Pierre-Antoine Poiteau (23 March 1766 – 27 February 1854) 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 ...

gardener A gardener is someone who practices gardening, either professionally or as a hobby. Description A gardener is any person involved in gardening, arguably the oldest occupation, from the hobbyist in a residential garden, the home-owner suppleme ...

and botanical artist.

Biography

He was born in Ambleny,

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. After having worked in kitchen gardens and for the Parisian market gardeners, he was appointed by

André Thouin André Thouin (10 February 1747 – 24 October 1824) was a French botanist. Thouin studied botany under Bernard de Jussieu, and in 1793 attained the chair of horticulture at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris. He was a good ...

(1746–1824) ''garçon jardinier'' in 1790 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 ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. There he studied the

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

' ''Systema vegetabilium'' and the art of painting with the artist of the museum Gérard van Spaendonck (1746–1822) but his main influence is Redouté (1759–1840). Thouin named him, two years later, head of the Botanical school of Paris, but in 1793, Daubenton chose him to establish a botanic school and garden in Bergerac. This project failed and in 1796 Thouin offered Poiteau to go to

Santo Domingo Santo Domingo, formerly known as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic and the List of metropolitan areas in the Caribbean, largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean by population. the Distrito Na ...

. He was arrested as soon as he landed because he did not have official papers to justify his presence. Soon afterwards he was in

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

, at the head of the new botanical garden of Cape. Receiving no wages, he had to join the administration as an assistant to Hédouville and Roume, the governors of the island. In 1802, he brought back to France six hundred packets of seeds and 1,200 species, all named and classified by him. Among them were 97 species of mushrooms and 30 species of lichens. He published, in Paris in 1808 with

Pierre Jean François Turpin Pierre Jean François Turpin (11 March 1775, Vire – 1 May 1840) was a French botanist and illustrator. He was considered as one of the greatest floral and botanical illustrators during the Napoleonic Era and afterwards. As an artist, Turpin was ...

(1775–1840) whom he met in Haiti, ''Flora Parisiensis secundum systema sexuale deposita et plantarum circa Lutetiam sponte nascentium descriptiones, icones....'' After some years of free literary activities, he was appointed in 1815 head of the Royal tree nursery of

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

. In 1816, he published a description of the plants cultivated in the botanical garden of the School of medicine of Paris. Two years later, with

Antoine Risso Giuseppe Antonio Risso (8 April 1777 – 25 August 1845), called Antoine Risso, was a naturalist from Nice. Risso was born in the city of Nice in the Duchy of Savoy, and studied under Giovanni Battista Balbis. He published ' (1810), ' (1826) an ...

(1777–1845), he published ''Histoire naturelle des orangers'' (Natural history of the orange trees). In 1818, Poiteau went to

French Guiana French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...

where he supervised the cultures of the plantations of the royal houses. Back in France in 1822, he was appointed head gardener of the castle of

Fontainebleau Fontainebleau ( , , ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Functional area (France), metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the Kilometre zero#France, centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a Subprefectures in Franc ...

. From 1829 to 1851 he directed the ''Revue horticole'' (Horticultural review). In 1835, with Pierre-Jean-François Turpin, he published a new edition of the ''Traité des arbres fruitiers'' (Treatise of the fruit trees) by Henri Louis Duhamel du Monceau (1700–1782) and, in 1846, ''Pomologie française. Recueil des plus beaux fruits cultivés en France...'' (French pomology). In 1848 and 1853 the two volumes of his ''Cours d'horticulture'' (Lessons of horticulture) were published. A member of many scientific societies, Poiteau later became head of the museum of natural history, to which he offered all the animals and plants he had brought back from Guiana. Poiteau discovered numerous species of plants and animals, he even created some families (''cyclanthae'', for example). As a gardener and a pomologist, he much contributed to the amelioration of the edible fruits. As an artist, he is appreciated and his colored lithographs are sought-after by amateurs. On this ground, he is often compared to

Pierre-Joseph Redouté Pierre-Joseph Redouté (, 10 July 1759 – 19 June 1840), was a Painting, painter and botanist from the Austrian Netherlands, known for his watercolours of roses, lily, lilies and other flowers at the Château de Malmaison, many of which we ...

. He died in

Bibliography

On WorldCat

External links

References

Species named for Poiteau at IPNI
* Plantes équinoxiales recueillies...etc. by A.von Humboldt, A. Bonpland, A Poiteau, P J F Turpin and F. Schoel
at Botanicus
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poiteau, Pierre Antoine 19th-century French botanists Botanists with author abbreviations French botanical illustrators Botanists active in the Caribbean 1766 births 1854 deaths 18th-century French botanists