Abstract
Benjamin Corenwinder (1820-1884) was a French scientist and manufacturer, without a formal academic education, who made important contributions to phenomena related to vegetable physiology, the cultivation of beetroot, and the analysis of tropical fruit. He studied in particular plant respiration and the contribution of the different organs of the plant. He found that plants, in their early age, always provided cinders rich in phosphoric acid and after maturity the stems, leaves and roots show no presence of this acid. The events of germination did not consist only in the transformation of starch into sugar; gluten played an important role in the process. Young leaves respired through their nitrogenous part and assimilated carbon with the aid of carbonaceous matters that become organized in their tissues through the intermediate help of chlorophyll. Respiration and assimilation of carbon took place simultaneously but the latter became so attenuated that it could completely mask the effects of the former. Corenwinder carried a detailed study of the growth of beetroot, including the effect of fertilizers, particularly that of sodium nitrate. He also studied a variety of tropical plants, such as banana and chestnut of Brazil..
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 191-207 |
| Number of pages | 17 |
| Journal | Revista CENIC Ciencias Biológicas |
| Volume | 52 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| State | Published - 26 May 2021 |
Keywords
- agricultural chemistry
- beetroot
- respiration
- sugars
- tropical fruits
- vegetable physiology