Maarten Houttuyn or Houttuijn (1720 – 2 May 1798; Latinised as Martinus Houttuyn) was a Dutch naturalist.

Maarten Houttuyn
Title page of the first volume of Natuurlijke Historie (1761)
Born1720
Died2 May 1798
Amsterdam, Netherlands
NationalityDutch
Alma materUniversity of Leiden
Scientific career
Fields
Houttuynia cordata

Houttuyn was born in Hoorn, studied medicine in Leiden and moved to Amsterdam in 1753. He published many books on natural history, e.g. Natuurlyke Historie of uitvoerige Beschryving der Dieren, Planten en Mineraalen, volgens het Samenstel van den Heer Linnaeus, in 37 volumes (1761-1773), following Carl Linnaeus' division into the animal kingdom, the plant kingdom, and the mineral kingdom. His areas of interest encompassed Pteridophytes, Bryophytes and Spermatophytes. He died in Amsterdam. In botanical nomenclature, the standard author abbreviation Houtt. is applied to plants described by him. He is commemorated by the genus Houttuynia, a member of the Saururaceae from China and Japan.

Martinus Houttuyn was the co-writer of the volumes 2, 3, 4 and 5 of Nederlandsche Vogelen.[1] The first author was Cornelius Nozeman.

References

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  1. ^ His name appears on the title pages of vol 2 Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, vol 3 Archived 2013-07-05 at the Wayback Machine, vol 4 Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine and vol 5 Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine of Nederlandsche Vogelen.
  2. ^ International Plant Names Index.  Houtt.
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