Italian botanist (1739-1796).
Placido Michele Aurifici, better known as Bernardino da Ucria (9 April 1739 in Ucria, Sicily – 29 January 1796 in Palermo) was a Sicilian friar and botanist. In 1766 he entered the Franciscan monastery of St Antony in Palermo, taking the name Bernardino, by which he is now known. He developed a keen interest in botany and in 1786 was appointed demonstrator in botany at the University of Palermo, in which capacity he was involved in the establishment and named custodian of the new Palermo Botanical Garden on the site that it still occupies. A keen student of Carl Linnaeus, he was responsible fo