Jacques Philippe Martin Cels (June 15, 1740 – May 15, 1806) was a French botanist specializing in

horticulture Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

. Cels was born in

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, ...

. He was a duty collector at the gates of

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 ...

. Ruined when the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

abolished his position, he started a

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 ...

in which he cultivated foreign plants for sale, contributing to the growing public appetite for exotic flowers. He received and acclimatized numerous North American plants brought back by

André Michaux André Michaux, also styled Andrew Michaud, (8 March 174611 October 1802) was a French botanist and explorer. He is most noted for his study of North American flora. In addition Michaux collected specimens in England, Spain, France, and even Per ...

and Louis-Augustin Bosc d'Antic. He strove to introduce many exotic species into France. He was made a member of the rural husbandry division of the French Academy of Sciences in 1795 and a member of the Académie d'Agriculture. He published instructional material in the various branches of his science. The species in his garden were described by the botanist

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 ...

(1757–1808) and illustrated by

Pierre-Joseph Redouté Pierre-Joseph Redouté (, 10 July 1759 – 19 June 1840), was a painter and botanist from Belgium, known for his watercolours of roses, lilies and other flowers at the Château de Malmaison, many of which were published as large, coloured ...

(1759–1840) in ''Description des plantes nouvelles et peu connues, cultivées dans le jardin de J.-M. Cels'', published in Paris in 1799. A second illustrated work with illustrations by a "student of Redouté", Pancrace Bessa, appeared in 1803, ''Choix de plantes :dont la plupart sont cultivées dans le jardin de Cels'', accessible at
version numérique sur Botanicus
'. Cels died in

Montrouge Montrouge () is a commune in the southern Parisian suburbs, located from the centre of Paris. It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe. After a long period of decline, the population has increased again in recent years. ...

in 1806.

Notes

* ''This article is based on a translation of an article from the French Wikipedia.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Cels, Jacques Philippe Martin 1740 births 1806 deaths People from Versailles 18th-century French botanists Members of the French Academy of Sciences 19th-century French botanists