Pier Antonio Micheli (December 11, 1679 - January 1, 1737) was a noted Italian botanist, professor of botany in Pisa, curator of the Orto Botanico di Firenze, author of Nova plantarum genera iuxta Tournefortii methodum disposita. He discovered the spores of mushrooms, was a leading authority on cryptogams, and coined several important genera of microfungi including Aspergillus and Botrytis. Botany is the scientific study of plant life. ... Pinguicula grandiflora Botany is the scientific study of plantlife. ... Pisa is a city in Tuscany, central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the Arno River on the Tyrrhenian Sea. ... Orto Botanico di Firenze General view Central fountain The Orto Botanico di Firenze (2. ... The term spore has several different meanings in biology. ... The relative sizes of the Cap (pileus) and Stalk (stipe) vary widely. ... Species Aspergillus caesiellus Aspergillus candidus Aspergillus carneus Aspergillus clavatus Aspergillus deflectus Aspergillus flavus Aspergillus fumigatus Aspergillus glaucus Aspergillus nidulans Aspergillus niger Aspergillus ochraceus Aspergillus oryzae Aspergillus parasiticus Aspergillus penicilloides Aspergillus restrictus Aspergillus sojae Aspergillus sydowi Aspergillus terreus Aspergillus ustus Aspergillus versicolor Aspergillus is a genus of around 200 fungi (moulds... A grey fungus, Botrytis cinerea or Botrytis, that affects wine grapes. ...

Micheli was born in Florence in 1679. According to a short description from the libraries of Harvard University, he taught himself Latin and began the study of plants at a young age under Bruno Tozzi. In 1706 he was appointed botanist to Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, director of the Florence gardens, and a professor at the University of Pisa. Florences skyline Florence (Italian: ) is the capital city of the region of Tuscany, Italy. ... Harvard University (incorporated as The President and Fellows of Harvard College) is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ... Cosimo III de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (14 August 1642 – 31 October 1723) was Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1670 to 1723. ... The University of Pisa (Italian Università di Pisa) is one of the most renowned Italian universities. ...

His Nova plantarum genera (1729) was a major step in the knowledge of fungi. In this work, he gave descriptions of 1900 plants, of which about 1400 were described for the first time. Among these were 900 fungi and lichens, accompanied by 73 plates. He included information on "the planting, origin and growth of fungi, mucors, and allied plants", and was the first to point out that fungi have reproductive bodies or spores. Divisions Chytridiomycota Zygomycota Ascomycota Basidiomycota The Fungi (singular: fungus) are a large group of organisms ranked as a kingdom within the Domain Eukaryota. ... For other things named Lichen, see: Lichen (disambiguation). ...

On one of his collecting trips, in 1736, he contracted pleurisy, of which he soon after died in Florence. Pleurisy, also known as pleuritis, is an inflammation of the pleura, the lining of the pleural cavity surrounding the lungs, which can cause painful respiration and other symptoms. ... Florences skyline Florence (Italian: ) is the capital city of the region of Tuscany, Italy. ...

References

• Moselio Schaechter, "Pier Antonio Micheli, The father of modern mycology: A paean", McIlvainea, 2000.

Eponymy

• In 1737, Linnaeus called the genus Michelia after him.
• Via Micheli, Florence, home of the Orto Botanico di Firenze, is named in his honor.