![Jacques Labillardière](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/Jacques_Labillardi%C3%A8re.jpg)
Jacques-Julien Houtou de Labillardière (28 October 1755 – 8 January 1834) was a French biologist noted for his descriptions of the flora of
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
. Labillardière was a member of a voyage in search of the
La Pérouse expedition. He published a popular account of his journey and produced the first
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''.
E ...
on the region.
Early life
Jacques Labillardière was born in
Alençon
Alençon (, , ; nrf, Alençoun) is a commune in Normandy, France, capital of the Orne department. It is situated west of Paris. Alençon belongs to the intercommunality of Alençon (with 52,000 people).
History
The name of Alençon is firs ...
,
Normandy
Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...
, France, on 28 October 1755. The ninth of 14 children of a lace merchant, he was born into a devoutly
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
family of modest means.
[Duyker (2003) p. 8.]
The surname ''Labillardière'' originated with Labillardière's grandfather, Jacques Houtou, who, in an affectation of nobility, appended the name of the family's estate, ''La Billardière'', after his surname. Labillardière was thus baptised under the surname ''Houtou de Labillardière'', but he later dropped the
patronymic
A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor.
Patronymics are still in use, including mandatory use, in many countries worldwide, alt ...
, retaining only ''Labillardière'' in both his publications and his signature.
As a child, he attended the
Collège royal d'Alençon, where he excelled in his studies.
[Duyker (2003) p. 12.] Around 1772, he matriculated to the
University of Montpellier
The University of Montpellier (french: Université de Montpellier) is a public university, public research university located in Montpellier, in south-east of France. Established in 1220, the University of Montpellier is one of the oldest univ ...
, studying medicine under
Antoine Gouan
Antoine Gouan (15 November 1733 – 1 September 1821) was a French naturalist who was a native of Montpellier. Gouan was a pioneer of Linnaean taxonomy in France.
He began his studies in Toulouse, later returning to Montpellier, where he studied ...
.
[Duyker (2003) p. 17–18.] He did not graduate from Montpellier, instead transferring to the
Reims University
The University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne (; URCA), also known simply as the University of Reims, is a Lists of universities in France, public university based in Reims, France.
In addition to the main campus in Reims, the university has seve ...
around 1774. After graduating in 1779,
[Duyker (2003) p. 21–22.] he moved to Paris, where he spent much his time at the
Jardin du Roi. Having decided to pursue his interest in natural history, rather than a medical career, he took up an opportunity to collect specimens for
Louis-Guillaume Le Monnier
Louis-Guillaume Le Monnier (sometimes written as Lemonnier) (27 June 1717 – 7 September 1799) was a French natural scientist and contributor to the Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers''.
He was born ...
.
[Duyker (2003) p. 23–24.]
Voyages
Early voyages
Labillardière undertook his first voyage as a naturalist in 1783. Sent to
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
by Le Monnier to study the exotic plants in cultivation there, he ended up staying almost two years, during which time he established enduring friendships with
Sir Joseph Banks
Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1820) was an English naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences.
Banks made his name on the 1766 natural-history expedition to Newfoundland and Labrador. He took part in Captain James C ...
,
James Edward Smith James Edward Smith may refer to:
* James Edward Smith (botanist), English botanist and founder of the Linnean Society
* James Edward Smith (murderer), American murderer
* James Edward Smith (politician), Canadian businessman and mayor of Toronto
* ...
,
Aylmer Bourke Lambert
Aylmer Bourke Lambert (2 February 1761 – 10 January 1842) was a British botanist, one of the first fellows of the Linnean Society.
Early life
Aylmer Bourke Lambert was born at Bath, England on 2 February 1761, the son of Edmund Lambert ...
and
George Williams.
[Duyker (2003) pp. 25–31.] On returning from Britain, Labillardière immediately set out on a voyage through the
French Alps
The French Alps are the portions of the Alps mountain range that stand within France, located in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regions. While some of the ranges of the French Alps are entirely in France, others, such as ...
.
[Duyker (2003) pp. 31–36.]
Near East
Labillardière's early voyages seem to have fired a passion for exploring foreign lands because, on his return to Paris, he immediately began making plans for a voyage to the
Near East
The ''Near East''; he, המזרח הקרוב; arc, ܕܢܚܐ ܩܪܒ; fa, خاور نزدیک, Xāvar-e nazdik; tr, Yakın Doğu is a geographical term which roughly encompasses a transcontinental region in Western Asia, that was once the hist ...
, in order to study the plants described by physicians of the
Islamic Golden Age
The Islamic Golden Age was a period of cultural, economic, and scientific flourishing in the history of Islam, traditionally dated from the 8th century to the 14th century. This period is traditionally understood to have begun during the reign ...
. He again secured Le Monnier's sponsorship, and Le Monnier in turn secured the support of
France's foreign minister Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes, making Labillardière's voyage virtually an official mission. Labillardière left Paris in November 1786, and departed France via
Marseilles
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
in February 1787. He travelled first to
Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...
, then on to
Latakia
, coordinates =
, elevation_footnotes =
, elevation_m = 11
, elevation_ft =
, postal_code_type =
, postal_code =
, area_code = Country code: 963 City code: 41
, geocode ...
,
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
. From there he moved south along the coast as far as
Acre
The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial
Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism.
Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to:
Places
United States
* Imperial, California
* Imperial, Missouri
* Imp ...
, before turning inland to
Nazareth
Nazareth ( ; ar, النَّاصِرَة, ''an-Nāṣira''; he, נָצְרַת, ''Nāṣəraṯ''; arc, ܢܨܪܬ, ''Naṣrath'') is the largest city in the Northern District of Israel. Nazareth is known as "the Arab capital of Israel". In ...
, via the
Mount Carmel Range
Mount Carmel ( he, הַר הַכַּרְמֶל, Har haKarmel; ar, جبل الكرمل, Jabal al-Karmil), also known in Arabic as Mount Mar Elias ( ar, link=no, جبل مار إلياس, Jabal Mār Ilyās, lit=Mount Saint Elias/Elijah), is a c ...
. From Nazareth, he headed north to
Damascus
)), is an adjective which means "spacious".
, motto =
, image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg
, image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg
, seal_type = Seal
, map_caption =
, ...
, visiting
Mount Hermon
Mount Hermon ( ar, جبل الشيخ or جبل حرمون / ALA-LC: ''Jabal al-Shaykh'' ("Mountain of the Sheikh") or ''Jabal Haramun''; he, הַר חֶרְמוֹן, ''Har Hermon'') is a mountain cluster constituting the southern end of the ...
en route. He then crossed the
Mount Lebanon Range, arriving in
Tripoli
Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to:
Cities and other geographic units Greece
*Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece
* Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece
* Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...
in late June. After a detour to
Bsharri
Bsharri ( ar, بشرّي ''Bšarrī''; syr, ܒܫܪܝ; also Romanized ''Becharre'', ''Bcharre'', ''Bsharre'', (''Bcharre El Arez بشرّي الارز'') is a town at an altitude of about to . It is located in the Bsharri District of the Nort ...
to see the
Cedars of Lebanon
''Cedrus libani'', the cedar of Lebanon or Lebanese cedar (), is a species of tree in the genus cedrus, a part of the pine family, native to the mountains of the Eastern Mediterranean basin. It is a large evergreen conifer that has great religi ...
, he returned north along the coast, departing from Latakia in November.
[Duyker (2003) pp. 37–51.]
The following year, Labillardière made another voyage to the eastern
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...
. Little is known of that voyage, except that he made landfall at
Crete
Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...
,
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 ...
,
Sardinia
Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...
and
Lampedusa
Lampedusa ( , , ; scn, Lampidusa ; grc, Λοπαδοῦσσα and Λοπαδοῦσα and Λοπαδυῦσσα, Lopadoûssa; mt, Lampeduża) is the largest island of the Italian Pelagie Islands in the Mediterranean Sea.
The ''comune'' of L ...
.
[Duyker (2003) pp. 51–54.]
The result of the two voyages was a collection of around 1000 specimens. As sponsor of the expedition, they were the property of Le Monnier, but Labillardière retained a great many duplicate specimens. The voyage also resulted in Labillardière's botanical account of the region, later published as ''
Icones plantarum Syriae rariorum''. Only 55 taxa were published in it but, according to Duyker, "this was sufficient to secure for him a place among the founders of modern botany in the Near and Middle East".
[Duyker (2003) p. 56.]
Australia
In 1791, Labillardière was appointed as a naturalist to
Bruni d'Entrecasteaux
Antoine Raymond Joseph de Bruni, chevalier d'Entrecasteaux () (8 November 1737 – 21 July 1793) was a French naval officer, explorer and colonial governor. He is perhaps best known for his exploration of the Australian coast in 1792, while ...
's expedition to
Oceania
Oceania (, , ) is a region, geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern Hemisphere, Eastern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of ...
, in search of the lost ships of
Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse
Jean-François is a French given name. Notable people bearing the given name include:
* Jean-François Carenco (born 1952), French politician
* Jean-François Champollion (1790–1832), French Egyptologist
* Jean-François Clervoy (born 1958), Fr ...
. D'Entrecasteaux failed to find any trace of the missing expedition, but his ships visited south-west Australia,
Tasmania
)
, nickname =
, image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdi ...
, the
North Island
The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...
of New Zealand, and the
East Indies
The East Indies (or simply the Indies), is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The Indies refers to various lands in the East or the Eastern hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainlands found in and around t ...
, where Labillardière,
Claude Riche Claude-Antoine-Gaspard Riche (20 August 1762 – 5 September 1797) was a naturalist on Bruni d'Entrecasteaux's 1791 expedition in search of the lost ships of Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse.
Cape Riche, on the south coast of Austra ...
and
Étienne Pierre Ventenat
Étienne Pierre Ventenat (1 March 1757 – 13 August 1808) was a French botanist born in Limoges. He was the brother of naturalist Louis Ventenat (1765–1794).
While employed as director of the ecclesiastic library Sainte-Geneviève in Paris, V ...
, assisted by gardener
Félix Delahaye, collected zoological, botanical and geological specimens, and described the customs and languages of the local
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...
.
While the expedition was exploring Oceania, the
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted French First Republic, France against Ki ...
had broken out in Europe and, when the ships reached
Java
Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...
, Labillardière's scientific collections were seized by the British as spoils of war. Labillardière despaired at the loss of three years' painstaking work, but he had an ally in Joseph Banks, who campaigned for the return of the collections. In 1796, Banks's lobbying succeeded, and he was able to write to William Price at the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
:
... his Majesty's Ministers have thought it necessary for the honour of the British nation and for the advancement of Science that the right of the Captors to the Collection should be on this occasion wav'd and that the whole should be returned to M. de Billardiere, in order that he may be able to publish his Observations on Natural History in a complete manner ... By this her Majesty will lose an acquisition to her herbarium, which I very much wish'd to see deposited there, but the national character of Great Britain will certainly gain much credit for holding a conduct towards Science and Scientific men liberal in the highest degree.
Labillardière returned to France with his collections in 1796. In 1799, he published a popular account of his voyage,
Relation du Voyage à la Recherche de la Pérouse
''Relation du Voyage à la Recherche de la Pérouse'' is an 1800 book that gives an account of the 1791-1793 d'Entrecasteaux expedition to Australasia. The title refers to the search for La Pérouse, who disappeared in the region in 1788, a popul ...
, and was elected to 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 the ...
''.
Between 1804 and 1807, he published ''
Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen
''Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen'' is a two-volume work describing the flora of Australia. Facsimiles of the originals can be found in the onlinBiodiversity Heritage Library (Vol.1)anVol 2)
The author was the French botanist Jacques Labillar ...
'', the first general description of the flora of Australia. In 1816, he was elected a foreign member of the
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien) is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special ...
.
Character
Labillardière had an abrasive, critical personality. Even his eulogist described him as "sharp and austere", and a man who tended to "hide everything that was good in his soul behind a caustic and bitter intellect".
[Duyker (2003) p. 3, quoting Jean-Pierre-Marie Flourens] He was also extremely stubborn. Denis and
Maisie Carr
Maisie Carr (''née'' Fawcett; 1912–1988) was an innovative Australian ecologist and botanist who contributed much to the understanding of the uniqueness of Australian plants and their environmental systems.
Foundation years
Maisie Carr was ...
describe him as having "the stubborn, almost pigheaded, independent mentality of the peasants near Alençon".
[Carr & Carr (1981) p. 79.] On the other hand, he was highly regarded for his sincerity and generosity.
Augustin Saint-Hilaire
Augustin François César Prouvençal de Saint-Hilaire (4 October 17793 September 1853) was French botanist and traveller who was born and died in Orléans, France. A keen observer, he is credited with important discoveries in botany, notably the ...
, for example, wrote that Labillardière "could perceive someone's slightest defect; yet he would have been ready to open his purse for the same man whose ridiculousness had not escaped him, and would have done all in his power to help him".
[Duyker (2003) p. 244, quoting Auguste Saint-Hilaire.]
It has been said that Labillardière was scrupulously honest, especially with money,
[Carr & Carr (1981) p. 80.] yet he has also been criticised for failing to acknowledge the work of others, such as his unattributed use of specimens collected by
L'Héritier.
Nothing is known of his physique, but his travels as a naturalist reveal him to be a man of good physical fitness, with a strong constitution and immense stamina. Intellectually, he is shown to be not just an outstanding botanist and naturalist with excellent observational skills, but also to be possessed of considerable linguistic abilities,
[Duyker (2003) p. 3–4.] including an impeccable grasp of Latin.
Politically he was a staunch republican.
Legacy
Labillardière is commemorated in over a hundred published plant names, the most prestigious of which is the Australian endemic genus ''
Billardiera
''Billardiera'' is a genus of small vines and shrubs in the family, ''Pittosporaceae'', which is endemic to Australia. The genus was first formally described in 1793 by botanist James Edward Smith who named it in honour of Jacques Labillardière ...
'', named by
James Edward Smith James Edward Smith may refer to:
* James Edward Smith (botanist), English botanist and founder of the Linnean Society
* James Edward Smith (murderer), American murderer
* James Edward Smith (politician), Canadian businessman and mayor of Toronto
* ...
in 1793, in Labillardière's honour. In 1978, the Irish botanist
Ernest Charles Nelson
(Ernest) Charles Nelson (15 September 1951, Belfast, Northern Ireland) is a botanist who specialises in the heather family, Ericaceae, especially ''Erica'', and whose past research interests included the Proteaceae especially '' Adenanthos''. H ...
published ''
Adenanthos labillardierei
''Adenanthos labillardierei'' is a species of erect shrub endemic to the slopes of the Barren Ranges in the Fitzgerald River National Park in southwest Western Australia.
Description
It grows as an erect shrub, usually less than m in heig ...
'' with the specific epithet: "in recognition of Labillardière's contribution to the knowledge of this genus, and Australian botany".
A small number of animal species have been named in his honour as well, namely the Tasmanian Pademelon (''
Thylogale billardierii'' ) and the red-legged skink (''
Ctenotus labillardieri'').
[Beolens et al. (2011) p. 149.] His name is further honoured in
Labillardiere Peninsula and
Point Labillardiere on
Bruny Island
Bruny Island ( Nuenonne: Lunawanna-alonnah) is a island located off the south-eastern coast of Tasmania, Australia. The island is separated from the Tasmanian mainland by the D'Entrecasteaux Channel, and its east coast lies within the Tasman S ...
, and by
Cape Labillardiere on
Fergusson Island
Fergusson Island is the largest island of the D'Entrecasteaux Islands, in Papua New Guinea. It has an area of , and mostly consists of mountainous regions, covered by rain forests. There are three large volcanoes on the island.
Fergusson Island ...
,
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...
.
[Duyker (2003) p. 244.]
His herbarium is now part of the Museo di Botanica at the
Museo di Storia Naturale di Firenze
The Museo di Storia Naturale di Firenze is a natural history museum in 6 major collections, located in Florence, Italy. It is part of the University of Florence. Museum collections are open mornings except Wednesday, and all day Saturday; an adm ...
,
University of Florence
The University of Florence (Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Firenze'', UniFI) is an Italian public research university located in Florence, Italy. It comprises 12 schools and has around 50,000 students enrolled.
History
The first universi ...
. About fifty of the plant genera established by Labillardière survive as current genera today.
Amongst the notable plants detailed in the author's two works on Australia are the first descriptions of ''
Cephalotus follicularis
''Cephalotus'' ( or ; Greek: ''κεφαλή'' "head", and ''οὔς''/''ὠτός'' "ear", to describe the head of the anthers) is a genus which contains one species, ''Cephalotus follicularis'' the Albany pitcher plant, a small carnivorous pi ...
'' and ''
Eucalyptus cornuta
''Eucalyptus cornuta'', commonly known as yate, is a tree species, sometimes a mallee and is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It has rough, fibrous bark on all or most of its trunk, smooth bark above, mostly lance-shaped adult le ...
''.
Standard author abbreviation
Historiography
Only two portraits of Labillardière survive: an 1821
lithograph
Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...
of a sketch by
Julien-Léopold Boilly
Julien-Léopold Boilly (1796–1874), also known as Jules Boilly, was a French artist noted for his album of lithographs ''Iconographie de l'Institut Royal de France'' (1820–1821) and his booklet ''Album de 73 portraits-charge aquarellés des me ...
, and a lithograph by
Langlumè, based on a portrait by
Alexis Nicolas Noël.
[Duyker (2003) p. 5.]
The first biography of Labillardière was written by
Jean Pierre Flourens
Marie Jean Pierre Flourens (13 April 1794 – 6 December 1867), father of Gustave Flourens, was a French physiologist, the founder of experimental brain science, and a pioneer in anesthesia.
Biography
Flourens was born at Maureilhan, near Béziers ...
, whose graveside
eulogy
A eulogy (from , ''eulogia'', Classical Greek, ''eu'' for "well" or "true", ''logia'' for "words" or "text", together for "praise") is a speech or writing in praise of a person or persons, especially one who recently died or retired, or as a ...
of Labillardière was published in the ''Annales du Museum d'histoire'' in 1837. That first biography was very highly regarded, and seems to have formed the basis of most of the entries in French biographical dictionaries published over the next century, as well as the anonymous biography in Volume 2 of the ''
Australian Dictionary of Biography
The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...
''.
[Duyker (2003) p. 2"]
New insights into Labillardière's life and work did not begin to appear until the 1953 publication, by
Auguste Chevalier Auguste may refer to:
People Surname
* Arsène Auguste (born 1951), Haitian footballer
* Donna Auguste (born 1958), African-American businesswoman
* Georges Auguste (born 1933), Haitian painter
* Henri Auguste (1759–1816), Parisian gold and ...
, of new information on Labillardière's early life, together with a number of his letters. More letters were published in
Gavin de Beer
Sir Gavin Rylands de Beer (1 November 1899 – 21 June 1972) was a British evolutionary embryologist, known for his work on heterochrony as recorded in his 1930 book ''Embryos and Ancestors''. He was director of the Natural History Museum, Lon ...
's 1960 ''The sciences were never at war''. Further biographical material was published by
Frans Stafleu
Frans Antonie Stafleu (8 September 1921 – 16 December 1997) was a Dutch systematic botanist, former Chair of the Institute of Systematic Botany at the University of Utrecht, and author of ''Taxonomic Literature: A Selective Guide to Botanical ...
in 1967, and by Denis and Maisie Carr in 1976 and 1981.
The first book-length treatment of Labillardière's life appeared in 2003, with the publication of
Edward Duyker
Edward Duyker (born 21 March 1955) is an Australian historian, biographer and author born in Melbourne.
Edward Duyker's books include several ethno-histories – ''Tribal Guerrillas'' (1987), ''The Dutch in Australia'' (1987) and ''Of the Star ...
's award-winning ''Citizen Labillardière: A naturalist's life in revolution and exploration (1755–1834)''.
A major thread in the
historiography
Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians ha ...
of Labillardière is questions surrounding the reliability of his work. There are anomalies and contradictions in both Labillardière's account of his voyage and in his botanical data. The former appear to be at least partly attributable to mistakes made in converting the measurements and dates in his journal into the
metric system
The metric system is a system of measurement that succeeded the Decimal, decimalised system based on the metre that had been introduced in French Revolution, France in the 1790s. The historical development of these systems culminated in the d ...
and the
Republican Calendar respectively. In the latter case, the anomalies mostly concern the collection locations of his specimens, about which he was apparently quite careless.
[Carr & Carr(1981) p. 81.] Ernest Charles Nelson
(Ernest) Charles Nelson (15 September 1951, Belfast, Northern Ireland) is a botanist who specialises in the heather family, Ericaceae, especially ''Erica'', and whose past research interests included the Proteaceae especially '' Adenanthos''. H ...
in particular did much to shed doubt upon Labillardière's reliability,
and over time a tradition arose amongst botanists that Labillardière's data was not to be trusted.
His reputation has since been restored somewhat by the Carrs who, in 1976, published a detailed validation of his account of his visit to
Observatory Island
An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. His ...
, where ''
Eucalyptus cornuta
''Eucalyptus cornuta'', commonly known as yate, is a tree species, sometimes a mallee and is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It has rough, fibrous bark on all or most of its trunk, smooth bark above, mostly lance-shaped adult le ...
'' (Yate) was first collected.
Labillardière's type location for ''
Eucalyptus cordata'' remained unverified for nearly 200 years until, in August 1987, Bradley Potts, from the Department of Botany at the University of Tasmania, and Gintaras Kantvilas, from the Tasmanian Herbarium, rediscovered a stand of 200 trees on steep and densely forested Penguin Island.
[Duyker (2003) p. 156.] Edward Duyker
Edward Duyker (born 21 March 1955) is an Australian historian, biographer and author born in Melbourne.
Edward Duyker's books include several ethno-histories – ''Tribal Guerrillas'' (1987), ''The Dutch in Australia'' (1987) and ''Of the Star ...
suggested that, given the period the specimens were in foreign hands, "the errors made in the published habitat statements for about a dozen species may have been a result of a shuffling of herbarium sheets or notes without Labillardière’s knowledge".
[Duyker (2003) p. 232.]
One of the greatest challenges for biographers of Labillardière has been the gaining of insight into his character and personality. That is largely due to the paucity of documents and testimonies: fewer than sixty of his letters survive, and many of them are purely related to business matters. Since he clearly had an austere personality, Duyker speculates that "the lack of surviving personal detail may in itself be a reflection of a strongly defensive character".
[Duyker (2003) p. 3.]
Selected publications
* , see ''
Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen
''Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen'' is a two-volume work describing the flora of Australia. Facsimiles of the originals can be found in the onlinBiodiversity Heritage Library (Vol.1)anVol 2)
The author was the French botanist Jacques Labillar ...
''
See also
*
European and American voyages of scientific exploration
The era of European and American voyages of scientific exploration followed the Age of Discovery and were inspired by a new confidence in science and reason that arose in the Age of Enlightenment. Maritime expeditions in the Age of Discovery were ...
References
Bibliography
*Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. .
*
Duyker, Edward (2003). ''Citizen Labillardière: A Naturalist’s Life in Revolution and Exploration (1755—1834)''. Melbourne: Miegunyah/Melbourne University Press. . Paperback reprint (2004). .
*
*Duyker, Edward (2011)
''Labillardière and his Relation'' Public Domain Review.
External links
*
/archive.org/details/voyageinsearchof01labi Volume 1and
/archive.org/stream/voyageinsearchof02labi Volume 2of the 1800 English translation on Internet Archive.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Labillardiere, Jacques
French taxonomists
1755 births
1834 deaths
Botanists active in Australia
Members of the French Academy of Sciences
Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
University of Montpellier alumni
Reims University (1548–1793) alumni
Botanists with author abbreviations
People from Alençon
18th-century French botanists
19th-century French botanists
National Museum of Natural History (France) people