructibus, secundus, de fructibus & arboribus. Montpellier, posthumous edition, attended to by his son, Antoine Magnol (1676–1759). [New character of plants, divided into two treatises:
108-554: A lack of widespread consensus within the scientific community for extended periods. The continual publication of new data and diverse opinions plays a crucial role in facilitating adjustments and ultimately reaching a consensus over time. The naming of families is codified by various international bodies using the following suffixes: The taxonomic term familia was first used by French botanist Pierre Magnol in his Prodromus historiae generalis plantarum, in quo familiae plantarum per tabulas disponuntur (1689) where he called
135-619: A list of the plants growing around Montpellier] 1686 , Botanicum Monspeliense, sive Plantarum circa Monspelium nascentium index. Adduntur variarum plantarum descriptiones et icones. Cum appendice quae plantas de novo repertas continet et errata emendat. Montpellier. [Flora of Montpellier, or rather a list of the plants growing around Montpellier, with descriptions and plates of several plants added. With an appendix that contains plants newly found and corrects previous errors] 1689 , Prodromus historiae generalis plantarum, in quo familiae plantarum per tabulas disponuntur. Montpellier. [Precursor to
162-421: A pharmacy as did his grandfather Jean Magnol. Pierre's mother was from a family of physicians. Pierre's older brother Cesar succeeded his father in the pharmacy. Pierre, being one of the younger children, had more freedom to choose his own profession, and wanted to become a physician. He had become devoted to natural history and especially botany at an early stage in his life. He enrolled as a student in medicine at
189-500: A suitable position to dart forth to prey on flying insects. They tend to perch on the ground or on leaves with the abdomen sloping up and its tip curling down a little. Larger species may perch with a drooping abdomen or lie flat on a leaf. Another stance adopted by clubtails perching in the open is "obelisking", standing with the abdomen raised vertically, a posture adopted otherwise only by the skimmers . Most clubtails breed in streams, rivers, or lakes. The nymphs are unusual in having
216-499: Is commonly referred to as the "walnut family". The delineation of what constitutes a family— or whether a described family should be acknowledged— is established and decided upon by active taxonomists . There are not strict regulations for outlining or acknowledging a family, yet in the realm of plants, these classifications often rely on both the vegetative and reproductive characteristics of plant species. Taxonomists frequently hold varying perspectives on these descriptions, leading to
243-463: Is entirely absent in some species. The name is from Greek gomphos , "bolt, nail", for the shape of the insect's abdomen. Clubtails have small, widely separated compound eyes , a trait they share with the Petaluridae and with damselflies . The eyes are blue, turquoise, or green. The thorax in most species is pale with dark stripes, and the pattern of the stripes is often diagnostic. They lack
270-520: The Genera Plantarum of George Bentham and Joseph Dalton Hooker this word ordo was used for what now is given the rank of family. Families serve as valuable units for evolutionary, paleontological, and genetic studies due to their relatively greater stability compared to lower taxonomic levels like genera and species. Pierre Magnol Pierre Magnol was born into a family of apothecaries (pharmacists). His father Claude ran
297-673: The University of Montpellier on 19 May 1655. By Magnol's time the city of Montpellier was already long established as an important commercial and educational centre. The University of Montpellier was the first French university to establish a botanic garden, donated in 1593 by King Henry IV of France for the study of medicine and pharmacology. Its medical school attracted students from all over Europe. Individuals well-known in medicine and botany such as Leonhart Fuchs (1501–1566), Guillaume Rondelet (1507–1566), Charles de l'Ecluse (1526–1609), Pierre Richer de Belleval (c. 1564–1632), and
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#1732780398401324-452: The revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, Magnol renounced Protestantism and converted to Catholicism. In December 1663 Magnol received the honorary title brevet de médecine royal through mediation of Antoine Vallot , an influential physician of the king. No means of his financial stability are mentioned (Magnol did not have a wealthy family to support him) but it is suggested that he
351-641: The botanic garden in 1696, for a three-year period. After that, he received the title 'Inspector of the garden' for the rest of his life. Magnol was one of the founding members of the Société Royale des Sciences de Montpellier (1706) and held one of the three chairs in botany. In 1709 he was called to Paris to occupy the seat in the Académie Royale des Sciences de Paris that was left empty when his former student Joseph Pitton de Tournefort died prematurely. Among Magnol's students were Tournefort and
378-485: The botanic garden of Montpellier. In 1693, recommended by Guy-Crescent Fagon (1638–1718), then court physician, and his own student Joseph Pitton de Tournefort (1656–1708), he was nominated 'doctor to the kings court'. In 1694 he finally was appointed Professor of medicine at the University of Montpellier. Through intervention of Fagon, he received a brevet de professeur royale . Magnol was also appointed Director of
405-529: The bright metallic colors of many dragonfly groups and are mostly cryptically colored to avoid detection and little difference between the sexes is seen. Adults are usually from 40 to 70 mm (1.6 to 2.8 in) in length; there are 6 specific variations that are native to Africa alone, and vary from 33 to 40 mm (1.3 to 1.6 in) in length; there are also 97 varieties specific to North America as well. Clubtails are fast-flying dragonflies with short flight seasons. They spend much time at rest, perching in
432-420: The brothers Antoine and Bernard de Jussieu . Magnol's most important contribution to science is without doubt the invention of the concept of plant families, a natural classification, based on combinations of morphological characters, as set out in his Prodromus historiae generalis plantarum, in quo familiae plantarum per tabulas disponuntur (1689) (See under major works ). His work may be regarded as one of
459-475: The eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy . It is classified between order and genus . A family may be divided into subfamilies , which are intermediate ranks between the ranks of family and genus. The official family names are Latin in origin; however, popular names are often used: for example, walnut trees and hickory trees belong to the family Juglandaceae , but that family
486-540: The family as a rank intermediate between order and genus was introduced by Pierre André Latreille in his Précis des caractères génériques des insectes, disposés dans un ordre naturel (1796). He used families (some of them were not named) in some but not in all his orders of "insects" (which then included all arthropods ). In nineteenth-century works such as the Prodromus of Augustin Pyramus de Candolle and
513-407: The first on herbs and small shrublike plants, the second on shrubs and trees] In 1703 Charles Plumier (1646–1704) named a flowering tree from the island of Martinique Magnolia , after Magnol. The name was later adopted by William Sherard , when he did the nomenclatural parts of Hortus Elthamensis by Johann Jacob Dillenius , and The Natural History of Carolina by Mark Catesby , to denote
540-422: The first steps towards the composition of a tree of life. In his Prodromus he developed 76 tables, which not only grouped plants into families but also allowed for an easy and rapid identification by means of the morphological characters, the same he used to compose the groups (Magnol, 1689). 1676 , Botanicum Monspeliense, sive Plantarum circa Monspelium nascentium index. Lyon. [Flora of Montpellier, or rather
567-406: The great writer (and doctor) François Rabelais (c. 1493–1553), all studied at this university. So it was in one of the intellectual and botanical capitals that Magnol took his education. He got his doctor's degree (M.D.) on 11 January 1659. After receiving his degree, his attention once again shifted to botany, this time even more seriously. Montpellier was a bastion of Protestantism and Magnol
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#1732780398401594-401: The predominant nighttime emergence. Some larvae also will lay on flat surfaces, whereas most larvae prefer a vertical-type surface. Gomphidae has over 80 genera and includes more than 900 species, and is the only family in the superfamily Gomphoidea . These genera belong to the family Gomphidae. Family (biology) Family ( Latin : familia , pl. : familiae ) is one of
621-575: The seventy-six groups of plants he recognised in his tables families ( familiae ). The concept of rank at that time was not yet settled, and in the preface to the Prodromus Magnol spoke of uniting his families into larger genera , which is far from how the term is used today. In his work Philosophia Botanica published in 1751, Carl Linnaeus employed the term familia to categorize significant plant groups such as trees , herbs , ferns , palms , and so on. Notably, he restricted
648-549: The use of this term solely within the book's morphological section, where he delved into discussions regarding the vegetative and generative aspects of plants. Subsequently, in French botanical publications, from Michel Adanson 's Familles naturelles des plantes (1763) and until the end of the 19th century, the word famille was used as a French equivalent of the Latin ordo (or ordo naturalis ). In zoology ,
675-713: Was practicing medicine and had an income out of that. From 1659 on he devoted much of his time to the study of botany and made several trips through the Languedoc , the Provence , to the Alps and to the Pyrenees . In 1664 there was a vacancy for 'Demonstrator of plants' in Montpellier and Magnol was proposed for the position. He was denied the appointment because of religious discrimination. This happened again in 1667 when he
702-459: Was raised in the tradition of Calvinism . At that time, Roman Catholicism was the official state church, but since the Edict of Nantes (1598), Protestants officially had religious freedom and the right to work in any field or for the state. The edict did not end religious persecution and discrimination. In his life, Magnol was several times denied a position because of religious discrimination. With
729-506: Was the leading candidate for the chair of Professor of medicine. Meanwhile Magnol had contacts with many prominent botanist and was highly esteemed by his contemporaries. He corresponded with John Ray , William Sherard and James Petiver (England), Paul Hermann and Petrus Houttuyn ( Leiden ), Jan Commelin (Amsterdam), J.H. Lavater ( Zürich ) and J. Salvador ( Barcelona ), among others. In 1687, after his conversion to Catholicism, Magnol eventually became 'Demonstrator of plants' at
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