He was educated at Talca and the Jesuit College at Concepción. He was forced to leave Chile in 1768 when the Jesuits were expelled. He settled in Bologna and became professor of natural sciences there. He wrote Saggio sulla Storia Naturale del Chili[1] (1782), which was the first account of the natural history of that country, and described many species to science for the first time.
He is usually referred to as Abate Molina (form of Abbott Molina), and is also sometimes known by the Italian form of his name, Giovanni Ignazio Molina. Ruiz and Pavon dedicated him Molina, later considered a subgenus of Baccharis by Heering (Reiche 1902), and recently F. H. Hellwig recreated as Neomolina and ranked as genus. Other authors dedicated Moliniopsis, a genus of Gramineae, as synonym of MoliniaSchrank nom.illeg.
Notes
^ Translated into English as The Geographical, Natural and Civil History of Chili, in two volumes. Volume II
References
Reiche K. F. 1902. Estudios críticos sobre la flora de Chile Anal Univ Chile 111: 153-183.
Hellwig H. F. 1993. The genera Pingraea Cassini and Neomolina Hellwig Candollea 48: 212 on line
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