Pedroso (João António)
Political deportee to Porto Santo who became municipal clerk there, introduced the tamarisk to the island and was honoured by the botanist Lowe with the genus Pedrosia.
He was a native of the parish (freguesia) of Santíssimo Nome de Jesus in Odivelas, the son of Francisco António Pedroso and Inácia Joaquina. Being in Madeira in 1823, he was deported to Porto Santo (‘holy harbour’) for political reasons, where he later managed to be appointed clerk (escrivão) of the Municipal Council. He introduced the tamarisk to that island, a tree that spread there easily and is of great service to the inhabitants. He was a close friend of the English botanist Richard Thomas Lowe, who dedicated to him his genus Pedrosia, which modern botanists include in the older genus Lotus. He contributed to several Madeiran newspapers and died on Porto Santo, aged 68, on 29 March 1869.
In this article
Time
Years mentioned · 02Place
Places mentioned · 02
Abroad
- Odivelas
Portugal. Pedroso's birthplace in mainland Portugal.
Pedroso's birthplace in mainland Portugal.
- Porto Santo
Island of his deportation, work and death.
An island of the archipelago, settled alongside Madeira and forming one of the three captaincies. It has always constituted a single parish, dedicated to Nossa Senhora da Piedade, whose church was repeatedly sacked. The Elucidário records the Moorish pirate raid of 1617, its own Misericórdia and a rainwater channel built on this drought-prone island.
People
People mentioned · 04- João António Pedroso1800–1869
Native of Odivelas deported to Porto Santo in 1823, later municipal clerk there, who introduced the tamarisk.
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Father of João António Pedroso.
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Mother of João António Pedroso.
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English botanist, friend of Pedroso, who named the genus Pedrosia after him.