Rodrigo Bernal
Rodrigo Bernal González is a Colombian botanist who specialises in the palm family. Bernal was a faculty member at the Institute of Natural Sciences, National University of Colombia until 2007. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Aarhus, Denmark, in 1996. He was general curator of the National Colombian Herbarium, and editor of the scientific journal Caldasia.
Bernal has published five books and 105 scientific papers and book chapters, most on them on palm systematics, ecology, uses and conservation. He has described one new genus and 25 new species of palms in the genera Aiphanes, Astrocaryum, Bactris, Chamaedorea, Geonoma, Oenocarpus, Sabinaria, Socratea, and Wettinia. He has described also new species in the plant families Cyclanthaceae, Sapindaceae, and Caprifoliaceae.
Bernal coauthored a Field Guide to the Palms of the Americas and a field guide to the palms of Colombia. Bernal is also coauthor of, an online dictionary of over 18,000 common names applied to plants in Colombia, which provides information on the distribution of each name, and its corresponding scientific name. Since 2001 he has coordinated the production of the Catalogue of the Plants of Colombia, a checklist of the ca. 30,000 plant species occurring in Colombia. The production of this work involves 171 botanists in 19 countries. Since 2007 Bernal has been involved in building up the National Collection of Colombian Palms, an initiative to gather living specimens of all native Colombian palms at the, in Calarcá. In 1996 he received the Sciences Award of the Fundación Alejandro Angel Escobar for In 1996 for the Field guide to American palms.
Books
- Aprovechamiento sostenible de palmas colombianas. Editorial Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Instituto de Ciencias Naturales-Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá. 244 pp.
- Galeano, G. & R. Bernal. 2010. Palmas de Colombia. Guía de Campo. Editorial Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá. 688 pp.
- Henderson, A., G. Galeano and R. Bernal. 1995. Field Guide to the Palms of the Americas. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey. 352 pp., 256 photos, 553 maps.
- Galeano, G. y R. Bernal. 1987. Las Palmas del Departamento de Antioquia. Región Occidental. Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Centro Editorial, Bogotá.
New species of plants discovered
Arecaceae
Aiphanes acaulis – Principes 29: 20. 1985Aiphanes argos – Phytotaxa 298: 66. 2017Aiphanes bicornis – Caldasia 26: 433. 2004Aïphanes buenaventurae – Caldasia 32: 117. 2010Aiphanes graminifolia – Caldasia 24: 277. 2002Aïphanes multiplex – Caldasia 32: 119. 2010Aiphanes pilaris – Caldasia 23: 163 Aiphanes spicata – Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 70: 78. 1996Aiphanes tricuspidata – Brittonia 41: 156, fig. 1989Astrocaryum triandrum – Candollea 43: 279 Bactris rostrata – Caldasia 24: 280. 2002Chamaedorea ricardoi – Palms 48: 27. 2004Geonoma santanderensis – Caldasia 24: 282. 2002Geonoma wilsonii – Caldasia 24:284. 2002Oenocarpus makeru – Brittonia 43: 158 Oenocarpus simplex – Brittonia 43: 154 Sabinaria – Phytotaxa 144: 28. 2013Sabinaria magnifica – Phytotaxa 144: 34Socratea montana – Brittonia 38: 55 Wettinia aequatorialis – Caldasia 17: 369 Wettinia disticha – Caldasia 17: 368 Wettinia lanata – Caldasia 17: 371 Wettinia minima – Caldasia 17: 373 Wettinia oxycarpa – Caldasia 13: 695Cyclanthaceae
Asplundia harlingiana – Caldasia 14: 27. 1984.Asplundia sanctae-ritae – Caldasia 14: 28. 1984. Asplundia sarmentosa – Caldasia 14: 29. 1984. Dicranopygium fissile – Caldasia 14: 31, figs. 1984.Dicranopygium scoparum – Caldasia 14: 32, figs. 1984.Sapindaceae
Paullinia trifoliolata – Caldasia 26: 61-64; fig. 1. 2004Caprifoliaceae
Valeriana neglecta – Kew Bull. 64: 723.2010Plants named after Bernal
Dichapetalum bernalii – Brittonia 40: 441, f. 1. 1988. Chigua bernalii – Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden 57: 170, f. 1I. 1990. Orphanodendron bernalii – Brittonia 42: 249-253, f. 1-2. 1990. Anthurium bernalii – Aroideana 32: 45–48, 5a–d. 2009. Geonoma bernalii – Phytotaxa 17: 38. 2011.- Cyperus bernalii – Phytotaxa 362 : 287–291. 2018.