Frère León
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Frère León ( en, Brother León, es, Hermano León; December 31, 1871 – November 20, 1955) was a
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
-born Cuban
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
De La Salle Brother french: Frères des Écoles Chrétiennes , image = Signum Fidei.jpg , image_size = 175px , caption = , abbreviation = FSC , nickname = Lasallians , named_after = , formation ...
. Born Joseph Sylvestre Sauget in
Arbois Arbois () is a Commune in France, commune in the Jura (département), Jura Departments of France, department, in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region, eastern France. The river Cuisance passes through the town, which centres on ...
, Jura, León was an important contributor to the botanical exploration of Cuba and co-authored, with Frère Alain, the five-volume ''Flora of Cuba'' which remains the standard reference on the topic.


Early life and education

Joseph Sylvestre Sauget was born in Arbois, Jura, in France on December 31, 1871. He obtained his secondary education in
Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlies ...
before joining the
Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools french: Frères des Écoles Chrétiennes , image = Signum Fidei.jpg , image_size = 175px , caption = , abbreviation = FSC , nickname = Lasallians , named_after = , formation ...
and adopting the name León.


Professional life

Frère León made extensive collections of Cuban plants, culminating with the production of the ''Flora of Cuba''. He arrived in Cuba in 1905 after spending a year teaching in Canada. Working outward from his station in
Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.
, he engaged in a botanical exploration of the entire country. At that time, Cuba's flora was poorly recorded, and León's collections included many new species and new records for the island. Lacking a reference collection, León initially sent his specimens to Charles F. Baker, an American botanist based at the Agricultural Station at Santiago de Las Vegas. After Baker left Cuba, León corresponded extensively with
Nathaniel Lord Britton Nathaniel Lord Britton (January 15, 1859 – June 25, 1934) was an American botanist and taxonomist who co-founded the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, New York (state), New York. Early life Britton was born in New Dorp, Staten Island, New ...
at the
New York Botanical Garden The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) is a botanical garden at Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York City. Established in 1891, it is located on a site that contains a landscape with over one million living plants; the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, ...
,
grass Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...
specialists
A. S. Hitchcock Albert Spear Hitchcock (September 4, 1865 – December 16, 1935) was an American botanist and agrostologist. Hitchcock graduated from the Iowa Agricultural College with bachelor's degree in 1884 and M.S. in 1886. From 1892 to 1901 he was a prof ...
and
Mary Agnes Chase Mary Agnes Chase (1869–1963) was an American botanist who specialized in agrostology, the study of grasses. Although lacking formal education past elementary school, Chase was able to rise through the ranks as a botanist at the United States De ...
at the
United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the United States federal executive departments, federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, ...
, and fern specialist
William Ralph Maxon William Ralph Maxon, (February 27, 1877February 25, 1948) was an American botanist and pteridologist. He graduated from Syracuse University with a Bachelor of Philosophy, B.Ph. in biology, in 1898, and spent about one year at Columbia University do ...
at the
United States National Museum The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
. León's collaborations with visiting plant collectors expanded the scope of his collections. Working with John Adolph Shafer in 1912, León was able to expand the range of his collecting. The arrival of Swedish botanist
Erik Ekman Erik Leonard Ekman was a Swedish botanist and explorer. Biography Erik Leonard Ekman was born into a low-income household with five children on October 14, 1883. Due to economic difficulties, the family moved to the central-Swedish town of Jönk ...
in 1914 marked the beginning of a new phase in León's career as a botanist. Ekman, an avid plant collector, conveyed both his enthusiasm for collecting and his collecting methods to León. In 1916 León collected a grass species which was placed in a new genus, ''
Saugetia ''Saugetia'' is a genus of West Indian plants in the grass family. Species Species include:Catasus Guerra, L. 1997. Las gramíneas (Poaceae) de Cuba, I. Fontqueria 46: –ii 1–259. * '' Saugetia fasciculata'' Hitchc. & Chase — Cuba, Hispani ...
'' (named in León's honour) by A. S. Hitchcock. Ekman remained in Cuba until 1924, when he left for
Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ; es, La Española; Latin and french: Hispaniola; ht, Ispayola; tnq, Ayiti or Quisqueya) is an island in the Caribbean that is part of the Greater Antilles. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and th ...
. In 1938, León hosted the visit of Canadian botanist and fellow Lasallean Brother
Marie-Victorin Brother Marie-Victorin, F.S.C. (April 3, 1885 – July 15, 1944), was a Canadian member of Brothers of the Christian Schools and a noted botanist in Quebec, Canada. He is known as the father of the Botanical Garden of Montreal. Biograph ...
, with whom he engaged in further explorations of Cuba. Marie-Victorin returned to Cuba every winter until his death in 1944, and throughout this period he and León continued to research the island's flora. Initially León focused on the
grass family Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns and ...
. He worked closely with Hitchcock as the latter prepared his ''Manual of the Grasses of the West Indies''. In the 1920s León worked with Britton and Percy Wilson to produce a checklist of the Cuban flora which laid the groundwork for his ''Flora of Cuba''. In 1928 he undertook a study of Cuban palms, which resulted in the description of several new species. His collections of
moss Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and hor ...
es resulted in the publication of a catalogue of Cuban mosses in 1933. In the 1930s he focused on the
cacti A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Greek ...
; his unfinished work on the family was incorporated into the third volume of the ''Flora of Cuba''. In 1940 he began work on the ''Flora of Cuba''. The first volume was published in 1947 and the second followed in 1951. His health and eyesight failing, León was unable to contribute further to the work, and died in 1955 before the final two volumes were completed. The work, completed by Frère Alain, remains the standard reference on the Cuban flora. León's extensive collections of Cuban plants are housed primarily at the
Cuban Academy of Sciences The Cuban Academy of Sciences (''Academia de Ciencias de Cuba'') is an official institution of the Cuban state, with headquarters in the National Capitol building in Havana. It is described as the oldest active national academy of sciences outside ...
.


Awards and honours

Frère León received honorary doctorates from
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
in 1927 and the
University of Havana The University of Havana or (UH, ''Universidad de La Habana'') is a university located in the Vedado district of Havana, the capital of the Republic of Cuba. Founded on January 5, 1728, the university is the oldest in Cuba, and one of the first ...
in 1951. He was appointed an Officer of the National Order of Merit of Carlos Manuel de Cespedes by the government of Cuba, while the French government appointed him an Officier d'Instruction Publique in the
Ordre des Palmes Académiques A suite, in Western classical music and jazz, is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral/concert band pieces. It originated in the late 14th century as a pairing of dance tunes and grew in scope to comprise up to five dances, sometimes with ...
.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leon, Frere 1871 births 1955 deaths 20th-century French botanists Cuban botanists De La Salle Brothers Recipients of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques