Hugh Algernon Weddell (22 June 1819 – 22 July 1877) was a physician

Physician

A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...

 and botanist, specialising in South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

n flora

Flora

Flora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life. The corresponding term for animals is fauna.-Etymology:...

.

Weddell was born at Birches House, Painswick

Painswick

Painswick is a small town in Gloucestershire, England. Originally the town grew on the wool trade, but it is now best known for its parish church's yew trees and the local Rococo Garden. The town is mainly constructed of locally quarried Cotswold stone...

 near Gloucester

Gloucester

Gloucester is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately north-east of Bristol, and south-southwest of Birmingham....

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 but was raised in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 and educated at the Lycée Henri IV

Lycée Henri IV

The Lycée Henri-IV is a public secondary school located in Paris. Along with Louis-le-Grand it is widely regarded as one of the most demanding sixth-form colleges in France....

, where he received a medical degree in 1841. He had also studied botany and became a respected member of the French botanical fraternity. While studying he accompanied Adrien-Henri de Jussieu

Adrien-Henri de Jussieu

Adrien-Henri de Jussieu was a French botanist.Born in Paris as the son of botanist Antoine Laurent de Jussieu, he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1824 with a treatise of the plant family Euphorbiaceae. When his father retired in 1826, he succeeded him at the Jardin des Plantes; in...

 (1797-1853) on numerous botanizing expeditions and he became a collaborator with Ernest Cosson

Ernest Cosson

Ernest Saint-Charles Cosson was a French botanist born in ParisHe is remembered for his studies of botanical species from North Africa, and during his career participated in eight trips to Algeria. With Jacques Nicolas Ernest Germain de Saint-Pierre , he published the influential Atlas de la Flore...

 (1819-1889) and Jacques Germain de Saint-Pierre

Jacques Nicolas Ernest Germain de Saint-Pierre

Jacques Nicolas Ernest Germain de Saint-Pierre was a French botanist. The plant genus Germainia of the family Poaceae is named in his honor....

 (1815-1882) in the preparation of Flore des environs de Paris (1845). In 1843, he was invited to join the expedition of François Louis de la Porte, comte de Castelnau

François Louis de la Porte, comte de Castelnau

François Louis Nompar de Caumont LaPorte, comte de Castelnau was a French naturalist, known also as François Laporte or Francis de Castelnau.-Life:Born in London, he studied natural history in Paris...

 to South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

, and he explored and collected botanical specimens in that continent for five years.

In May 1845, Weddell left the expedition which was then in Paraguay, and proceeded on a solitary journey which would take him into Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

 and Bolivia

Bolivia

Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...

. Before leaving Paris, he had been particularly instructed by the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle

Muséum national d'histoire naturelle

The Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle is the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, France.- History :The museum was formally founded on 10 June 1793, during the French Revolution...

 to undertake a thorough investigation of the Cinchona plant, or "fever bark" tree in its native habitat. Cinchona, the source of quinine

Quinine

Quinine is a natural white crystalline alkaloid having antipyretic , antimalarial, analgesic , anti-inflammatory properties and a bitter taste. It is a stereoisomer of quinidine which, unlike quinine, is an anti-arrhythmic...

, was of great commercial importance and Europeans had been investigating it for nearly two hundred years with the goal of cultivating it in regions far removed from the Andes mountains. Weddell explored a number of regions where the trees grew and identified no fewer than fifteen distinct species of the genus Cinchona (Rubiaceae). The seeds which he took back to Paris were germinated in the Jardin des Plantes

Jardin des Plantes

The Jardin des Plantes is the main botanical garden in France. It is one of seven departments of the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle. It is situated in the 5ème arrondissement, Paris, on the left bank of the river Seine and covers 28 hectares .- Garden plan :The grounds of the Jardin des...

, and the plants were used to establish Cinchona forests in Java

Java

Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...

 and elsewhere in the East Indies

East Indies

East Indies is a term used by Europeans from the 16th century onwards to identify what is now known as Indian subcontinent or South Asia, Southeastern Asia, and the islands of Oceania, including the Malay Archipelago and the Philippines...

.

In 1847 he married Juana Bolognesi, a resident of Arequipa

Arequipa

Arequipa is the capital city of the Arequipa Region in southern Peru. With a population of 836,859 it is the second most populous city of the country...

. By March 1848 he had returned to Paris, leaving his wife in South America.

In Paris, Weddell was given the post of assistant naturalist at the Museum. He held this office until 1853. Weddell made a second trip to South America in 1851. He returned to France and died on 22 July 1877 in Poitiers

Poitiers

Poitiers is a city on the Clain river in west central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne department and of the Poitou-Charentes region. The centre is picturesque and its streets are interesting for predominant remains of historical architecture, especially from the Romanesque...

, while caring for his father.

He is commemorated in the names of a number of plants and animals, including the Dusky-headed Parakeet

Dusky-headed Parakeet

The Dusky-headed Parakeet , also known as the or Weddell's Conure or Dusky-headed Conure in aviculture, is a species of parrot found in wooded habitats in the western Amazon Basin. It prefers semi-open habitats such as várzea, forest edge and forest remnants, but can also be found in coffee...

, Aratinga weddellii.

This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation Wedd. when citing

Author citation (botany)

In botanical nomenclature, author citation refers to citing the person who validly published a botanical name, i.e. who first published the name while fulfilling the formal requirements as specified by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature...

 a botanical name

Botanical name

A botanical name is a formal scientific name conforming to the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature and, if it concerns a plant cultigen, the additional cultivar and/or Group epithets must conform to the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants...

.

Publications

• Histoire naturelle des Quinquinas (1849) - monograph describing the Cinchona plant
• Additions à la flore de l’Amérique du Sud (1850) - which gives the history of his first trip to South America.
• Voyage dans la Nord de la Bolivie (1853) - which describes his second trip to South America.
• Chloris andina: essai d’une flore de la region alpine des Cordillères de l’Amérique du Sud (two volumes) (1855-1861) - it constitutes the sixth part of Francis de Castelnau
  François Louis de la Porte, comte de Castelnau
  François Louis Nompar de Caumont LaPorte, comte de Castelnau was a French naturalist, known also as François Laporte or Francis de Castelnau.-Life:Born in London, he studied natural history in Paris...
  
  ’s Expédition dans les parties centrals de l’Amérique du Sud (1850-1859).