Miquel de Garganta i Fabrega (Olot, 1903-1988)

Quan faltava poc més de tres mesos per al seu 85è aniversari, ha mort, el 12 de setembre de 1988, a Olot, on havia nascut el 23 de desembre de 1903, el Dr. Miquel de Garganta i Fàbrega, historiador de la Botànica i membre d'una coneguda familia d'intellectuals de la Garrotxa

Contribució a l'estudi de l'ambient dels aiguamolls de l'Empordà a través de les algues aquàtiques i edàfiques

Tesi de Llicenciatura per a la obtenció del Grau de Farmàcia. Facultat de Farmàcia. Universitat de Barcelona. Director: Juan Antonio Seoane Camba. 1982

Tres notes i una carta de Narcís Fages i de Romà a Estanislau Vayreda i Vila en temps prefil·loxèrics immediats

Donem a conèixer en aquest treball tres notes i una carta enviades el 1878 i el 1879 per l'advocatNarcís Fages i de Romà al botànic Estanislau Vayreda i Vila, relatives a la comissió antifil·loxèricade l'Alt Empordà, creada i presidida per Fages, i, complementàriament, una carta de la mateixaèpoca (1880) enviada al mateix receptor pel fill de Fages, Carles Fages i de Perramon. Aquestabreu correspondència aporta un petit testimoni de l'actuació d'aquesta comissió, que va serrellevant en la gran crisi agrícola que la fil·loxera va provocar.Paraules clau:Agricultura, comissió contra la fil·loxera, correspondència, Estanislau Vayreda,història de la ciència, Narcís Fages

Algunes fites en la formació naturalista i pedagògica del professor Josep M. Àlvarez Ribera.

[CAT] Donem a conèixer en aquest treball diversos aspectes d'una època important en la formació com a ensenyant i com a naturalista del senyor Josep M. Àlvarez Ribera, professor de Ciències Naturals de l'Institut Ramon Muntaner de Figueres,molt conegut perquè hi va exercir des del final de la guerra civil fins que es va jubilar el 1977. Documents conservats a l'Arxiu Històric General de la Universitat de Barcelona permeten de reconstruir un curs d'estiu de Botànica al qual Àlvarez va assistir el 1933, quan feia ben poc que havia obtingut la llicenciatura en Ciències Naturals i es disposava a iniciar la seva activitat docent. El curs, impartit pel doctor Pius Font i Quer, va consistir en alguna lliçó teòrica, dues sessions de laboratori i una sortida de set dies al Pirineu, en la línia, llavors (i potser fins i tot ara) molt innovadora de Font d'integrar la teoria i les pràctiques i donar a aquestes darreres una dimensió fonamental en l'ensenyament de la Botànica. Tothom que hagi estat alumne del senyor Àlvarez té, ben segur, present, com ell tenia també aquesta mentalitat i creiem que aquest curs degué tenir prou a veure en aquesta seva manera de procedir per a ensenyar la seva disciplina. A part d'això, remarquem també en aquest article la forta vinculació d'Àlvarez amb la Institució Catalana d'Història Natural en la mateixa època primerenca com a llicenciat, la qual cosa segurament va contribuir també a la seva formació. [EN] We give notice in this work of some relevant aspects in the training as a teacher and as a naturalist of Mr. Josep M. Àlvarez Ribera, professor of Natural Sciences at the Institut Ramon Muntaner in Figueres, very well known, since he worked there from the end of the civil war until his retirement in 1977. Documents conserved in the Arxiu històric general of the Universitat de Barcelona allow us to reconstruct a summer course on Botany, which Àlvarez attended in 1933, when he had recently obtained the university degree in Natural Sciences and was ready to start his teaching activity. The course, lectured by Prof. Pius Font i Quer, consisted of a few theoretical lessons, two laboratory sessions and a sevenday field trip to the Pyrenees, in the then (and perhaps even today) innovative Font's method integrating theory and practice giving the latter a fundamental dimension in Botany learning. All people having been a Mr. Àlvarez's student have surely noticed that he also had this mentality, and we believe that this course was powerfully influential in his modality of teaching his discipline. Apart from this, we also remark in this paper Àlvarez's strong connexion with the Institució Catalana d'Història Natural in the same period of recent postgraduate, which surely contributed to his training as well

Aportacion al conocimiento citotaxonomico de ocho taxones ibericos del genero Artemisa L. (Asteraceae, Anthemideae)

Se han estudiado desde el punto de vista cariológico un total de 14 poblaciones de ocho táxones de Artemisia L., todos los representantes ibéricos de la sección Artemisia y uno de la sección Seriphidium Bess. Para seis de los ocho táxones se han confeccionado los cariótipos. La mayoría de los recuentos representan novedad en material ibérico, y uno es nuevo para la Ciencia. Los resultados muestran la existencia de dos números de base (x = 8; x = 9) en el género y un grado de simetría de los cariótipos bastante alto. Para cada grupo de especies tratado se hace, además de los comentarios puramente cariológicos, alguno corológico o sistemático

Back to the island of calm: Mallorcan human traditional medicine and ethnobotany

Podeu consultar el llibre complet a: http://hdl.handle.net/2445/63704This study reveals that a successful ethnobotanical survey can take place still nowadays, even close to one of the hotspots of tourism in the Mediterranean coast. This is the first approach in this field entirely based on interviews with local people in Mallorca. An amount of 235 informants has been inquired from all the 53 municipalities of the island. The data collected have been analyzed from the botanical and ethnographical points of view, and managed using the online platform of our research team (details at www.etnobiofic.cat). The Mallorcan ethnopharmacopoeia includes 255 plant taxa referring more than 150 medicinal use categories. Ethnomedical queries as the one here presented contribute to the knowledge of the traditional use of plants of the island and appreciate the benefits of this knowledge, applied to the present and future of its society

Temporal origins and diversification of Artemisia and allies (Anthemideae, Asteraceae)

Temporal origins and diversification of Artemisia and allies (Anthemideae, Asteraceae).- To assess temporal origins and diversification of lineages within subtribe Artemisiinae and Artemisia group a penalized likelihood analysis was applied on nrDNA ITS and ETS of 63 representatives. The tree was calibrated at the stem node of the Kaschgaria/ Artemisia lineage with the most reliable early Artemisia fossil pollen record from Late Oligocene (23 Ma). The results from this study suggest that the origin of the subtribe goes back to the Late Oligocene (24.6 ± 2.6 Ma) whilst the onset of differentiation of the genus Artemisia and most closely related genera is dated to the Early Miocene (19.8 ± 2.3 Ma). Divergence ages for lineages within the Artemisia group are often between the Early and Middle Miocene, whereas their radiations mostly occurred in the Late Miocene and Pliocene. The temporal context was also used to examine biogeographic and morphological (capitula and pollen type) evolution. Within the Artemisia group all lineages except the North American endemic have colonized the Mediterranean Basin at different epochs from Asian ancestors. Our analyses suggest the divergence of the North American endemic group from Asian ancestors (10.8 ± 1.5 Ma) in the Late Miocene. Homogamous-discoid capitula, characteristic of subgenera Seriphidium and Tridentatae, evolved not only in different geographic regions, but also at different times (2.0 ± 0.8 Ma and 7.9 ± 0.9 Ma respectively) within the Artemisia group. The loss of fertility of central flowers of disciform capitula should be considered as an ancient event in the genus since subgenus Dracunculus is one of the first groups that diverged (17.6 ± 2.1 Ma)

Filling the gaps: ethnobotanical study of the Garrigues district, an arid zone in Catalonia (NE Iberian Peninsula)

This study has focused on the Garrigues district, one of the most arid regions in Catalonia (NE Iberian Peninsula), which, in general terms, has remained unexplored from the ethnobotanical point of view. This area, of 22,243 inhabitants, comprises 33 municipalities distributed across 1123.12 km2. The natural vegetation is dominated by holm oak forests and maquis called 'garriga', the latter giving its name to the district. During the last few decades, this landscape has been transformed by agricultural activities, nowadays in recession. The main aim of this work was to collect and analyse the ethnoflora of this area in order to fill a gap in the ethnobotanical knowledge in Catalonia

Traditional knowledge in semi-rural close to industrial areas: ethnobotanical studies in western Gironès (Catalonia, Iberian Peninsula)

Background The western Gironès is a district located in NE Catalonia (NE Iberian Peninsula). This area comprising 186.55 km2 and 10,659 inhabitants is composed of 5 municipalities encompassing 29 villages, located in the hydrographic basins of the Ter and Llémena rivers. Methods Following the methodology based on the semi-structured interviews, we carried out 40 interviews with 57 informants, 31 were women and the remaining 26 were men, with an average age of 78.6 years. Results In the present study, data from 316 taxa (301 angiosperms, 8 gymnosperms, and 7 pteridophytes) belonging to 89 botanical families were collected. The interviewed informants referred 3776 UR of 298 taxa, 1933 (51.19%) of them corresponding to the food category, 949 (25.13%) to the medicinal ones, and 894 (23.68%) to other uses. In addition, 581 vernacular names for 306 species, subspecies, and varieties have also been collected. Conclusions These results reveal the validity of traditional knowledge in the studied area, which can be seriously threatened by the loss of its rural condition and its proximity to industrialized areas