Italian botanist and director of the Royal Botanic Garden in Naples, at the time of his death Giovanni Gussone was described as one of Italy's best known plant classifiers. While studying medicine in Naples he came under the influence of Michele Tenore, who selected him as an assistant for the Flora Napolitana which he was creating at the time. After graduating in 1811 Gussone worked for a time under Tenore as the manager of the botanic garden in Naples before gaining an appointment as director of a newly created botanic garden in Bocca di Falco, Sicily.

During his time working at the gardens near Palermo he gained the opportunity to travel the island, investigating the local flora and producing two major publications: the Florae Siculae Prodromus (1827-1828) and Florae Siculae Synopsis (1842-1844). In 1827, however, he was recalled to Naples and its gardens as superintendent where he remained until, in 1861, he succeeded Tenore as director and was named professor emeritus of the University of Naples.

Sources:
Gilbert, 1966, "Giovanni Gussone (1787-1866)", Gardeners Chronicle, 159(5): 100
F.A. Stafleu and R.S. Cowan, 1976-1998, Taxonomic Literature, 2nd edition (TL-2)
Giovanni Gussone, Wikipedia:
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Gussone, accessed August 2010.