Giovanni Bodeo da Stapelio was born in Amsterdam in the early 17th century.

His father, the physician Engelberto Stapel sent him to study in Leiden where his interest in botany was born.

He is known for his work on the Latin version of Theophrastus' Historia plantarum, completed before his death in 1636 and published posthumously in Amsterdam in 1644 by his father.

Over the comments, Stapelio takes the opportunity to illustrate in an almost encyclopedic way the various botanical species and their applications.

His colleagues,including the humanists Caspar Barlaeus and Petrus Scriverius dedicated liminary poems to him in Latin, while Samuel Naeranus added one in Greek.