Ernest Saint-Charles Cosson (22 July 1819 – 31 December 1889) was a French botanist born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 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), ma ...

. Cosson is known for his botanical research in North Africa, and during his career he participated in eight trips to

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. In several of these he was accompanied by Henri-René Le Tourneux de la Perraudière (1831-1861),pdf
/ref> whom he honoured in the naming of several species and genera (e.g., ''

Perralderia ''Perralderia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the daisy family and is native to Africa. In particular, it is native to Algeria, Libya, Morocco, and Western Sahara Western Sahara ( '; ; ) is a disputed territory on the northwest coa ...

'', ''

Galium perralderii ''Galium perralderii'' is a species of flowering plant, native to Algeria, in the family Rubiaceae. This plant was first described in 1862 by Ernest Cosson. The specific epithet, ''perralderii'', honours Cosson The Cosson () is a long rive ...

''). In 1863 he was elected president 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 ...

'', and from 1873 to 1889, he was a member of the ''

Académie des sciences The French Academy of Sciences (French: ''Académie des sciences'') is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research. It was at th ...

''. In 1882

Jules Ferry Jules François Camille Ferry (; 5 April 183217 March 1893) was a French statesman and republican philosopher. He was one of the leaders of the Moderate Republicans and served as Prime Minister of France from 1880 to 1881 and 1883 to 1885. He ...

, as Minister of Public Instruction, decided to create a mission to explore the Regency of Tunisia. The expedition was headed by Cosson and included the botanist

Napoléon Doumet-Adanson Napoléon Doumet-Adanson (22 October 1834, Guéret – 31 May 1897 Château de Balaine (Villeneuve-sur-Allier) was a French naturalist. He was a botanist specialising in the flora of Tunisia . He was a founder member of the Société d'horticul ...

and other naturalists. In 1884 a geological section under Georges Rolland was added to the Tunisian Scientific Exploration Mission. Rolland was assisted by Philippe Thomas from 1885 and by Georges Le Mesle in 1887. With Jacques Nicolas Ernest Germain de Saint-Pierre (1815–1882), Cosson published the influential ''Atlas de la Flore des Environs de Paris''. Botanical specimens collected by Cosson are held in many herbaria around the world, including the

National Museum of Natural History, France The French National Museum of Natural History, known in French as the ' (abbreviation MNHN), is the national natural history museum of France and a ' of higher education part of Sorbonne Universities. The main museum, with four galleries, is loc ...

, Harvard University Herbaria, the herbarium at the

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,10 ...

, the

National Herbarium of Victoria The National Herbarium of Victoria (Index Herbariorum code: MEL) is one of Australia's earliest herbaria and the oldest scientific institution in Victoria. Its 1.5 million specimens of preserved plants, fungi and algae—collectively known a ...

at the

Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria are botanic gardens across two sites–Melbourne and Cranbourne. Melbourne Gardens was founded in 1846 when land was reserved on the south side of the Yarra River for a new botanic garden. It extends across ...

Copenhagen University Botanical Museum The Botanical Museum in Copenhagen originated as a part of the Copenhagen Botanical Garden, which was established in 1600. It was later separated as an independent institution. Since 2004, the Botanical Museum forms part of the Natural History Museu ...

, the

New York Botanical Garden The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) is a botanical garden at Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York City. Established in 1891, it is located on a site that contains a landscape with over one million living plants; the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, ...

, and the Komarov Botanical Institute, among others.

Selected writings

* * ''Introduction à la Flore d'Algérie'', etc. (with Michel Charles Durieu de Maisonneuve), 1854. * ''Rapport sur un Voyage botanique en Algérie, de Philippeville a` Biskra et dans les Monts Aure's'', 1856. * ''Instructions sur les observations et les collections botaniques à faire dans les voyages'', 1872 * ''Note sur le projet de création en Algérie d'une mer dite intérieure'', 1880 * ''Forets, bois et broussailles des principales localités du Nord de la Tunisie explores'', 1883.Google Books
Forêts, bois et broussailles des principales localités du Nord de la Tunisie explorées * Compendium florae Atlanticae ..Volume I. Première partie.- Historique et Géographie..., 1881 * Compendium florae Atlanticae ..Volume II. Supplément à la partie historique et flore des états barbaresques..., 1887 * Illustrationes florae Atlanticae ..Volumen I..., 1882-1890 * Illustrationes florae Atlanticae ..Volumen II..., 1892-1897 * Instructions sur les observations et les collections botaniques à faire dans les voyages..., 1872 * Note sur la flore del la Kroumirie centrale..., 1885 * Notes sur quelques plantes critiques, rares ou nouvelles..., 1849-1852 * Cosson, Ernest Saint-Charles & Germain de Saint-Pierre, Jacques-Nicolas-Ernest ** Atlas de la flore des environs de Paris ..Deuxième édition..., 1882 ** Flore descriptive et analytique des environs de Paris..., 1845 ** Flore escriptive et analytiquedes environs de Paris ..Deuxième édition..., 1861 ** Observations sur quelques plantes critiques des environs de Paris..., 1840 ** Supplément au Catalogue raisonné des plantes vasculaires des environs Paris..., 1843 ** Synopsis analytique de la flore des environs de Paris ..Deuxième édition..., 1859 ** Synopsis analytique de la flore des environs de Paris ..Troisième édition..., 1876 * Cosson, Ernest Saint-Charles ; Germain de Saint-Pierre, Jacques-Nicolas-Ernest & Weddell, Hugh Algernon ** Introduction à une flore analytique et descriptive des environs de Paris..., 1842

References

Sources

* * * 19th-century French botanists 1819 births 1889 deaths Botanists active in Africa Members of the French Academy of Sciences Scientists from Paris Taxon authorities of Hypericum species {{France-botanist-stub