Alexandre François Malbranche (6 April 1818,

Bernay, Eure Bernay () is a commune in the west of the Eure department in Northern France. In 2012, Bernay was designated one of the French Towns and Lands of Art and History. Geography Bernay is in the valley of the Charentonne, a tributary of the Risle, ...

– 16 May 1888,

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of ...

) was a French

pharmacist A pharmacist, also known as a chemist (Commonwealth English) or a druggist (North American and, archaically, Commonwealth English), is a healthcare professional who prepares, controls and distributes medicines and provides advice and instructi ...

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

mycologist Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungus, fungi, including their genetics, genetic and biochemistry, biochemical properties, their Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy and ethnomycology, their use to humans, including as a so ...

. He is known for his botanical and mycological studies associated with

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

, He received his education in

, where he subsequently spent his career as a pharmacist. He served as president of the ''Société des amis des sciences de Rouen'', and for several years was a member of the

Société botanique de France The Société botanique de France (SBF) is a French learned society founded on 23 April 1854. At its inaugural meeting it stated its purpose as "to contribute to the progress of botany and related sciences and to facilitate, by all means at its di ...

(1879–1888). He was the author of treatises on

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.fungi A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from ...

teratology Teratology is the study of abnormalities of physiological development in organisms during their life span. It is a sub-discipline in medical genetics which focuses on the classification of congenital abnormalities in dysmorphology. The related t ...

in plants,

Darwinism Darwinism is a scientific theory, theory of Biology, biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and others, stating that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of smal ...

and on the botanical genus ''

Rubus ''Rubus'' is a large and diverse genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, subfamily Rosoideae, with over 1,350 species. Raspberries, blackberries, and dewberries are common, widely distributed members of the genus. Most of these ...

''. As a

taxonomist In biology, taxonomy () is the scientific study of naming, defining ( circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxa (singular: taxon) and these groups are given ...

, he co-circumscribed a number of ''Rubus'' species. The mycological genus ''Malbranchea'' was named in his honor by

Pier Andrea Saccardo Pier Andrea Saccardo (23 April 1845 in Treviso, Treviso – 12 February 1920 in Padua) was an Italian botanist and mycologist. Life Saccardo studied at the Lyceum in Venice, and then at the Technical Institute of the University of Padua wher ...

(1882).

Selected works

* ''Catalogue des plantes cellulaires et vasculaires de la Seine-inférieure'', 1864 – Catalog of cellular and

vascular plant Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes () or collectively Tracheophyta (), form a large group of land plants ( accepted known species) that have lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They al ...

s of

Seine-Inférieure Seine-Maritime () is a department of France in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the northern coast of France, at the mouth of the Seine, and includes the cities of Rouen and Le Havre. Until 1955 it was named Seine-Infé ...

. * ''Catalogue descriptif des lichens de la Normandie : classés d'après la méthode du Dr. Nylander'', 1870 – Descriptive catalog on lichens of

. * ''Le transformisme, ses origines, ses principes, ses impossibilités'', 1874 – Transformism, origins, principles, impossibilities. * ''Essai sur les Rubus normands'', 1875 – Essay on ''Rubus'' found in Normandy. * ''Contributions à l'étude monographique du genre Graphis'', 1884 – Contributions to the study of the lichen genus '' Graphis''.IDREF.fr
(bibliography)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Malbranche, Alexandre Francois 1818 births 1888 deaths People from Bernay, Eure French pharmacists 19th-century French botanists French lichenologists French mycologists