BECCARI, ODOARDO. — Naturalist, explorer, and Italian botanist, born in Florence on 16 Nov. 1843, died there on 25 Oct. 1920. An evolutionist, he is remembered for his theory of the “epoch of plasmazione” in the still-young world of living beings, in which every organism was permitted to modify itself according to its own needs. This theory seems prompted by the need to reconcile biological transformism with the constancy of species in the present natural order. It is a hypothesis in service of another hypothesis.
His most notable works are: Malesia (3 vols., Florence 1877–90); Asiatic Palms (4 vols., Calcutta 1908–11–1914–18); Palme del Madagascar (Florence 1912); Palme della tribù delle Bavarache (ibid. 1924); Nelle foreste di Borneo; Viaggi e ricerche di un naturalista (ibid. 1902, 2nd ed. 1920); Nuova Guinea, Celebes, Moluche (ibid. 1924).