Prospero Alpini
Prospero Alpini (also known as
Prosper Alpinus,
Prospero Alpinio and Latinized as
Prosperus Alpinus) (23 November 15536 February 1617) was a Venetian
physician and
botanist. He travelled around Egypt and served as the fourth prefect in charge of the botanical garden of Padua. He wrote several botanical treatises which covered exotic plants of economic and medicinal value. His description of coffee and banana plants are considered the oldest in European literature. The ginger-family genus ''
Alpinia'' was named in his honour by
Carolus Linnaeus.
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