André Michaux, also styled Andrew Michaud, (8 March 174611 October 1802) was a 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 w ...

and explorer. He is most noted for his study of North American

flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring ( indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or ''skin flora''. ...

. In addition Michaux collected specimens in England, Spain, France, and even Persia. His work was part of a larger European effort to gather knowledge about the natural world. Michaux's contributions include ''Histoire des chênes de l'Amérique'' (1801; "The Oaks of North America") and ''Flora Boreali-Americana'' (1803; "The Flora of North America") which continued to be botanical references well into the 19th century. His son,

François André Michaux François André Michaux (16 August 1770 – 23 October 1855) was a French botanist, son of André Michaux and the namesake of Michaux State Forest in Pennsylvania. Michaux ''père'' botanized in North America for nearly a dozen years (1785 ...

, also became an authoritative botanist.

Biography

Andre Michaux North Charleston South Carolina

Michaux was born in Satory, part of Versailles,

Yvelines Yvelines () is a department in the western part of the Île-de-France region in Northern France. In 2019, it had a population of 1,448,207. In 1769, he married Cecil Claye, the daughter of a prosperous farmer; she died a year later giving birth to their son, François André. Michaux then took up the study of botany and became a student of

Bernard de Jussieu Bernard de Jussieu (; 17 August 1699 – 6 November 1777) was a French naturalist, younger brother of Antoine de Jussieu. Bernard de Jussieu was born in Lyon. He took a medical degree at Montpellier and began practice in 1720, but finding the w ...

. In 1779 he spent time studying botany in England, and in 1780 he explored

Auvergne Auvergne (; ; oc, label=Occitan, Auvèrnhe or ) is a former administrative region in central France, comprising the four departments of Allier, Puy-de-Dôme, Cantal and Haute-Loire. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Auver ...

, the Pyrenees and northern Spain. In 1782 he was sent by the French government as secretary to the French consul on a botanical mission to Persia. His journey began unfavourably, as he was robbed of all his equipment except his books; but he gained influential support in Persia after curing the shah of a dangerous illness. After two years he returned to France with a fine herbarium, and also introduced numerous Eastern plants into the botanical gardens of France. Flora Boreali-Americana

André Michaux was appointed by Louis XVI as Royal botanist under the General Director of the

Bâtiments du Roi The Bâtiments du Roi (, "King's Buildings") was a division of the Maison du Roi ("King's Household") in France under the Ancien Régime. It was responsible for building works at the King's residences in and around Paris. History The Bâtimen ...

and sent to the United States in 1785 with an annual salary of 2000 ''livres'', to make the first organized investigation of plants that could be of value in French building and carpentry, medicine and agriculture. He traveled with his son François André Michaux (1770–1855) through Canada and the United States. In 1786, Michaux attempted to establish a horticultural garden of thirty acres in Bergen's Wood on the

Hudson Palisades The Palisades, also called the New Jersey Palisades or the Hudson River Palisades, are a line of steep cliffs along the west side of the lower Hudson River in Northeastern New Jersey and Southeastern New York in the United States. The cliffs s ...

near

Hackensack, New Jersey Hackensack is a City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. The garden, overseen by

Pierre-Paul Saunier Pierre-Paul Saunier (1751–1818) was a gardener who worked first at Montbard in the Bourgogne region in eastern France, and then at the Jardin du Roi in Paris where he was a protégé of head gardener André Thouin (1746–1824). In 1785, Thouin ...

from the Jardin des Plantes, Paris, who had emigrated with Michaux, failed because of the harsh winters. In 1787, Michaux established and maintained for a decade a botanical garden of 111 acres near what is now Aviation Avenue in

North Charleston, South Carolina North Charleston is the third-largest city in the state of South Carolina.City Planning Department (2008-07)City of North Charleston boundary map. City of North Charleston. Retrieved January 21, 2011. On June 12, 1972, the city of North Charlest ...

, from which he made many expeditions to various parts of North America. Michaux described and named many North American species during this time. Between 1785 and 1791 he shipped ninety cases of plants and many seeds to France. At the same time he introduced many species to America from various parts of the world, including ''

Camellia ''Camellia'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in eastern and southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia. There are more than 220 described species, with some controversy ...

'', tea-olive, and

crepe myrtle ''Lagerstroemia'' (), commonly known as crape myrtle (also spelled crepe myrtle or crêpe myrtle), is a genus of around 50 species of deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs native to the Indian subcontinent, southeast Asia, northern Australia ...

After the collapse of the French monarchy, André Michaux, who was a royal botanist, lost his source of income. He actively lobbied the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

to support his next exploration. His efforts paid off and, in early 1793, Thomas Jefferson asked him to undertake an expedition of westward exploration, similar to the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the Corps of Discovery, conducted by

Meriwether Lewis Meriwether Lewis (August 18, 1774 – October 11, 1809) was an American explorer, soldier, politician, and public administrator, best known for his role as the leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery, with ...

and

William Clark William Clark (August 1, 1770 – September 1, 1838) was an American explorer, soldier, Indian agent, and territorial governor. A native of Virginia, he grew up in pre-statehood Kentucky before later settling in what became the state of Miss ...

a decade later. At the time of the planned Michaux expedition, Lewis was an 18-year-old protégé of Jefferson who asked to be included in the expedition, and was turned down by Jefferson. Before Michaux set out, however, he volunteered to assist the French Minister to America, Edmond-Charles Genet. Genet was engaging in war-like acts against English and Spanish naval interests, aggravating relations between America, England and Spain.

George Rogers Clark George Rogers Clark (November 19, 1752 – February 13, 1818) was an American surveyor, soldier, and militia officer from Virginia who became the highest-ranking American patriot military officer on the northwestern frontier during the Amer ...

offered to organize and lead a militia to take over Louisiana territory from the Spanish. Michaux's mission was to evaluate Clark's plan and coordinate between Clark's actions and Genet's. Michaux went to Kentucky, but, without adequate funds, Clark was unable to raise the militia and the plan eventually folded. It is not true, as sometimes reported, that Thomas Jefferson ordered Michaux to leave the United States after he learned of his involvement with Genet. Though Jefferson did not support Genet's actions, he was aware of Genet's instructions for Michaux and even provided Michaux with letters of introduction to the Governor of Kentucky. On his return to France in 1796 he was

shipwreck A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. Shipwrecking may be intentional or unintentional. Angela Croome reported in January 1999 that there were approximately ...

ed, however most of his specimens survived. His two American gardens declined. Saunier, his salary unpaid, cultivated potatoes and hay and paid taxes on the New Jersey property, which is now still remembered as "The Frenchman's Garden", part of Machpelah Cemetery in

North Bergen North Bergen is a township in the northern part of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the township had a total population of 63,361. The township was founded in 1843. It was much diminished in territory by ...

. In 1800, Michaux sailed with

Nicolas Baudin Nicolas Thomas Baudin (; 17 February 1754 – 16 September 1803) was a French explorer, cartographer, naturalist and hydrographer, most notable for his explorations in Australia and the southern Pacific. Biography Early career Born a comm ...

's expedition to Australia, but left the ship in Mauritius. He then went to Madagascar to investigate the flora of that island. Michaux died at

Tamatave Toamasina (), meaning "like salt" or "salty", unofficially and in French Tamatave, is the capital of the Atsinanana region on the east coast of Madagascar on the Indian Ocean. The city is the chief seaport of the country, situated northeast of it ...

in Madagascar of a tropical fever at around 9 a.m. on 11 October 1802. His work as a botanist was chiefly done in the field, and he added largely to what was previously known of the botany of the East and of America. In 1800, on his visit to the United States,

Pierre Samuel Du Pont de Nemours Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours ( or ; ; 14 December 1739 – 7 August 1817) was a French-American writer, economist, publisher and government official. During the French Revolution, he, his two sons and their families immigrated to the Uni ...

, concerned about the abandoned botanical gardens, wrote to the Institut de France, who sent over Michaux's son

to sell the properties. He sold the garden near Charleston, but the concern expressed by Du Pont and his son Eleuthère Irénée du Pont preserved the New Jersey garden in Saunier's care and continued to support it. Saunier continued to send seeds to France for the rest of his life, and is credited with introducing into gardens the chinquapin (''Castanea pumila'') and the smoking bean tree (''

Catalpa bignonioides ''Catalpa bignonioides'' is a species of ''Catalpa'' that is native to the southeastern United States in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Common names include southern catalpa, cigartree, and Indian-bean-tree (or Indian bean ...

'').Robbins and Howson, 1958.

Aaron Burr Aaron Burr Jr. (February 6, 1756 – September 14, 1836) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the third vice president of the United States from 1801 to 1805. Burr's legacy is defined by his famous personal conflict with Alexan ...

recorded meeting Michaux in Paris on September 17, 1810, but this was apparently Francois Andre Michaux, the son. According to Burr he went "to Michaux's, the botanist, who was many years in the United States, and has written a valuable little book of his travels. He is now publishing his account of our trees, which will be extremely interesting. It demonstrates that we (not the whole continent, but the United States alone) have three times the number of useful trees that Europe can boast..." Burr's cited quote would apply equally to both Michaux', father and son, and perhaps more to the son, who had been in America a total of some 6 years, and had recently (1804) written about his travels in America, and was subsequently working on his later opus on American trees. Caillou Michaux CdM

Legacy

* Carolina lily (''Lilium michauxii''), Michaux's saxifrage (''Saxifraga michauxii''), and several other plants are named for him. *

Michaux State Forest Michaux State Forest is a Pennsylvania State Forest in Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry District #1. The main offices are located in Fayetteville in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, USA. The Michaux State Forest is in several tracts covering mo ...

in Pennsylvania (U.S.), which protects over 344 square kilometers (over 85,000 acres), is named for him. * André-Michaux Ecological Reserve in Quebec, Canada, which protects 450 hectares, is named for him. *His son

published an ''Histoire des arbres forestiers de l'Amérique septentrionale'' (3 vols., 1810–1813), with 156 plates, of which an English translation appeared in 1817-1819 as ''The North American Sylva''. *Michaux Stone — Michaux brought a boundary stone or '' kudurru'' back from his Near Eastern trip. It was originally found by a French physician living in Baghdad, near the site of a 12th-century BCE Babylonian town named Bak-da-du. On a small part of an embankment on the Tigris—near the Al-Karkh end of the Baab El-Maudham Bridge—is another archeological site attributed to the second Babylonian period, circa 600 BCE. Michaux sold the ''kudurru'' to the "Institute Constituting the Commission for Scientific Travel and the Custodians of the Museum of Antiquities in France in 1800, for 1200 francs. The 'Michaux stone' or ''Caillou Michaux'' was then placed in the

Cabinet des Médailles The BnF Museum or Museum of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, formerly known as the Cabinet des Médailles, is a significant art and history museum in Paris. It displays collections of the ''Département des Monnaies, Médailles et Antiques ...

of the

Bibliothèque Nationale A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

at that time.

Writings

*Michaux wrote two valuable works on North American plants: the ''Histoire des chênes de l'Amérique septentrionale'' (1801), with 36 plates, and the ''Flora Boreali-Americana'' (2 vols., 1803), with 51 plates. Although this 1803 work appeared to be the work of the father, François claimed some 15 years later that the work had been completed after his father's death and published posthumously by himself and another botanist.

Notes

References

;References * * *Savage, Henry (1959). Discovering America 1700–1875. Harper & Row, 70–73. . ;Further Reading *Fishman, Gail (2001). ''Journeys Through Paradise''. University Press of Florida. *Michaux, André (2020). ''André Michaux in North America: journals and letters, 1785-1797 / translated from the French, edited, and annotated by Charlie Williams, Eliane M. Norman & Walter Kingsley Taylor; with a foreword by James E. McClellan III.'' University of Alabama Press. *Pluchet, Régis (2014), ''L'extraordinaire voyage d'un botaniste en Perse'', ed. Privat, Toulouse. *Savage, Henry Jr. and Elizabeth J. Savage (1986). ''André and François André Michaux''. University Press of Virginia. ;Sources * *

External links

Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden: André Michaux

Biodiversity Heritage Library: books by André Michaux
{{DEFAULTSORT:Michaux, Andre French taxonomists 1746 births 1802 deaths Bryologists Pteridologists Botanists active in North America Botanists with author abbreviations People of colonial New Jersey North Charleston, South Carolina People from Versailles 18th-century French botanists 18th-century French writers 18th-century French male writers