Fields Botany, Entomology Author abbrev. (botany) | Name Benjamin Laguna | |
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Born December 2, 1822
Santa Cruz de Mudela, Province of Ciudad Real, Spain ( 1822-12-02 ) Died January 3, 1902(1902-01-03) (aged 79)
Madrid, Spain Alma mater Royal Saxon Academy of Forestry Notable awards Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences | ||
Benjamín Máximo Laguna y Villanueva (December 2, 1822 - January 3, 1902) was a Spanish botanist and entomologist.
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While the standard form of his name is "Laguna", he is sometimes referred to by both surnames "Laguna y Villanueva".
Education
Máximo Laguna was born in Santa Cruz de Mudela, in the province of Ciudad Real. In 1848 he enrolled at the Spanish forestry school, the Escuela Especial de Ingenieros de Montes, which had been recently founded at the Castle of Villaviciosa de Odón near Madrid. He received a grant to continue his studies in the Kingdom of Saxony, where he enrolled at the Royal Saxon Academy of Forestry at Tharandt, near Dresden.
Research
The International Plant Names Index lists his botanical interests as Pteridophytes and Spermatophytes. He published on the flora of Spanish forests. He also studied the botany of the Philippines, which was at the time a Spanish colonial possession, although he did not visit the country. He described a tree, Quercus jordanae Laguna, which had been collected in Luzon by one of his forestry service colleagues. (The tree has been reclassified as a lithocarpus since Laguna made the species known to science).
His interest in insects related to his studies of their impact on trees.