Jean Marchant (1650 – 11 November 1738) was a French botanist. Along with his father Nicolas Marchant, he was responsible for preparing the ''Histoire des plantes'' from 1667 begun under the aegis of the French Royal Academy of Sciences with the support of

Claude Perrault Claude Perrault (25 September 1613 – 9 October 1688) was a French physician and an amateur architect, best known for his participation in the design of the east façade of the Louvre in Paris.Marchantia ''Marchantia'' is a genus of liverworts in the family Marchantiaceae and the order Marchantiales. The thallus of ''Marchantia'' shows differentiation into two layers: an upper photosynthetic layer with a well-defined upper epidermis with por ...

'' after his father.

Biography

Jean was the son of the botanist Nicolas Marchant (died 1678) and his career was closely linked to that of his father. Nicolas was educated at the

University of Padua The University of Padua ( it, Università degli Studi di Padova, UNIPD) is an Italian university located in the city of Padua, region of Veneto, northern Italy. The University of Padua was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from B ...

and trained as an apothecary serving under

Gaston, Duke of Orléans '' Monsieur'' Gaston, Duke of Orléans (Gaston Jean Baptiste; 24 April 1608 – 2 February 1660), was the third son of King Henry IV of France and his second wife, Marie de' Medici. As a son of the king, he was born a '' Fils de France''. He lat ...

. He then worked at the botanical garden of the Duke at Blois collaborating with Abel Brunyer, Robert Morison and Jean Laugier. After the death of the Duke in 1660 he served the King and was involved in the founding of the

French Academy of Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (French: ''Académie des sciences'') is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV of France, Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific me ...

, serving as the only botanist until

Denis Dodart Denis Dodart was a French physician, naturalist, and botanist who was born in 1634 in Paris and died on November 5, 1707 in the same city. Biography Childhood and humanist education Denis Dodart was born in 1634 in a Parisian middle class ...

recruited in 1673. He was given the position of “concierge et directeur de la culture des plantes du Jardin Royal" from 1674. In 1667, a project was begun by the Academy to produce the ' but when Nicolas died, Jean was elected as replacement to the Academy on 18 June 1678 and immediately continued to work on the project at the Jardin des Plantes where he also served as director. Support for the project however ended in 1694 and the position at the Jardin was also discontinued. Without a pension, Marchant then continued to work on the project alone and independently but died before he could finish it. Although most of his work was unpublished, the Academy did release about 15 of his writings. His work on “Observations sur la nature des plantes” looked at changes in plants was considered especially important for introducing the idea of changes in plant characteristics from earlier assumptions on the fixity of forms. Marchant described a change in the form of ''

Mercurialis annua ''Mercurialis annua'' is a species of flowering plant in the spurge family Euphorbiaceae known by the common name annual mercury or (rarely) French mercury. It is native to Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East but it is known on many other c ...

'' in 1715 in the shape of the leaves. Marchant described the species ''

Fuligo septica ''Fuligo septica'' is a species of slime mold, and a member of the class Myxomycetes. It is commonly known as scrambled egg slime, or flowers of tan because of its peculiar yellowish appearance. It is also known as dog vomit slime mold, and is ...

''. He named the genus ''

Marchantia ''Marchantia'' is a genus of liverworts in the family Marchantiaceae and the order Marchantiales. The thallus of ''Marchantia'' shows differentiation into two layers: an upper photosynthetic layer with a well-defined upper epidermis with por ...

'' after his father.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marchant, Jean 1650 births Members of the French Academy of Sciences French botanists 1738 deaths