Charles Antoine Lemaire (1 November 1800, in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

– 22 June 1871, in Paris), was a French botanist and botanical author, noted for his publications on

Cactaceae A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Greek ...

Education

Born the son of Antoine Charles Lemaire and Marie Jeanne Davio, he had an excellent early education, and acquired the reputation of being an outstanding scholar. He studied at the

University of Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

and was appointed as Professor of Classical Literature there. At some stage his botanical interest was sparked and developed by his association with M. Neumann, horticulturist at the

Museum of Natural History A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more ...

Career

He worked for some time as an assistant to M. Mathieu, at a nursery in Paris, building up a collection of Cactaceae, a group to which he would devote almost all of his life. In 1835, M. Cousin, a Parisian publisher, started a gardening journal and requested that he be its editor. For a number of years, he remained editor of ''Jardin Fleuriste'' and ''L'Horticulteur Universel'', contributing greatly to the content. During this period his principal artist was

Jean-Christophe Heyland Jean-Christophe Heyland aka Jean-Christophe Kumpfler (1791 Frankfurt – 29 August 1866 Genoa), was a Swiss engraver, watercolourist, and illustrator, who produced the plates for many botanical works such as the 1825-27 ''Plantes Rares du Jardin d ...

(1792-1866). In 1845 Lemaire moved to

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded in ...

as editor of the journal ''

Flore des Serres et des Jardins de l'Europe ''Flore des Serres et des Jardins de l'Europe'' (French for ''Flowers of the Greenhouses and Gardens of Europe'') (18451888) was one of the finest horticulture journals produced in Europe during the 19th century, spanning 23 volumes and over 200 ...

'', started by

Louis van Houtte Louis Benoît van Houtte (29 June 1810, in Ypres – 9 May 1876, in Ghent) was a Belgian horticulturist who was with the Jardin Botanique de Brussels between 1836 and 1838 and is best known for the journal '' Flore des Serres et des Jardins d ...

. In 1854 he turned to editing ''L'Illustration Horticole'', also in Ghent and owned by

Ambroise Verschaffelt Ambroise Colette Alexandre Verschaffelt (11 December 1825 – 16 May 1886) was a distinguished Belgian horticulturist and author. His grandfather Pierre-Antoine (1764–1844) was amongst the founders of the "Floralies gantoises" in 1808. His f ...

, and stayed there until 1870 when he returned to Paris where he died in June 1871. In addition to his enormous contributions to the journals he edited, Lemaire also published numerous papers on the ''Cactaceae'' and succulents. Some of these are ''Cactearum aliquot novarum'' (1838); ''Cactearum genera nova speciesque novae'' (1839); ''Iconographie descriptive des Cactées'' (1841–1847); and ''Les plantes grasses'' (1869). One of the notable genera he named was ''

Schlumbergera ''Schlumbergera'' is a small genus of cacti with six to nine species found in the coastal mountains of south-eastern Brazil. These plants grow on trees or rocks in habitats that are generally shady with high humidity, and can be quite differen ...

'' which contains the well-known Christmas Cactus. He never published a major work on the Cactaceae, despite having collected all the material and a wealth of experience. He always lived in semi-poverty and never attracted the attention of a wealthy sponsor.

Édouard André Édouard François André (17 July 1840 – 25 October 1911) was a French horticulturalist, landscape designer, as well as a leading landscape architect of the late 19th century, famous for designing city parks and public spaces in Lithuania, ...

(1840–1911), who succeeded him as editor of ''L'Illustration Horticole'', felt that "Posterity will esteem M. Lemaire more highly than did his contemporaries."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lemaire, Charles Antoine Botanists with author abbreviations French botanical writers 1800 births 1871 deaths French male non-fiction writers