Jean Henri Jaume Saint-Hilaire (October 29, 1772 – 1845) was a French naturalist and artist, born in

Grasse Grasse (; Provençal oc, Grassa in classical norm or in Mistralian norm ; traditional it, Grassa) is the only subprefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region on the French Riviera. In 2017, the c ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Biography

Born as ''Jaume'', he added ''Saint-Hilaire'' later. Some biographers indicate that this addition was to distinguish himself from a family member, Henri-Honore Jaume, a Jacobin who had been involved in the Reign of Terror, during the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

. He served in the French Army during the Italian campaign, before returning to civilian life in 1800. He then returned to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 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), ma ...

and resumed his studies, especially natural history. He wrote a guide to the new ''

Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle The French National Museum of Natural History, known in French as the ' (abbreviation MNHN), is the national natural history museum of France and a ' of higher education part of Sorbonne Universities. The main museum, with four galleries, is loc ...

'', and learned floral painting from Gérard van Spaendonck (1746-1822). In 1805 he wrote his first important publication: ''Exposition des familles naturelles et de la germination des plantes, contentant la description de 2 337 genres et d'environ 4 000 espèces, 112 planches dont les figures ont ete dessinées par l'auteur'' n exposition about natural families and the germination of plants, containing the description of 2,337 genera and about 4,000 species, 112 plates whose figures were drawn by the author In it, he popularized the classification of Antoine-Laurent de Jussieu (1748-1836). During 1808-1809 and 1819-1822, Jaume published ten volumes about French plants: ''Plantes de la France décrites et peintes d’après nature'' rench plants described and painted from nature grouping together one thousand engravings that he had made himself. Jaume was quite interested in forests, and became a member of '' Société Royale d’Agriculture'' in 1831. He also became interested in the culture of ''

Wrightia tinctoria ''Wrightia tinctoria'', Pala indigo plant or dyer's oleander, is a flowering plant species in the genus ''Wrightia'' found in India, southeast Asia and Australia. It is found in dry and moist regions in its distribution. Various parts of the plan ...

'', a member of the plant family

Apocynaceae Apocynaceae (from ''Apocynum'', Greek for "dog-away") is a family of flowering plants that includes trees, shrubs, herbs, stem succulents, and vines, commonly known as the dogbane family, because some taxa were used as dog poison Members of ...

used for its dyeing qualities.

List of selected publications

* * * ''Exposition des familles naturelles et de la germination des plantes, contentant la description de 2 337 genres et d'environ 4 000 espèces, 112 planches dont les figures ont été dessinées par l'auteur'', 1805 * ''La flore et la pomone françaises: histoire et figure en couleur, des fleurs et des fruits de France ou naturalisés sur le sol français''. (Published by the author: Paris, Rue Furstemberg, 1828-1833). * ''Traité des arbres forestiers: ou histoire et description des arbres indigènes ou naturalisés''. A work preceded by ''une instruction sur la culture des arbres'', by M. Thouin. (Printed by Firmin Didot, Paris, 1824). *
Traité des arbrisseaux et des arbustes cultivés en France et en pleine terre
'. (Published by the author: Paris, 1825).

References

Sources

* Roger L. Williams (1988), Gerard and Jaume: Two Neglected Figures in the History of Jussiaean Classification (Part Three). ''Taxon'', ''Vol. 37'' (2, May, 1988) : 233-271.

External links

Biography at Missouri Botanical Garden
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaume Saint-Hilaire, Jean Henri 19th-century French botanists Botanists active in Europe 1772 births 1845 deaths People from Grasse