Species Pavonia mollis

For José Antonio Pavón y Jiménez (José Antonio Pavón) (1754–1840), Spanish pharmacologist, botanist, and explorer who, in 1777, went on an expedition led by Hipólito Ruiz López to research the flora of Peru and Chile together with French physician Joseph Dombey and two botanical illustrators, Joseph Bonete and Isidro Gálvez. They explored Peru and Chile for 10 years (1778–1788), collected 3 000 specimens, made 2 500 life-sized botanical illustrations and brought back many living plants. Ruiz and Pavón published an illustrated ten-volume work, Flora Peruviana et Chilensis. They discovered 150 new genera, 70 of which were named by Pavón, and 500 new species.