João de Loureiro

Here he worked as a mathematician and naturalist for the king of Đàng Trong,[2] acquiring knowledge on the properties and uses of native medicinal plants.

[3] During this period, Captain Thomas Riddel gave Loureiro the books Systema Naturae, Genera Plantarum and Philosophia Botanica by Carl Linnaeus, which greatly influenced the Portuguese botanist.

[4] João de Loureiro stayed in Vietnam forty years inventorying indigenous herbal remedies.

[2] João de Loureiro published the book Flora Cochinchinensis 1790, sponsored by the Royal Portuguese Academy of Sciences.

[5] The taxonomist Elmer Drew Merrill later argued that Loureiro's work contained various mistakes caused by a misunderstanding of the Linnaean system.