XVI International Botanical Congess

We survey and analize the life and scientific work of Dr. Faustino Miranda (Gijón, Spain, 02/19/1905). He obtained his Ph.D. in 1929, with a dissertation on Ficology. At the end of the Spanish civil war (1939) he was forced to leave Spain and travel to México as a political refugee. Once settled, and working and teaching at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, he changed his research topic to Systematics of terrestrial vascular plants. His research in México is considered a watershed in the knowledge of Mexican vegetation, particularly due to the methodology used. Based on the thorough review of a wide variety of sources, we document the historic value of his studies and information generated over 40 years of nonstop work. We hope that our results will help to enliven the memory of this great botanist in the history of Mexican science.