Marc Antoine Louis Claret de La Tourrette (11 August 1729,

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

– 1 October 1793, Lyon) was a French botanist. He corresponded with

Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...

and his official botanical abbreviation is Latourr.

Family

His father, Jacques-Annibal Claret de La Tourrette (1692–1776), belonged to Lyon's magistrature and was ennobled by

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reache ...

, and Marc's brother was the navigator

Charles Pierre Claret de Fleurieu Charles Pierre Claret, comte de Fleurieu (2 July 1738, Lyon – 18 August 1810) was a French Navy officer, explorer, hydrographer and politician. He served as Minister of the Navy under Louis XVI, and was a member of the Institut de France. He was ...

Life

In 1770 he published his ''Voyage au mont Pilat dans la province du Lyonnais, contenant des observations sur l'histoire naturelle de cette montagne.'' In this book he described the natural history of the

Pilat massif Mont Pilat or the Pilat massif is a mountainous area in the east of the Massif Central of France. Name The origin of the name "Pilat" is uncertain. The word may have a Latin origin (''Mons Pileatus''). Another legend says that the body of Pontiu ...

and gave a list of the plants found there. In 1787, botanist Auguste Denis Fougeroux de Bondaroy published '' Tourrettia'', which is a genus of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s from South America, belonging to the family

Bignoniaceae Bignoniaceae is a family of flowering plants in the order Lamiales commonly known as the bignonias or trumpetvines.Vernon H. Heywood, Richard K. Brummitt, Ole Seberg, and Alastair Culham. ''Flowering Plant Families of the World''. Firefly Books: ...

. It was named in Marc Antoine Louis Claret de La Tourrette's honor. He died at

Works

* ''Voyage au mont Pilat dans la province du Lyonnais, contenant des observations sur l'histoire naturelle de cette montagne, & des lieux circonvoisins ; suivi du catalogue raisonné des plantes qui y croissent.'' (Regnault, Avignon, 1770). * ''Démonstrations élémentaires de botanique.'' (Chez Jean-Marie Bruyset, Lyon, 1773).

References

* Pierre Jacquet (1999). Un botaniste lyonnais méconnu du dix-huitième siècle : Marc-Antoine Claret de La Tourrette (1729–1793). ''Bulletin mensuel de la Société linnéenne de Lyon'', 68 (4), pp. 77–84. * "Éloge de M. de Fleurieu", by M. de Bory, 1776 in "Manuscrits de la bibliothèque de Lyon ou notices sur leur ancienneté, de Antoine-François Delandine" * ''Almanach astronomique et historique de la ville de Lyon et des provinces'', 1787, par Aimé de la Rohe, p. 88.

External links

Genealogy on geneanet samlap

{{DEFAULTSORT:Claret de la Tourette, Marc Antoine 1729 births 1793 deaths Scientists from Lyon 18th-century French botanists Members of the French Academy of Sciences