Jean Jules Linden (12 February 1817,Jean Linden, explorer and horticulturist
in

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

– 12 January 1898, in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

) was a Belgian botanist, explorer, horticulturist and businessman. He specialised in

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

s, which he wrote a number of books about. Jean Linden studied at the Athénée Royal in Luxembourg until 1834 and went on to the faculty of science at the

Free University of Brussels University of Brussels may refer to several institutions in Brussels, Belgium: Current institutions * Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), a French-speaking university established as a separate entity in 1970 *Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), a D ...

. In 1835, Jean Linden put forward his name when the Belgian government invited applications from academic circles for an exploration of

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

. As a result, Jean Linden, Nicolas Funck (1816–1896), and Auguste Ghiesbreght (1810–1893) left

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

on 25 September 1835 for

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

and arrived in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

on 27 December. They remained in Brazil, collecting plants and animals, returning to Belgium in March 1837. As a result of this trip, Linden's lifelong preoccupation with orchids was born. Six months later, in September 1837, the same trio left

Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very cl ...

and reached

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

in December. The team explored Cuba and Mexico, collecting live animals and plants, until 1840. Linden suffered an acute attack of

yellow fever Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. In ...

near Laguna de Términos. He went on several expeditions and made a detailed study of orchid growth conditions in their natural habitat. His findings revolutionised the cultivation of orchids under European conditions. Before his research, orchids were being kept at temperatures far greater than their needs, resulting in a high mortality rate. Following Linden's lead, British botanist

John Lindley John Lindley FRS (5 February 1799 – 1 November 1865) was an English botanist, gardener and orchidologist. Early years Born in Catton, near Norwich, England, John Lindley was one of four children of George and Mary Lindley. George Lindley w ...

also made detailed observations of the habitats where he collected plants. In Brussels, Linden was briefly the director of the Brussels zoological and botanical garden. He gradually concentrated on orchid culture, using three types of conservatory with temperatures ranging from cool to warm. Under these conditions his orchids thrived. With this success, he created an orchid empire that, at its peak, had branches in

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded in ...

, and

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 ...

, winning awards at exhibitions in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, and St. Petersburg. He published exceptional books on orchids and orchid-growing. Linden married Anna Reuter in

on 13 October 1845. His son Lucien eventually took over all his business interests and published books on orchids before and after Jean's death. He is commemorated in '' Gloxinella lindeniana'' (Regel) Roalson & Boggan (part of the

Gesneriaceae Gesneriaceae, the gesneriad family, is a family of flowering plants consisting of about 152 genera and ca. 3,540 species in the tropics and subtropics of the Old World (almost all Didymocarpoideae) and the New World (most Gesnerioideae), with ...

family), ''Iresine lindenii'' now a synonym of '' Iresine diffusa'' f. ''lindenii'' (

Amaranthaceae Amaranthaceae is a family of flowering plants commonly known as the amaranth family, in reference to its type genus ''Amaranthus''. It includes the former goosefoot family Chenopodiaceae and contains about 165 genera and 2,040 species, making it ...

), ''

Phalaenopsis lindenii ''Phalaenopsis lindenii'' is a species of plant in the family Orchidaceae, named after Belgian botanist Jean Jules Linden. It is endemic to the island of Luzon in the Philippines. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland fore ...

'' (

Orchidaceae Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

), and ''

Polyrrhiza lindenii ''Dendrophylax lindenii'', the ghost orchid (a common name also used for ''Epipogium aphyllum'') is a perennial epiphyte from the orchid family (Orchidaceae). It is native to Florida, the Bahamas, and Cuba. Other common names include palm poll ...

'', also in the Orchidaceae family. This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation Linden when citing a

botanical name A botanical name is a formal scientific name conforming to the '' International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (ICN) and, if it concerns a plant cultigen, the additional cultivar or Group epithets must conform to the ''Intern ...

Sources

National Botanic Garden of BelgiumJean Linden biography

References

External links

Article on www.orchids.co.inExamples of lithographs of plants from Jean Linden's L'illustration Horticole at www.finerareprints.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Linden, Jean Jules 19th-century Belgian botanists Belgian horticulturists Orchidologists 1817 births 1898 deaths Botanists with author abbreviations Alumni of the Athénée de Luxembourg