Dimitrie Grecescu

Born in Cerneți, Oltenia, in the Principality of Wallachia, he attended school in his native village and then in nearby Turnu Severin.

With a recommendation from Carol Davila, Grecescu continued his studies in France, earning a doctorate in medicine and surgery from the University of Paris in 1868.

The book includes 2450 species and 550 varieties, with precise details as to geographic range, growth conditions and popular names; the morpho-physiological descriptions are completed by pedoclimatic notes.

As a thinker on biological phenomena, Grecescu was an adherent of the Pasteurian theory on the genesis of organisms, rejecting the notion of spontaneous generation.

As director of the botanical garden, he contributed to its organization and systematization along scientific lines, and also intensified exchanges with foreign colleagues.