Cesalpino
hated school work as a child but surprisingly enough
became an outstanding scholar. He went to the
University of Pisa, Italy, and studied both medicine
and botany. He eventually became Director of the
Botanic Garden at the University of Bologna where he
also became Professor of Botany and Medicine. He
finally became physician to Pope Clement VIII.
His most famous work De Plantis appeared in
1583. It consisted of 16 books of which 15 describe
1500 plants. His herbarium consisting of 260 pages
with 768 well mounted plants is still extant.
He was essentially a philosopher of the
Aristotelian school. He sought a philosophical basis
for plant classification rather than the utilitarian
approach of medicine. He recognized a definite pattern
of phyllotaxy, and believed flowers arose from leaves.
He exerted a very profound influence upon botanists of
the following century. Many of his ideas were
fallacious.
