Hipólito Ruiz López

López worked between 1754 and 1816 across botanist, botanical collector, scientific collector, traveler and discoverer and 1 further recorded occupations. Every statement below returns to a source shown in the evidence panel; where the record is silent or divided, the article says so instead of resolving it.

• Name — Hipólito Ruiz López • Born — 8 August 1754 • Birthplace — Belorado, Burgos, Kingdom of Spain • Died — 1816 • Place of death — Madrid, Kingdom of Spain • Fields — Botany • Author Abbrev Bot — Ruiz

After studying Latin with an uncle who was a priest, at the age of 14 Ruiz López went to Madrid to study logic, physics, chemistry and pharmacology. He also studied botany at the Migas Calientes Botanical Gardens (now the Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid), under the supervision of Casimiro Gómez Ortega (1741–1818) and Antonio Palau Verdera (1734–1793). Ruiz had not yet completed his pharmacology studies when he was named the head botanist of the expedition. The French physician Joseph Dombey was named as his assistant, and the pharmacologist José Antonio Pavón y Jimenez was also appointed. Completing the expedition were the botanical illustrators Joseph Bonete and Isidro Gálvez.

The expedition sailed from Cádiz in 1777, arriving at Lima in April 1778. They explored throughout Peru and Chile for ten years (1778–1788), collecting specimens. The expedition collected 3,000 specimens of plants and made 2,500 life-sized botanical illustrations. When they returned to Spain they brought back a great many living plants. One of the medical remedies brought back by this expedition was the boiled spouts of the quisoar plant, Buddleja incana, which was used to cure colds or, mixed with urine, to alleviate toothache. • Illustration — Title page, Flora Peruviana, et Chilensis The collections arrived in Cádiz in good order (for the most part) in 1788, and were deposited in the Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid and in the Gabinete de Historia Natural, the precursor of the Museum of Natural History. The discoveries included about 150 new genera and 500 new species, which still retain the names given them by Ruiz and Pavón. Unfortunately, a part of the collection consisting of 53 crates with 800 illustrations, dried plants, seeds, resins and minerals was lost when the ship transporting it was wrecked on the coast of Portugal. Back in Spain, Ruiz finished his pharmacological studies, graduating in 1790. He was named a member of the Royal Academy of Medicine in 1794, and he published various works in that body's Memoires. He and Pavón published Flora Peruviana et Chilensis in ten volumes, richly illustrated with engravings of the specimens. The first four volumes were published between 1798 and 1802. The last six volumes were published after the death of Ruiz. Before his death, Ruiz also published Quinología o tratado del árbol de la quina (Madrid, 1792). This work was soon translated into Italian (1792), German (1794) and English (1800). Alexander von Humboldt cited Ruiz when he published his own treatise on cinchona in 1821. The journals Ruiz produced for his exploration of South America during these years are remarkable for their breadth of ethnobotanical and natural history knowledge. Of particular interest to the Spanish Crown at the time was pharmacological knowledge of New World plants such as Chinchona, the source of the anti-malarial, quinine. In addition to detailed descriptions and paintings of the flora and fauna of Peru and Chile, Ruiz observed the geology and weather of the area, and included cultural information about the life of the Indians and the colonists of the area. He died in 1816 (some sources say 1815) in Madrid.

Genera of plants first named by Ruiz & Pavón, or containing species named by them, include the following: • Abatia (1794) • Acaena (1798) • Acunna (1794) • Aechmea (1794) • Aextoxicon (1794) • Alonsoa (1794) • Aloysia (1794) • Alstromeria (1794) • Alzatea (1794) • Amaryllis (1802) • Axinaea (1794) • Azara (1794) • Baccharis (1794) • Bowlesia (1794) • Brunellia (1795) • Calandrinia (1794) • Calceolaria (1798) • Campomanesia (1794) • Canna (1794) • Capsicum (1794) • Carludovica (1794) • Cavanillesia (1794) • Cervantesia (1794) • Chaetanthera (1794) • Chondrodendron (1794) • Cinchona (1794) • Clarisia (1794) • Clavija (1794) • Clethra (1794) • Collomia (1794) • Columellia (1794) • Cordia (1794) • Cosmibuena (1794) • Crassula (1794) • Cyperus (1794) • Datura (1794) • Desfontainia (1794) • Eccremocarpus (1794) • Escallonia (1794) • Escobedia (1794) • Fabiana (1794) • Fortunatia (1794) • Fuchsia (1794) • Galinsoga (1794) • Geophila (1794) • Gilia (1794) • Godoya (1794) • Gomortega (1794) • Gonzalagunia (1794) • Graffenrieda (1794) • Guatteria (1794) • Guzmania (1802) • Herreria (1794) • Heteranthera (1794) • Hippotis (1794) • Huertea (1794) • Ipomoea (1794) • Iriartea (1794) • Jaltomata (1794) • Jarava (1794) • Juanulloa (1794) • Kageneckia (1794) • Krameria (1794) • Lapageria (1802) • Lardizabala (1794) • Leonia (1794) • Llagunoa (1794) • Luzuriaga (1802) • Malesherbia (1794) • Margyricarpus (1794) • Mecardonia (1794) • Miconia (1794) • Mollinedia (1794) • Monnina (1798) • Montiopsis (1794) • Moscharia (1794) • Munnozia (1794) • Myoschilos (1794) • Myrospermum (1794) • Nama (1794) • Navarretia (1794) • Neea (1794) • Olmedia (1794) • Peperomia (1794) • Phytelephas (1794) • Pineda (1794) • Piper (1794) • Plazia (1794) • Polylepis (1794) • Porcelia (1794) • Porlieria (1794) • Pouteria (1794) • Psammisia (1794) • Psychotria (1794) • Renealmia (1794) • Rhynchotheca (1794) • Richardella (1794) • Salpiglossis (1794) • Sanchezia (1794) • Saracha (1794) • Sarmienta (1794) • Schizanthus (1794) • Sessea (1794) • Sobreyra (1794) • Soliva (1794) • Spermacoce (1794) • Sphaeradenia (1794) • Stipa (1794) • Tessaria (1794) • Thibaudia (1794) • Tillandsia (1794) • Tovaria (1794) • Triglochin (1794) • Triptilion (1794) • Tropaeolum (1794) • Vestia (1794) • Wigandia (1794) • Vallesia (1794) • Verbena (1794) • Xyris (1794)

• Anguloa (1794) • Bletia (1794) • Cattleya (1794) • Epidendrum (1794) • Fernandezia (1794) • Gongora (1794) • Lycaste (1798) • Masdevallia (1794) • Maxillaria (1794) • Rodriguezia (1794) • Sobralia (1798)

Hipólito Ruiz López is recorded as botanist, botanical collector, scientific collector, traveler and discoverer. Established in Bibliothèque nationale de France under 13483677w. Established in Library of Congress under n85802306. Established in FAST under 144881. Identity and origins. The authorities additionally record the headings Hipolito Ruiz Lopez, Ruiz Lopez, Hipólito, Hipólito Ruiz, Ruiz and Ruiz López. His recorded language was Spanish.