Joseph Marie Henry Alfred Perrier de la Bâthie (11 August 1873 – 2 October 1958) was a French

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

who specialized in the plants of

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

. He is the nephew of Eugène Pierre Perrier de la Bâthie, (1825-1916), another botanist, who also collected plants with him. He delineated the two chief

floristic province A phytochorion, in phytogeography, is a geographic area with a relatively uniform composition of plant species. Adjacent phytochoria do not usually have a sharp boundary, but rather a soft one, a transitional area in which many species from both re ...

s of Madagascar (''see''

Ecoregions of Madagascar The ecoregions of Madagascar, as defined by the World Wildlife Fund, include seven terrestrial, five freshwater, and two marine ecoregions. Madagascar's diverse natural habitats harbour a rich Fauna of Madagascar, fauna and Flora of Madagascar, ...

). Some of his works include ''La végétation malgache'' (1921), ''Biogéographie de plantes de Madagascar'' (1936), and numerous volumes of the series ''Flore de Madagascar et des Comores'' (1946-1952).

Honours

The

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. Orchids are cosmopolitan plants that are found in almost every habitat on Eart ...

genus '' Neobathiea'' (originally ''Bathiea'') was named in his honor, as was the indriid

lemur Lemurs ( ; from Latin ) are Strepsirrhini, wet-nosed primates of the Superfamily (biology), superfamily Lemuroidea ( ), divided into 8 Family (biology), families and consisting of 15 genera and around 100 existing species. They are Endemism, ...

Perrier's sifaka Perrier's sifaka (''Propithecus perrieri'') is a lemur endemic to Madagascar. It was formerly considered to be a subspecies of diademed sifaka It has a very small range in northeastern Madagascar where its habitat is dry deciduous or semihumid fo ...

(''Propithecus perrieri''). He has other plant genera named in his honour. Such as in 1905, botanist

Lucien Désiré Joseph Courchet Lucien Désiré Joseph Courchet (31 July 1851– 10 March 1924) was a French botanist known for his work in the fields of plant anatomy and physiology. In 1884 he received his agrégation, afterwards being appointed professor of botany at the '' ...

published ''

Perriera ''Perriera'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Simaroubaceae. It is endemic to Madagascar. The genus name of ''Perriera'' is in honour of Joseph Marie Henry Alfred Perrier de la Bâthie Joseph Marie Henry Alfred Perrier d ...

'', a genus of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

s from Madagascar, belonging to the family

Simaroubaceae The Simaroubaceae, also known as the quassia family, are a small, mostly tropical, family in the order Sapindales. In recent decades, it has been subject to much taxonomic debate, with several small families being split off. A molecular phyloge ...

. Then in 1915, botanist Hochr. published '' Perrierophytum'', a genus of

s from

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

and Madagascar, belonging to the family

Malvaceae Malvaceae (), or the mallows, is a family of flowering plants estimated to contain 244 genera with 4225 known species. Well-known members of economic importance include Theobroma cacao, cacao, Cola (plant), cola, cotton, okra, Hibiscus sabdariffa, ...

. In 1924, A.Camus published '' Perrierbambus'',a

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial plant, perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily (biology), subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in th ...

in the

grass family Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in ...

. In 1951, Alberto Judice Leote Cavaco published ''

Perrierodendron ''Perrierodendron'' is a genus of trees and shrubs in the family Sarcolaenaceae. They are endemic to Madagascar. The genus name of ''Perrierodendron'' is in honour of Joseph Marie Henry Alfred Perrier de la Bâthie (1873–1958), a French botanis ...

'' is a genus of trees and shrubs in the family

Sarcolaenaceae The Sarcolaenaceae are a family of flowering plants endemic to Madagascar. The family includes 79 species of mostly evergreen trees and shrubs in ten genera. Recent DNA studies indicate that the Sarcolaenaceae are a sibling taxon to the family ...

. Then finally in 1978, ( A.Berger) H.Ohba published ''

Perrierosedum ''Perrierosedum'' is a genus of succulent plant in the family Crassulaceae containing only one species, ''Perrierosedum madagascariense''. It is a critically endangered species Endemism, endemic to Madagascar. Taxonomy and history ''Sedum madaga ...

'',

succulent In botany, succulent plants, also known as succulents, are plants with parts that are thickened, fleshy, and engorged, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil conditions. The word ''succulent'' comes from the Latin word ''sucus'', meani ...

plants of the family

Crassulaceae The Crassulaceae (, from Latin ''crassus'', thick), also known as the crassulas, the stonecrops or the orpine family, are a diverse Family (biology), family of dicotyledon angiosperms primarily characterized by succulent leaves and a form of phot ...

. Several species of Madagascar plants were also named for him, including ''

Adenia perrieri ''Adenia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the passionflower family Passifloraceae. It is distributed in the Old World tropics and subtropics.

'', '' Adansonia perrieri'' (or Perrier's baobab), '' Erythrina perrieri'', ''

Ensete perrieri ''Ensete perrieri'', or the ''Madagascar banana'', is a species of banana exclusively found in western Madagascar. The Madagascar banana is listed as critically endangered because of deforestation and climate change. Some botanists believe tha ...

'', '' Euphorbia perrieri'', '' Gereaua perrieri'', '' Jumelleanthus perrieri'' Hochr., '' Melanophylla perrieri'', ''

Podocarpus perrieri ''Podocarpus'' () is a genus of conifers, the most numerous and widely distributed of the podocarp family, the Podocarpaceae. ''Podocarpus'' species are evergreen shrubs or trees, usually from tall, known to reach at times. The cones have two t ...

'', '' Takhtajania perrieri'', (originally named ''Bubbia perrieri'') and ''

Xerosicyos perrieri ''Xerosicyos'' is a flowering plant genus of the family Cucurbitaceae. Its name comes from Greek ''xeros'' (meaning "dry") and ''sicyos'' ("cucumber"). There are six species, all endemic to Madagascar. Species Six species are accepted. *'' X ...

''.

References

20th-century French botanists Botanists active in Africa Botanists with author abbreviations 1873 births 1958 deaths {{France-botanist-stub