Venceslas Victor Jacquemont (8 August 1801 – 7 December 1832) was a French

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

and

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

known for his travels in India. Born in Paris on August 8, 1801, Victor Jacquemont was the youngest of four sons of Frédéric François Venceslas Jacquemont de Moreau (1757-1836) and Rose Laisné. He studied medicine and later took an interest in botany. His early travels took him around Europe. He was lightly built and capable of living on a very frugal diet. After being invited by the Jardin des Plantes to collect plant and animal specimens from a country of his choice for 240 pounds a year, Jacquemont traveled to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

leaving Brest in August 1828. He arrived at Calcutta on 5 May 1829. He went to Delhi on 5 March 1830 and went onwards towards the western Himalayas. He visited

Amber Amber is fossilized tree resin that has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Much valued from antiquity to the present as a gemstone, amber is made into a variety of decorative objects."Amber" (2004). In Ma ...

Rajputana Rājputana, meaning "Land of the Rajputs", was a region in the Indian subcontinent that included mainly the present-day Indian state of Rajasthan, as well as parts of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, and some adjoining areas of Sindh in modern-day ...

, met with the

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

Emperor

Ranjit Singh Ranjit Singh (13 November 1780 – 27 June 1839), popularly known as Sher-e-Punjab or "Lion of Punjab", was the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire, which ruled the northwest Indian subcontinent in the early half of the 19th century. He s ...

at his capital of

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

, and visited the kingdom of

Ladakh Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory which constitutes a part of the larger Kashmir region and has been the subject of dispute between India, Pakistan, and China since 1947. (subscription required) Quote: "Jammu and ...

in the

Himalaya The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...

. He also visited

Bardhaman Bardhaman (, ) is a city and a municipality in the state of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of Purba Bardhaman district, having become a district capital during the period of British rule. Burdwan, an alternative name for the city, ...

(Burdwan) in

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

in November 1829. He died of

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

on 7 December 1832. Several plants are named for him, including ''

Vachellia jacquemontii ''Vachellia jacquemontii'' is a species of plant native to the Thar Desert of India and Pakistan. The species name refers to French botanist Victor Jacquemont.Allen J. Coombes It grows as an erect shrub or small tree, usually to high, with ...

'', the Himalayan White Birch ''(

Betula jacquemontii ''Betula utilis'', the Himalayan birch (''bhojpatra'', sa, भूर्ज ''bhūrjá''), is a deciduous tree native to the Western Himalayas, growing at elevations up to . The Latin specific epithet ''utilis'' means "useful", and refers to the ...

)'', the Indian Tree Hazel ''(

Corylus jacquemontii The hazel (''Corylus'') is a genus of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family Betulaceae,Germplasmgobills Information Network''Corylus''Rushforth, K. (1999). ...

)'', Afghan Cherry ''(

Prunus jacquemontii ''Prunus jacquemontii'', sometimes called Afghan cherry, Afghan bush cherry, Afghan dwarf cherry, or flowering almond, a name shared with ''Prunus triloba'', is shrub which originates from Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Tibet. Th ...

)'', and the cobra lily or Jack in the pulpit ''(

Arisaema jacquemontii ''Arisaema jacquemontii'' is a species of flowering plant from the family Araceae that can be found growing on rocky slopes and in the forests on the elevation of in 'Afghanistan, East Asia and Himalayas. The species name refers to French botani ...

)''. __NOTOC__

Selected publications

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References

Bibliography

External links

Victor Jacquemont papers at the American Philosophical Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jacquemont 19th-century French botanists 1801 births 1832 deaths National Museum of Natural History (France) people