Jean Odon Debeaux (4 August 1826,

Agen The communes of France, commune of Agen (, ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Lot-et-Garonne Departments of France, department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. It lies on the river Garonne southeast of Bordeaux. ...

– 20 February 1910,

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

) was a French military

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

malacologist Malacology is the branch of invertebrate zoology that deals with the study of the Mollusca (mollusks or molluscs), the second-largest phylum of animals in terms of described species after the arthropods. Mollusks include snails and slugs, clams, ...

. In 1854 he qualified as a pharmacist 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 ...

, then joined the French Army, and from 1854 to 1859 was stationed in

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

(

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

Boghar Boghar is a town and commune in Médéa Province, Algeria. History During the Roman Empire the town was the site of a Roman town called Voncaria. At the 411 Carthage conference, between Catholic and Donatist bishops, the town was represented b ...

and in the region of

Kabylie Kabylia ('' Kabyle: Tamurt n Leqbayel'' or ''Iqbayliyen'', meaning "Land of Kabyles", '','' meaning "Land of the Tribes") is a cultural, natural and historical region in northern Algeria and the homeland of the Kabyle people. It is part of the ...

). Later on, he participated in a military expedition to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

(1860–62), on which he collected botanical and malacological specimens on stops in the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. Afterwards, he was stationed in

Corsica Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...

(1870) and

Perpignan Perpignan (, , ; ca, Perpinyà ; es, Perpiñán ; it, Perpignano ) is the prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the ...

(1872),JSTOR Global Plants
Debeaux, Jean-Odon (1826-1910) later returning to Algeria, where he worked as chief pharmacist at the hospital in

Oran Oran ( ar, وَهران, Wahrān) is a major coastal city located in the north-west of Algeria. It is considered the second most important city of Algeria after the capital Algiers, due to its population and commercial, industrial, and cultural ...

(1880–86). In 1898 he retired and settled in Toulouse. Most plant taxa with specific epithet of ''debeauxii'' commemorate his name, an example being ''Gymnocarpos debeauxii''. As a taxonomist, he circumscribed the

grass Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...

genus ''Reimbolea''.

Selected works

* ''Catalogue des plantes observées dans le territoire de Boghar'', (1861). * ''Essai sur la pharmacie et la matière médicale des Chinois'', (1865). * ''Algues marines récoltées en Chine pendant l'expédition francaise de 1860-1862'', (1875). * ''Florule du Tché-foû (province de Chan-tong)'' (1877). * ''Recherches sur la flore des Pyrénées-Orientales'', (1878–80). * ''Contributions à la flore de la Chine'', (1879). * ''Révision de la Flore agenaise ; suivie de la flore du Lot-et-Garonne'', (1889). * ''Synopsis de la flore de Gibraltar'', (1889), with Gustave Dautez.IDREF.fr
bibliography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Debeaux, Jean Odon 1826 births 1910 deaths People from Agen French pharmacists 19th-century French botanists French malacologists