Louis René Étienne Tulasne, a.k.a. Edmond Tulasne (12 September 1815 – 22 December 1885) 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 ...

and mycologist born in Azay-le-Rideau. He originally studied law at

Poitiers Poitiers is a city on the river Clain in west-central France. It is a commune in France, commune, the capital of the Vienne (department), Vienne department and the historical center of Poitou, Poitou Province. In 2021, it had a population of 9 ...

, but his interest later turned to botany. As a young man he assisted botanist Auguste de Saint-Hilaire (1779–1853) with studies of Brazilian flora. From 1842 until 1872 he worked as a

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

at the

Muséum national d'histoire naturelle The French National Museum of Natural History ( ; abbr. MNHN) is the national natural history museum of France and a of higher education part of Sorbonne University. The main museum, with four galleries, is located in Paris, France, within the Ja ...

in Paris. In 1854 he succeeded Adrien-Henri de Jussieu (1797–1853) as a member of the Académie des sciences. He died in Hyères on 22 December 1885, age 70. Tulasne's specialized study was the science of

mycology Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungus, fungi, including their Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, genetics, biochemistry, biochemical properties, and ethnomycology, use by humans. Fungi can be a source of tinder, Edible ...

. His microscopic investigation of fungi, particularly parasitic species, contributed much to the understanding on the complexities of their nature and development. He is credited with introducing the concept of " pleomorphy" in regard to fungi.Biography and Photo; Louis René Tulasne
Mushroom the Journal Pleomorphy states that an individual fungus, growing in different substrates can have dramatically different forms. In 1853 he introduced his views on the reproduction cycle of '' Claviceps purpurea'' (ergot). Around this time he also developed an interest in

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a hybrid colony (biology), colony of algae or cyanobacteria living symbiotically among hypha, filaments of multiple fungus species, along with yeasts and bacteria embedded in the cortex or "skin", in a mutualism (biology), m ...

s, and in 1852 Tulasne published an anatomical and morphological study of this group. It was in this work he introduced the term to describe the asexual fruiting body found in many species of fungi. A number of mycological species, as well as the genera ''Tulasneinia'' and '' Tulasnella'' (family

Tulasnellaceae The Tulasnellaceae are a family of fungi in the order Cantharellales. The family comprises mainly effused (patch-forming) fungi formerly referred to the " jelly fungi" or heterobasidiomycetes. Species are wood- or litter-rotting saprotrophs, b ...

) are named after him. He is credited with providing classification

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

for the following genera: '' Crucibulum'', '' Glomus'', '' Sebacina'', ''

Terfezia ''Terfezia'' (Berber language, Berber: Tirfas) is a genus of truffle-like fungi within the Pezizaceae family. ''Terfezia'' species are common name, commonly known as desert truffles. Some authorities consider this the type (biology), type genus o ...

'', '' Tilletia'' and '' Hypomyces'' (the latter genus with

Elias Magnus Fries Elias Magnus Fries (15 August 1794 – 8 February 1878) was a Swedish mycologist and botanist. He is sometimes called the Mycology, "Linnaeus of Mycology". In his works he described and assigned botanical names to hundreds of fungus and li ...

). He also produced some important works on

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. For example, in 1855, he

published Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

two papers on the magnoliid

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Monimiaceae,Lisa DeCesare. 2006. "Tulasne Brothers Exhibit" ''Newsletter of the friends of the Farlow'' 47(spring 2006):6–7. Harvard University Herbarium. (See External Links below). in which he included what are now the Lauralean families Siparunaceae and Atherospermataceae.Louis-René Tulasne. 1855. "Diagnoses nonnullas e Monimiacearum recensione tentata excerptas præmittit". ''Annales des Sciences Naturelles; Botanique, series 4, 3:29–144. (See External links below).Louis-René Tulasne (Ludovicus-Renatus Tulasne). 1855. "Monographia Monimiacearum, primum tentata". ''Archives du Museum d'Histoire Naturelle'' (Paris) 8:273–436.(See External links below). Tulasne published over 50 scientific articles during his career. Some of his best work was done in collaboration with his brother, Charles Tulasne (1816–1884), such as "''Fungi hypogaei''" (1851) and the three-volume "''Selecta fungorum carpologia''" (1861–65). The latter work is known for its superb detailed illustrations, being created by Charles Tulasne. Many of his works were published under the Latinized name "Ludovicus-Renatus".

References

External links

''Newsletter of the friends of the Farlow'', Number 47Collections

Harvard University Herbaria

page 383, Table des articles

View Book (external)

Annales des sciences naturelles ... Quatrième série. Botanique. Tome IIITitlesBiodiversity Heritage Library

page 273View BookArchives du Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris. Tome 8TitlesBiodiversity Heritage Library

IPNI
List of plants described and co-described by Tulasne. {{DEFAULTSORT:Tulasne, Edmond 1815 births 1885 deaths 19th-century French botanists French mycologists French Roman Catholics Members of the French Academy of Sciences People from Indre-et-Loire

See also

References

External links