The history of palaeobotany in Argentina during the 19th century

Abstract

The first records of fossil plants in Argentina were related to the visits of the naturalist-explorers Azara, d’Orbigny, Darwin, de Moussy, Burmeister and Bonpland during the nineteenth century. The settlement of Burmeister in Buenos Aires in 1862 fostered the arrival of foreign, mostly German, scientists to work in, or closely related to, the School of Sciences in Córdoba. Among them were Stelzner, Brackebusch, Doering, Zuber, Avé-Lallemant, Hautal, Berg, Kurtz and Bodenbender. Fossil plants they collected were studied in part in Europe by Geinitz, Conwentz and Szajnocha, but also received opportune comments by Schenck, Nathorst, Zeiller and Ward. The first Argentine scientists who quoted the presence of fossil plants were Moreno, Lista, Fontana and Aguirre. The record of Tertiary plant remains from Tierra del Fuego by the Romanian explorer Popper and the Swedish botanist and explorer Dusén closed the palaeobotanical studies in Argentina during the nineteenth century.