Atlas American Forest. Bonpland. 1850: Identification of plants from the “Materia Médica Misionera” of Pedro de Montenegro (SJ)

Abstract

The manuscript bequeathed by Amado Bonpland, Atlas Floresta Americana 1850, obtained from the Library of the Casa de la Cultura Benjamín Carrión (Quito, Ecuador) after efforts made by various entities, allows us to have material of great historical-scientific value and that contributes to the study of the plants identification described in the Materia Medica Missionera of Pedro de Montenegro. In this sense, it constitutes a documentary collection that integrates valuable data pertaining to the Jesuit period, as well as the period in which Bonpland remained in the River Plate basin. The manuscript was analyzed with an interdisciplinary approach. The objectives of the present study are to present the unpublished document, characterize it historically, transcribe it, translate it into Spanish, update the phytonyms to the current Guaraní, update the identifications of the plants of the Jesuit work Pedro de Montenegro, and compare these identifications with others made on the same work. The characteristics of the manuscript and the historical context of its production are described. The botanical affiliation of the plants identified by Bonpland from the Materia Medica Misionera is presented. The importance of this unpublished document as heritage is highlighted, as well as its possible contributions to Jesuit, botanical and pharmacological studies in general.