Aimée Antoinette Camus (1 May 1879 – 17 April 1965) was a French botanist. She was best known for her study of

orchids Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

and oaks. Camus also has the legacy of authoring the second highest number of land plant species among female scientists, in total naming 677 species. Camus was the daughter of Edmond Gustave Camus, also a botanist, and was born in

L'Isle-Adam L'Isle-Adam may refer to: ;Places * L'Isle-Adam, Val-d'Oise, a commune in France ** Château de L'Isle-Adam ;People * Philippe Villiers de L'Isle-Adam (1464-1534), Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller * Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam Jea ...

, about 50 kilometres north of

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. ...

. Under her father's influence she specialized in the study of orchids and the anatomy of the plant and worked for some time with other professionals such as Paul Bergon (1863-1912) and

Paul Henri Lecomte Paul Henri Lecomte (8 January 1856, in Saint-Nabord, Vosges – 12 June 1934, in Paris) was a French botanist. In 1884, after attaining a number of degrees, Lecomte became a professor at Lycée Saint-Louis in Paris. In addition to his teaching du ...

(1856-1934). Her sister was the painter

Blanche-Augustine Camus Blanche-Augustine Camus (27 October 1884 – 1968) was a French neo-impressionist painter, associated with the style of Divisionism, noted for her luminous landscapes and gardens of the south of France, often combined with graceful outdoor portrai ...

(1881-1968).Female Artists in History: Blanche Augustine Camus (French painter)
/ref> She also produced a major treatment of the oaks and stone oaks, providing the first comprehensive systematic treatment of the latter genus. Camus published the work ''L'Iconographie des Orchidées d´Europe et du Bassin Méditerranéen''. She gave the name of ''

Neohouzeaua ''Neohouzeaua'' is a genus of Asian bamboo within the grass family).bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, ...

, in honour of the lifelong work that

Jean Houzeau de Lehaie Jean Auguste Hippolyte Houzeau de Lehaie (6 March 1867 - 4 September 1959) was a Belgian biologist and horticulturist who devoted his career to the botany of bamboo species and the introduction of many into European gardening practice through his ...

had devoted to the understanding of the botany and propagation of bamboo in Europe and Africa.

References

20th-century French botanists Orchidologists 1879 births 1965 deaths 20th-century French women scientists Agrostologists {{France-botanist-stub