Louis Claude Noisette (2 November 1772 at Chatillon – 9 January 1849) was a French botanist and horticulturist, son of Joseph Noisette, gardener to the Count of Provence, the future
Louis XVIII.
In 1795, after a short stint in the infantry, he became a gardener at
Val-de-Grace but his position was eliminated around 1798. For several years, he accumulated funds to found, in 1806, along with his brothers, a
botanical facility to collect plants. He had a rich collection of
roses.
For him, Claude Antoine Thory (1759–1827) named ''Rosa x noisettiana'' or the Noisette Rose, the hybrid obtained by Noisette from seeds sent by his brother, Philippe Noisette, who had received a government mission in America, and had settled in
South Carolina. Phillipe Noisette gave the planter
John Champneys a plant of ''Rosa'' x
'Old Blush' sent by
Louis Claude from France. This one was fertilized by ''
Rosa moschata
''Rosa moschata'', the musk rose, is a species of rose which has been long in cultivation. Its wild origins are uncertain but are suspected to lie in the western Himalayas.
Description
''Rosa moschata'' is a shrub (to 3m) with single white 5&nb ...
'' (the Musk Rose), which resulted in ''Rosa'' x 'Champneys's Pink Cluster'. It was from the sowing of seeds of 'Champney's Pink Cluster' sent by Phillipe, that Louis Noisette obtained
''Rosa'' x 'Blush Noisette', the first Noisette rose.
Louis Claude Noisette became famous all over Europe. In Austria, Prince Nicolas II Esterházy called on him to plant his vast estate.
Noisette was responsible for the introduction and the distribution in France of a large number of rare American and Indian plants. For these reasons, he was named a Chevalier of the
Legion of Honor
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
on May 8, 1840.
''Noisettia'' is a genus of small flowering plants, native to tropical America in the family ''
Violaceae
Violaceae is a family of flowering plants established in 1802, consisting of about 1000 species in about 25 genera. It takes its name from the genus ''Viola'', the violets and pansies.
Older classifications such as the Cronquist system placed t ...
'', named after him.
He died in 1849 without children. His two brothers, also gardeners, and who left descendants were Philippe (born in 1773 in Paris and died in 1835 in
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...
) and Antoine (born in Torcy in 1778 and died in Nantes in 1858). The latter directed the botanical garden in
Nantes
Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...
. The descendants of Phillipe Noisette operated a nursery in the Charleston, South Caro,lina area into the 1940s.
In the Garden of the King at the
Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 19 ...
, one of the gardens is named in honor of "Louis Noisette - great gardener".
1772 births
1849 deaths
Knights of the Legion of Honour
19th-century French botanists
French horticulturists
Rose breeders
18th-century French botanists
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