Eugène Bourgeau (1813–1877) was a French naturalist. He was native of Brizon in the ''

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities"), between the regions of France, admin ...

'' of

Haute-Savoie Haute-Savoie (; Arpitan: ''Savouè d'Amont'' or ''Hiôta-Savouè''; en, Upper Savoy) or '; it, Alta Savoia. is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France, bordering both Switzerland and Italy. Its prefecture is ...

in France.

Biographical information

As a young man, he worked at the

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

, where his influences included

Nicolas Charles Seringe Nicolas Charles Seringe (3 December 1776 – 29 December 1858) was a French physician and botanist born in Longjumeau. He studied medicine in Paris, and subsequently served as a military surgeon. In this role, he was involved in the German campai ...

and

Claude Thomas Alexis Jordan Claude Thomas Alexis Jordan (29 October 1814 in Lyon – 7 February 1897 in Lyon) was a French botanist and taxonomist. Life and work Jordan was in Lyons where his father César was from a wealthy business family and his mother Jeanne-Mar ...

.Biographical Dictionary of American and Canadian Naturalists
edited by Keir Brooks Sterling In 1843 he relocated to Paris, where he was hired by

Philip Barker Webb Philip Barker Webb (10 July 1793 – 31 August 1854) was an English botanist. Life Webb was born to a wealthy, aristocratic family; his father was the lord of the manors of Witley and Milford, in Surrey, England. Webb was educated at Ha ...

as a

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sheet of paper (called ...

assistant. In 1845-46 he collected plants for the "Webb collection" 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 ...

.JSTOR Global Plants
(biography of Bourgeau) He had previously been a botanical collector in Spain, North Africa and the

before joining the British North American Exploring Expedition of western Canada from 1857 to 1860. In Canada, he collected botanical specimens north of

Lake Superior Lake Superior in central North America is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. and the third-largest by volume, holding 10% of the world's surface fresh wa ...

and areas around

Lake Winnipeg Lake Winnipeg (french: Lac Winnipeg, oj, ᐑᓂᐸᑲᒥᐠᓴᑯ˙ᑯᐣ, italics=no, Weenipagamiksaguygun) is a very large, relatively shallow lake in North America, in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Manitoba, Canada. I ...

, also journeying down the

Saskatchewan River The Saskatchewan River (Cree: ''kisiskāciwani-sīpiy'', "swift flowing river") is a major river in Canada. It stretches about from where it is formed by the joining together of the North Saskatchewan and South Saskatchewan Rivers to Lake Winn ...

and venturing into the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

. Mt Bourgeau near

Sunshine Village Banff Sunshine Village (formerly Sunshine Village) is a ski resort in western Canada, located on the Continental Divide of the Canadian Rockies within Banff National Park in Alberta and Mt Assiniboine Provincial Park in British Columbia. It is on ...

Banff National Park Banff National Park is Canada's oldest National Parks of Canada, national park, established in 1885 as Rocky Mountains Park. Located in Alberta's Rockies, Alberta's Rocky Mountains, west of Calgary, Banff encompasses of mountainous terrain, wi ...

bears his name. Later expeditions included two trips to

Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

(the

Lycia Lycia (Lycian language, Lycian: 𐊗𐊕𐊐𐊎𐊆𐊖 ''Trm̃mis''; el, Λυκία, ; tr, Likya) was a state or nationality that flourished in Anatolia from 15–14th centuries BC (as Lukka) to 546 BC. It bordered the Mediterranean ...

region and the

Pontic Mountains The Pontic Mountains or Pontic Alps (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Kuzey Anadolu Dağları'', meaning North Anatolian Mountains) form a mountain range in northern Anatolia, Turkey. They are also known as the ''Parhar Mountains'' in the local Turki ...

), a journey to Spain and the

Balearic Islands The Balearic Islands ( es, Islas Baleares ; or ca, Illes Balears ) are an archipelago in the Balearic Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago is an autonomous community and a province of Spain; its capital is ...

(1863), a scientific mission to

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

(1865–66), and in 1870, a trip to the island of

Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the So ...

. Bourgeau did not publish any botanical literature. He reportedly was a terrible speller and grammarian.

Patronyms

The name of Eugène ''Bourgeau'' is commemorated with

Mount Bourgeau Mount Bourgeau is a mountain located in the Massive Range of Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. It was named by James Hector in 1860 after Eugène Bourgeau, a botanist with the Palliser Expedition. Bourgeau Lake sits at the foot of the mo ...

, a peak located in

. In honor of him, several taxonomic patronyms were also given in plants: * the genus '' Bourgaea'' was named by

Ernest Cosson Ernest Saint-Charles Cosson (22 July 1819 – 31 December 1889) was a French botanist born in Paris. Cosson is known for his botanical research in North Africa, and during his career he participated in eight trips to Algeria. In several of these ...

.Index Nominum Genericorum database
Bourgaea - Smithsonian Institution * the species names '' Anthemis bourgaei'', ''

Bupleurum bourgaei ''Bupleurum'' is a large genus of annual or perennial herbs or woody shrubs, with about 190 species, belonging to the family Apiaceae. The full size of its species may vary between a few cm to up to 3 m high. Their compound umbels of sm ...

'', '' Muscari bourgaei'', ''

Onosma bourgaei ''Onosma'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Boraginaceae. They are native to the Mediterranean and western Asia. They grow in dry, sunny habitats with rocky, sandy substrates.Koyuncu, O., et al. (2013)A new ''Onosma'' (Boraginaceae) s ...

'', ''

Phlomis bourgaei ''Phlomis bourgaei'', the puckered gray-green Turkish phlomis, is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae, native to East Aegean Islands to South West Turkey. The specific epithet ''bourgaei'' is a taxonomic patronym honouring the ...

'', '' Quercus bourgaei'', and ''

Tillandsia bourgaei ''Tillandsia bourgaei'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Bromeliaceae. This species is Endemism, endemic to Mexico. Cultivars * ''Tillandsia'' 'Aristocrat' References *BSI Cultivar Registry
Retrieved 11 October 2009 Tillands ...

''.

References

External links

Western Canadian History site
French explorers of North America Explorers of Canada 19th-century French botanists People from Haute-Savoie 1813 births 1877 deaths {{France-botanist-stub