The Société botanique de France (SBF) is a French

learned society A learned society (; also learned academy, scholarly society, or academic association) is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline, profession, or a group of related disciplines such as the arts and science. Membership m ...

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

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Joseph Decaisne Joseph Decaisne (7 March 1807 – 8 January 1882) was a French botanist and agronomist. He became an ''aide-naturaliste'' to Adrien-Henri de Jussieu (1797-1853), who served as the chair of rural botany. It was during this time that he began to stu ...

(1807–1882), professor at the

* Horace Bénédict Alfred Moquin-Tandon (1801–1863) * Count Hippolyte Jaubert (1798–1874) *

Louis Graves Louis Graves (April 6, 1883 – January 23, 1965) was an American journalist and editor who founded the ''Chapel Hill Weekly''. He played college football at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a running back A running ba ...

(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 Ernest Saint-Charles Cosson (22 July 1819 – 31 December 1889) was a French botanist born in Paris. Cosson is known for his botanical research in North Africa, and during his career he participated in eight trips to Algeria. In several of these h ...

(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. From 1837 he taught classes in Fumel, several year ...

(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 Lactalis is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier SA. Lactalis is the largest dairy products group in the world, and is the sec ...

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

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

in the

Forez Forez is a former province of France, corresponding approximately to the central part of the modern Loire ''département'' and a part of the Haute-Loire and Puy-de-Dôme ''départements''. The final "z" in Forez () is not pronounced in the Loire ...

and

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...

). 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 Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

. 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 Pierre Louis François Lévêque de Vilmorin (1816–March 22, 1860), usually referred to as Louis de Vilmorin, the grandson of Philippe André de Vilmorin, and a member of the family firm of Vilmorin-Andrieux, devoted his life to biology and c ...

(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