The Société botanique de France (SBF) is a French

learned society A learned society ( ; also scholarly, intellectual, or academic society) is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline, profession, or a group of related disciplines such as the arts and sciences. Membership may be open to al ...

founded on 23 April 1854. At its inaugural meeting it stated its purpose as "to contribute to the progress of botany and related sciences and to facilitate, by all means at its disposal, the education and the work of its members" (Article 2 of the founding statutes).

Foundation

The creation of the society was a result of a meeting on 12 March 1854 of the following sixteen botanists, who became founding members: * Antoine François Passy (1792–1873) * Adolphe Brongniart (1801–1876), professor 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 ...

* Joseph Decaisne (1807–1882), professor at the

* Horace Bénédict Alfred Moquin-Tandon (1801–1863) * Count Hippolyte Jaubert (1798–1874) * Louis Graves (1791–1857), director general of forests * Vicomte de Noé * Timothée Puel (1812–1890) * Charles Philippe Robin (1821–1885), former Chief Inspector of Roads and Bridges * Alphonse Maille (1813–1865) * Ernest Saint-Charles Cosson (1819–1889) *

Pierre Étienne Simon Duchartre Pierre Étienne Simon Duchartre (27 October 1811, Portiragnes – 5 November 1894, Meudon) was a French botanist. He studied biology in Toulouse, where after graduation he worked as a teacher. In 1836 he edited and published the exsiccata ''Fl ...

(1811–1894) * Wladimir de Schoenefeld (1816–1875) * Adolphe De Bouis (1804–1878), doctor of medicine * Jacques Nicolas Ernest Germain de Saint-Pierre (1815–1882) * François Simon Cordier (1797-1874), former Army doctor and botanist Three of these participants, L. Graves, A. Passy and W. de Schoenefeld, formed a committee and established society rules inspired by the Société géologique de France in whose creation Louis Graves had taken part. The Société géologique de France also hosted the first meeting of the SBF. During the first official meeting, which took place on 24 May 1854, a committee was elected. It included A. Brongniart as president, J. Decaisne, D. Delessert and H. Moquin-Tandon as Vice-Presidents, W. de Schoenefeld and P. Duchartre as Secretaries, T. Puel and E. Cosson as vice-secretaries, Caillette de Hervilliers as treasurer and de Bouis as archivist. In 1868 the SBF relocated to the new premises of the National Horticultural Society of France before moving, in 1949, into the premises of the Faculté de pharmacie de Paris. It was recognized as a public utility by decree of 17 August 1875. In the 1920s, several plant collections held by the Society were placed in various institutions for the conservation that the Society was not able to provide.

Publications

Since its foundation it has published the proceedings of its ordinary and extraordinary meetings and a review of literature. Extraordinary meetings are held in various cities in France so that members from outside Paris can also participate in the activities of the society. Botanical excursions within France and abroad have regularly been organized. Currently SBF has two publications: '' Acta Botanica'' (quarterly), including a significant number of subscriptions from institutions, and '' Journal de Botanique'', issued as need arises and where in particular reports are published on botanical excursions (the most recent having been held in

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in the

Forez Forez (; ) is a Provinces of France, former province of France, corresponding approximately to the central part of the modern Loire (department), Loire ''département in France, département'' and a part of the Haute-Loire and Puy-de-Dôme ''dépa ...

and

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

). The SBF also regularly presents various awards and prizes including, since 1904, the ' (in honour of the botanist Auguste Henri Cornut de la Fontaine de Coincy (1837–1903)), given in recognition of research in

taxonomy image:Hierarchical clustering diagram.png, 280px, Generalized scheme of taxonomy Taxonomy is a practice and science concerned with classification or categorization. Typically, there are two parts to it: the development of an underlying scheme o ...

. The Society had 162 members in the first year, since when membership has varied between 500 and 800. The society has been open to women from the beginning, the first woman member having been Elisa Vilmorin (d. 1868), the widow of Louis de Vilmorin (1816–1860).

Recent activities

In 2001 SBF launched a project on the development of a flora of France. In 2004 the hundred and fiftieth anniversary symposium took place, attended by 105 people. In addition to a historical survey of the Society's role in presenting botany in France, its future and its educational mission were also reasserted.

Source and references

*François Pellegrin, '"Un siècle de Société de botanique de France", ''Bulletin de la Société botanique de France'', supplément to issue number 101, 1954, pp. 17–46.

External links

Society web sitealternative url for Society web sitefull text of "Bulletin de la Société botanique de France", volumes 1–69, 1854–1922
(at biodiversitylibrary.org)
full text of "Bulletin de la Société botanique de France", volumes 1–67, 1854–1923
(at botanicus.org) {{DEFAULTSORT:Societe botanique de France Botanical societies Scientific organizations established in 1854 1854 establishments in France Scientific organizations based in France