Augustin François César Prouvençal de Saint-Hilaire (4 October 17793 September 1853) was French

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

and traveller who was born and died in Orléans, France. A keen observer, he is credited with important discoveries in botany, notably the direction of the radicle in the embryo sac and the double point of attachment of certain ovules. He also described two families, the Paronychiae and the Tamariscinae, as well as many genera and species.

Biography

He began to publish memoirs on botanical subjects at an early age. Between 1816 and 1822 and again in 1830, he traveled in South America, especially in south and central Brazil, and the results of his study of the rich flora of the regions through which he passed appeared in several books and numerous articles in scientific journals. In his first voyage, from 1816 to 1822, he explored the Brazilian backlands, traveling ca. 9,000 km, from Southeast Brazil to Río de la Plata, including the former

Cisplatina Province Cisplatina () was a Brazilian province in existence from 1821 to 1828 created by the Luso-Brazilian invasion of the Banda Oriental. From 1815 until 1822 Brazil was a constituent kingdom of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarv ...

( Uruguay). He was able to gather 24,000 specimens of plants, with 6,000 species, 2,000 birds, 16,000 insects and 135

mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...

s, plus many

reptile Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates (lizards and snakes) and rhynchocephalians ( ...

mollusks Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

and fishes. Most of these species were described for the first time. In the next years he devoted himself to the study, classification, description and publication of this huge material, but he was considerably impaired by his ill health, due to diseases contracted during the tropical travels. In 1819 he was appointed correspondent of the Académie des Sciences. He was awarded the Légion d'honneur at the level of Chevalier, and the Portuguese Order of Christ.

Works

The works by which he is best known are the ''Flora Brasiliae Meridionalis'' in three volumes (1825–1832), published in conjunction with Adrien-Henri de Jussieu and

Jacques Cambessèdes Jacques Cambessèdes (26 August 1799 – 19 October 1863) was a French botanist born in Montpellier. In March – June 1825, prompted by suggestions of Jaques Étienne Gay and Alexander von Humboldt, Cambessèdes performed investigation ...

, and illustrated by

Pierre Jean François Turpin Pierre Jean François Turpin (11 March 1775, Vire – 1 May 1840) was a French botanist and illustrator. He is considered one of the greatest floral and botanical illustrators during the Napoleonic Era and afterwards. As an artist, Turpin was large ...

''Histoire des Plantes les plus Remarquables du Brésil et du Paraguay''
(1824)
''Plantes Usuelles des Brésiliens''
(1827–1828), also in conjunction with de Jussieu and Cambessèdes(1828); an
''Voyage Dans le District des Diamants et sur le littoral du Brésil''
in two volumes (1833). His ''Leçons de Botanique, Comprénant Principalement la Morphologie Végetale'' (1840), was a comprehensive exposition of botanical morphology and of its application to systematic botany. He died at Orléans on 3 September 1853.

List of selected publications

* *

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Hilaire, Augustin French mycologists Pteridologists 1779 births 1853 deaths Botanists active in South America Botanists with author abbreviations Members of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences Members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences Members of the French Academy of Sciences Corresponding members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Scientists from Orléans 19th-century French botanists

Biography

Works

List of selected publications

See also

References

External links