Javier Francisco-Ortega
Kelly Research Fellow
305-667-3800 ext. 120
ortegaj@fiu.edu
11901 Old Cutler Road
Coral Gables, FL 33156 USA
Javier Francisco-Ortega is Kelly Research Fellow at Montgomery Botanical Center and Full Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences of Florida International University (FIU). He has an official assignment and appointment as Adjunct Faculty at Montgomery Botanical Center from FIU. As an university professor he brings academic perspectives involving graduate and undergraduate students as well as faculty colleagues from national and international universities.
Javier’s botanical research is broad and has been primarily focused on taxonomy, systematics, evolution, and conservation of island plants and well as on threatened species. He also has an interest in botanical history, particularly involving plant exploration endeavors. As a Canary Island native with family traditions in the West Indies, a great deal of his research concerns plants from these two insular systems. At Montgomery Botanical Center his studies center in cycads and palms, as many species of these two groups are insular endemics or are highly threatened to extinction. His work is being undertaken in close collaboration with our plant biology team and also involved strong partnerships with botanists from several countries from the New and Old World.
Doctor of Philosophy in Biological Sciences
University of Birmingham, United Kingdom
Master of Sciences in Plant Genetic Conservation
University of Birmingham, United Kingdom
Bachelor in Horticulture
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain
Publications & Research
Selected Recent Research
Publications (2021–2023)
* (undergraduate student); ** (graduate student)
Francisco-Ortega, J. (2023). Montgomery Botanical Center and Centro Studi Erbario Tropicale, Università di Firenze develop research and academic ties in Tropical Botany. Webbia 78: 151.
Jestrow, B., Hass, M., Cinea, W., Franck, A.R., Timyan, J.C., Griffith, M.P. & Francisco-Ortega, J. (2023). The Critically Endangered Haitian endemic palm Attalea crassispatha (Arecaceae) and its living collections in Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden: Perspectives from conservation surveys and DNA microsatellite (SSR) data. Webbia 78: 3–14.
*Burgos-Soler, C., Garin, F., Cameron, R., Pérez Farrera, M.A. & Francisco-Ortega, J. (2023). David Fairchild’s 1944 expedition to Mesoamerica: Encounters with Quercus skinneri. International Oak Society.
Reyes-Betancort, A., Sánchez-Pinto, L. & Francisco-Ortega, J. (2023). Bethencourtia palmensis (C. Sm.) Choisy, Jean IV de Béthencourt, and the genus Bethencourtia Choisy. Curtis’s Botanical Magazine 40: 75–102.
Calonje, M., Meerow, A.W. & Francisco-Ortega, J. (2022). The cycad encounters of botanical explorer David Fairchild. Huntia 19: 27–50.
Francisco–Ortega, J., Baldini, R.M., Manning, J.C. & Gandhi, K. (2022). Honoring Philip Barker Webb: The three intriguing stories of Webbia as a genus name. Webbia: 3–21.
Griffith, M.P., Francisco-Ortega J. & Gandhi K.N. (2022). A report on the Botanical Nomenclature Course. Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas 16: 8.
Griffith, M.P., Francisco-Ortega J. & Gandhi K.N. (2022). A report on the Botanical Nomenclature Course at the Montgomery Botanical Center, Florida, USA. Journal of Japanese Botany 97: 301–303.
Griffith, M.P., Francisco-Ortega J. & Gandhi K.N. (2022). A report on the Botanical Nomenclature Course. Nelumbo 64: 372–376.
Herrera-Blitman, N., Calonje, M., Meerman, J., Aguilar, R., Meerow, A.W., Francisco-Ortega, J. & Griffith M.P. (2022). Zamia decumbens, Cycadales, Zamiaceae. Curtis’s Botanical Magazine 39: 517–539.
*Marimon, M., Oatham, M.P., Jiménez-Rodríguez, F., Santiago-Valentín, E. & Francisco-Ortega, J. (2022). The 1932 expedition of David Fairchild to the Caribbean on board Utowana: Botanizing in Beata, Saona, Trinidad, Tobago, and Tortola islands. Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas 16: 505–532.
Naranjo, A.A., Pathirickal, R.R., Gandhi, K.N., Delprete, P.G., Baldini, R.M., Santos-Guerra, A., Sánchez-Pinto, L. & Francisco-Ortega, J. (2022). Honoring Sabin Berthelot: Nomenclature and botanical history of Berthelotia DC. (Asteraceae, Inuleae). Webbia 77: 207–228.
*Saliba, N., André, N., Hall, G., Oatham, M.P., Campbell, K., Jiménez, F., Cinea, W., Santiago-Valentín, E., Jestrow, B., Picard, L. & Francisco-Ortega, J. (2022). “Out of Cuba” – The additional botanical expeditions of Brother Marie-Victorin across the Caribbean (1940–1942). Caribbean Journal of Science 52: 250–306.
Francisco-Ortega, J., Gandhi, K.N., Santos-Guerra, A., Tye, A., Franck, A.R., Mejías, J.A., Flickinger, J.A. & Jestrow, B. (2021). Proposal to conserve the name Bosea yervamora (Amaranthaceae) with a conserved type. Taxon: 674–675.
Griffith, M.P., Cartwright, F., Dosmann, M., Fant, J., Freid, E., Havens, K., Jestrow, B., Kramer, A.T., Magellan, T.M., Meerow, A.W., Meyer, A., Sánchez, V., Santiago-Valentín, E., Spence, E., Sustasche-Sustache, J.A., Francisco-Ortega, J. & Hoban, S. (2021). Ex situ conservation of large and small plant populations illustrates limitations of common conservation metrics. International Journal of Plant Sciences 182: 263–276.
Griffith, M.P., Meerow, A.W., Calonje, M., González, M., Nakamura, K. & Francisco-Ortega, J. (2021). Genetic patterns of Zamia in Florida are consistent with ancient human influence and recent near extirpation. International Journal of Plant Sciences 183: 169–185.
Jestrow, B., Cinea, W., Peguero, B., Husby, C. & Francisco-Ortega, J. (2021). Clavija domingensis. Primulaceae. Curtis’s Botanical Magazine 38: 3–18.
Montes Espín, R., Fernández Santana, I., Lucía, A., Ramos, V., Vasallo Rodríguez, L., Lima Cruz , M. A. & Francisco-Ortega, J. (2021) The expeditions of the research yacht Utowana and the building of the plant living collections of the oldest botanical garden of Cuba. Webbia 76: 143–166.
**Tiernan, N., Gandhi, K. & Francisco-Ortega, J. (2021). A nomenclatural study of Plumeria L. (Apocynaceae: Plumerieae) in the Caribbean Islands. Taxon 70: 1101–1116.
Zanotti, C.A., Santos-Guerra, A., Reyes-Betancort, J.A. & Francisco-Ortega, J. (2021). Antonio A. de Porlier y Sopranis, 1st Marquis of Bajamar (1722 – 1813) and the genus Porlieria (Zygophyllaceae) — Honouring his botany advocacy, and its nomenclature. Kew Bulletin 76: 613–623.