Buonamico, the Botanist

Abstract

Due to their geographical position, their geomorphology and numerous microhabitats, the Maltese Islands have a relatively rich flora as well as interesting fertile ground for botanical research. Despite this fact, detailed studies on Maltese botany are relatively recent, dating from the early nineteenth century. Very few publications or manuscripts on the Maltese flora predate the nineteenth century, and for the most part these have not been critically assessed. The first works directly referring to the Maltese flora belong to three seventeenth-century scholars, namely, and in chronological order, the manuscripts of Giovan Francesco Buonamico (c. 1670) and the published works of Paolo Boccone (1674, 1697) and Filippo Cavallini (1689). The works of these three authors are somewhat interlinked, as will be indicated below.