Fredy Archila
Fredy Archila | |
|---|---|
| Born | Fredy Leonel Archila Morales 2 April 1973 Cobán, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Agronomy, Botany |
| Archila | |
Fredy Leonel Archila Morales (born 2 April 1973) is a Guatemalan agronomist and botanist who specializes in orchids.[1][2] His standard author abbreviation in botany is Archila.[1]
Archila is associated with the University of San Carlos of Guatemala herbarium BIGU as an associated researcher for Orchidaceae.[3] He has been identified in Guatemalan press coverage with the rescue, propagation and reintroduction of the monja blanca, the white-flowered form of Lycaste virginalis that is Guatemala's national flower.[4][5]
Early life and education
[edit]Fredy Leonel Archila Morales was born on 2 April 1973 in Cobán, Alta Verapaz.[2] He is the son of Oscar Archila Euler and Adelivia Morales de Archila and was the sixth of seven children.[2]
He competed for a scholarship to enter the Escuela Nacional Central de Agricultura, later studied business administration because of financial constraints, and afterward completed his agronomy training.[2] He specialized in understory botany at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota, Florida, and pursued studies at the University of San Carlos of Guatemala, Rafael Landívar University, Atlantic International University, Colorado College, Harvard University, the Herbario Nacional Rafael Moscoso in the Dominican Republic, and the University of La Serena.[2]
Career
[edit]The International Plant Names Index records Archila as a Guatemalan botanist working on spermatophytes and gives 1973 as his birth year.[1] It lists Pseudolepanthes as an example of a name published by him in Revista Guatemalensis in 2000 and records 577 plant names published by him.[1]
The BIGU herbarium of the University of San Carlos of Guatemala lists Archila as an associated researcher for Orchidaceae.[3] The same page lists him as co-author of several botanical works, including Monografía del género Sobralia en Guatemala (2013), Cactáceas y suculentas de Guatemala (2017), and Dichaea nocturnas y diurnas de Guatemala (2017).[3]
Archila has published with international collaborators on Guatemalan orchids. A 2023 paper in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences listed him as a co-author of the description of Schiedeella bajaverapacensis, a new orchid species from Guatemala, and gave his affiliation as Herbario BIGU, Escuela de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas y Farmacia, Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala.[6]
In 2016 he was a lecturer at the Universidad Rural de Guatemala and director of the Centro Experimental de Orquídeas de Guatemala, and he was carrying out a consultancy on the care of the monja blanca for the Consejo Nacional de Áreas Protegidas, FONACON and ARCAS.[4]
Contributions
[edit]Archila's main published work has been in plant taxonomy, especially orchids. The review Pollination of Guatemalan orchids – state of knowledge cited the 2018 checklist Orchid genera and species in Guatemala by Archila, Dariusz Szlachetko, Guy R. Chiron and Vincenzo Bertolini, and stated that the checklist listed more than 1,200 orchid taxa for Guatemala.[7]
He began a project to recover the monja blanca in about 2014, and by 2016 had 400 plants intended for later planting in identified forests.[4] Archila and Guy Chiron corrected the plant's scientific name in 2010 to Lycaste virginalis forma alba (Dombrain) Archila & Chiron.[4]
A 2021 article in Prensa Libre credited Archila with naming the monja blanca correctly and described the plant's reintroduction into cloud forests in the Verapaces in 2017 after laboratory propagation.[5] The Archila family orchid experimental station in Cobán held 35,000 rescued plants.[5]
Selected works
[edit]- Lycaste guatemalensis Archila: una nueva especie vegetal guatemalteca (1999)[8]
- Monografía del género Lepanthes Sw. (Orchidaceae) para Guatemala (2010)[8]
- Biodiversity and biogeographic significance of the Sierra Chinajá in Alta Verapaz, Guatemala: a first look (2009)[8]
- Botanical News from Guatemala (2009)[8]
- Sudamerlycaste Archila, Addendum et corrigendum (2009)[8]
- El batido o Kakao, la bebida de los dioses (2010)[8]
Personal life
[edit]Archila was born and has worked in Cobán, Alta Verapaz.[2][4]
Legacy and reception
[edit]Archila's standing in botany is reflected in standard taxonomic reference works and later scientific literature. The International Plant Names Index maintains an author record for him and records hundreds of plant names published under the author abbreviation "Archila".[1] Later reviews of Guatemalan orchid research have treated his checklist and taxonomic publications as part of the country's botanical literature.[7]
In Guatemalan newspaper coverage, he has been presented as a central figure in the recovery and reintroduction of the monja blanca.[4][5]
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 5 "Archila, Fredy (1973-)". International Plant Names Index. Retrieved 2026-06-29.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Cetino, Rocio (2023-09-27). "Biografía de Fredy Archila, agrónomo y botánico guatemalteco". Guatemala.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2026-06-29.
- 1 2 3 "Herbario de la Escuela de Biología -BIGU-". Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala (in Spanish). Retrieved 2026-06-29.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Sam, Eduardo (2016-09-25). "Botánico cobanero cultiva la monja blanca". Prensa Libre (in Spanish). Retrieved 2026-06-29.
- 1 2 3 4 Torres, Miguel F. (2021-09-03). "La Monja Blanca, máxima joya de la flora guatemalteca". Prensa Libre (in Spanish). Retrieved 2026-06-29.
- ↑ Archila Morales, Fredy L.; Lipińska, Monika M.; Dudek, Magdalena; Szlachetko, Dariusz L. (2023). "Schiedeella bajaverapacensis (Orchidaceae, Spiranthinae), a New Orchid Species from Guatemala". International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 24 (6) 5362. doi:10.3390/ijms24065362.
- 1 2 Lipińska, Monika M.; Barabasz, Cecylia (2024). "Pollination of Guatemalan orchids – state of knowledge". Neotropical Biology and Conservation. 19 (2): 199–221. doi:10.3897/neotropical.19.e119499.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Fredy Archila". New Media (in Spanish). Universidad Francisco Marroquín. Retrieved 2026-06-29.