Gaspard Thémistocle Lestiboudois (12 October 1797,

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the No ...

– 22 November 1876,

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

) was a French naturalist. He was the son of botanist François Joseph Lestiboudois (1759-1815) and the grandson of Jean-Baptiste Lestiboudois (1715-1804), a professor of botany at the Faculty of Lille. In 1818, he obtained his doctorate of medicine in Paris. In 1835 he conducted research of the

plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pes ...

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

. Sociétés savantes
(biographical and bibliographical text) As a passenger on a train, he was involved in a terrible accident at

Rœux Rœux () is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. Geography Rœux lies on the banks of the Scarpe river about east of Arras at the junction of the D33, D42 and D46 roads. The junction of the A1 and ...

; despite being injured, he attended to the wounds of other victims. In August 1868 he was chosen commander of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleo ...

Written works

Known for his early investigations of

phyllotaxis In botany, phyllotaxis () or phyllotaxy is the arrangement of leaves on a plant stem. Phyllotactic spirals form a distinctive class of patterns in nature. Leaf arrangement The basic arrangements of leaves on a stem are opposite and alterna ...

, in 1848 he published ''Phyllotaxie anatomique''.Google Books
Phyllotaxie anatomique Other noted works by Lestiboudois include: * ''Essai sur la famille des Cypéracées'', 1819 - Essay on the family

Cyperaceae The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus '' Carex'' ...

. * ''Études sur l'anatomie et la physiologie des végétaux'', Paris : Treuttel et Wurtz, 1840 - Studies on the anatomy and physiology of plants. * ''Économie pratique des nations, ou Système économique applicable aux différentes contrées, et spécialement à la France'', 1847 * ''Voyage en Algérie, ou Études sur la colonisation de l'Afrique française'', 1853 - Voyage to Algeria; studies on the colonization of French Africa.

References

French naturalists 1797 births 1876 deaths French taxonomists Commandeurs of the Légion d'honneur Academic staff of the Lille University of Science and Technology Scientists from Lille 19th-century French botanists {{France-scientist-stub