André Aubréville (30 November 1897, in Pont-Saint-Vincent (Meurthe-et-Moselle) – 11 August 1982, in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

) was a French botanist, professor at the

National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. With 4.4 ...

in Paris and a member of the Academy of Sciences. He was the first scientist to introduce the term "

desertification Desertification is a type of gradual land degradation of Soil fertility, fertile land into arid desert due to a combination of natural processes and human activities. The immediate cause of desertification is the loss of most vegetation. This i ...

" (in his 1949 book: ''Climats, forêts et désertification de l'Afrique tropicale'' (Climates, Forests, and Desertification of Tropical Africa), and wrote a number of floras of former French colonies.

Biography

Following his service (as a youth) in the First World War, André Aubréville entered the

École Polytechnique (, ; also known as Polytechnique or l'X ) is a ''grande école'' located in Palaiseau, France. It specializes in science and engineering and is a founding member of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris. The school was founded in 1794 by mat ...

(promotion 20 "special") and obtained an engineering degree in 1922. Attracted by the botany of

tropical forest Tropical forests are forested ecoregions with tropical climates – that is, land areas approximately bounded by the Tropic of Cancer, tropics of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn, Capricorn, but possibly affected by other factors such as prevailing ...

s, he then studied at the École nationale des eaux et forêts in Nancy, graduating as ''Ingénieur des Eaux et Forêts des Colonies'' (Engineer of Waters and Forests of the Colonies) in 1924. Appointed to the

Côte d'Ivoire Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest city and ...

in 1925, he wrote ''La Forêt coloniale. Les forêts de l'Afrique occidentale française'' in 1938 which was not only a treatise on tropical sylviculture but a tract on the politics of forestry. In 1938, following this important publication, he was appointed Inspector General of waters and forests for Afrique Occidentale Française (A.O.F.) - French West Africa. His publications on tropical Africa are widely recognized for their comprehensive approach to the subject: which include, in addition to the scientific treatment, practical aspects such as forest management, and anthropogenic factors. In parallel with his position in the Forest Services, he served as president of the Société botanique de France in 1951–1952. In 1955, retired from his position as Inspector General, he was appointed professor at the

Muséum national d'histoire naturelle The French National Museum of Natural History ( ; abbr. MNHN) is the national natural history museum of France and a of higher education part of Sorbonne University. The main museum, with four galleries, is located in Paris, France, within the Ja ...

in 1958, thus beginning a second career as holder of the chair of Phanerogamy following Jean-Henri Humbert. At this time, the botanical publications at the Museum were in a transition period: one of the major series had ended, the General Flora of Indochina by Paul Henri Lecomte, and human resources had been reduced. None-the-less, André Aubréville wished to provide French-speaking overseas territories (colonies or former colonies) with excellent encyclopedic Floras. After ensuring the continuation of the Flora of Madagascar and the Comoros, he launched four major botanical projects. He revived the ''General Flora of Indochina'' in the form of ''Flore du Cambodge, du Laos et du Vietnam''. He directed work on ''Flore du Gabon'' (Flora of Gabon) and ''Flore du Cameroun'' (Flora of Cameroun), along the lines of his previous flora of tropical Africa, and finally, he initiated another major series: ''Flore de la Nouvelle-Calédonie et dépendances'' (Flora of New Caledonia and Dependencies), of which he wrote the first volume concerning the family Sapotaceae. Work on these five large flora was later managed by his successors Jean-François Leroy and Philippe Morat, and they are still being published (in 2015). He was elected a member of the

French Academy of Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (, ) is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific method, scientific research. It was at the forefron ...

in 1968.

Selected publications

*André Aubréville
La Forêt coloniale. Les forêts de l'Afrique occidentale française
Paris, Société d'éditions géographiques, maritimes et coloniales, 1938 *André Aubréville (3 vol.)
Flore forestière de la Côte d'Ivoire
Paris, Larose, 1936 *André Aubréville
Climats, forêts et désertification de l'Afrique tropicale
Paris, Société d’éditions géographiques, maritimes et coloniales, 1949, 351 p. *André Aubréville, Flore forestière soudano-guinéenne : A.O.F. - Cameroun - A.E.F, Paris, Société d’éditions géographiques, maritimes et coloniales, 1949, 523 p. *André Aubréville (dir.) et al. (35 vol.,en cours de parution), Flore du Cambodge, du Laos et du Vietnam : supplément à la Flore générale de l'Indochine de H. Lecomte, Paris, Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, 1960 *André Aubréville (dir.) et al. (38 vol.,en cours de parution), Flore du Gabon, Paris, Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, 1961 *André Aubréville (dir.) et al. (40 vol.,en cours de parution), Flore du Cameroun, Paris, Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, 1963 *André Aubréville (dir.) et al. (26 vol.,en cours de parution), Flore de la Nouvelle-Calédonie et dépendances, Paris, Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, 1967

Taxa honouring him

The genus '' Aubrevillea'' Pellegr.,pdf
/ref> in the family Fabaceae honours Aubréville. It is composed of two species: '' Aubrevillea kerstingii'' (Harms) Pellegr. and '' Aubrevillea platicarpa'' Pellegr. Many other species are named for André Aubréville: *

Araliaceae The Araliaceae are a family of flowering plants composed of about 43 genera and around 1500 species consisting of primarily woody plants and some herbaceous plants commonly called the ginseng family. The morphology of Araliaceae varies widely ...

**'' Polyscias aubrevillei'' (Bernardi) BernardiCandollea 26(1): 26. 1971 (

basionym In the scientific name of organisms, basionym or basyonym means the original name on which a new name is based; the author citation of the new name should include the authors of the basionym in parentheses. The term "basionym" is used in both botan ...

: ''Sciadopanax aubrevillei'' Bernardi) * Chrysobalanaceae **'' Maranthes aubrevillei'' (Pellegr.) Prance ex F.White(

: ''Parinari aubrevillei'' Pellegr.) *

Crassulaceae The Crassulaceae (, from Latin ''crassus'', thick), also known as the crassulas, the stonecrops or the orpine family, are a diverse Family (biology), family of dicotyledon angiosperms primarily characterized by succulent leaves and a form of phot ...

**'' Kalanchoe aubrevillei'' Raym.-Hamet ex Cufod. *

Euphorbiaceae Euphorbiaceae (), the spurge family, is a large family of flowering plants. In English, they are also commonly called euphorbias, which is also the name of Euphorbia, the type genus of the family. Most spurges, such as ''Euphorbia paralias'', ar ...

**'' Bridelia aubrevillei'' Pellegr. **'' Croton aubrevillei'' J.Léonard **'' Drypetes aubrevillei'' Leandri **'' Shirakiopsis aubrevillei'' (Leandri) Esser (basionym: ''Sapium aubrevillei'' Leandri) *

Flacourtiaceae The Flacourtiaceae is a defunct family of flowering plants whose former members have been scattered to various families, mostly to the Achariaceae and Salicaceae. It was so vaguely defined that hardly anything seemed out of place there and it bec ...

**'' Homalium aubrevillei'' Keay *

Fabaceae Fabaceae () or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomen ...

Mimosoideae The Mimosoideae are a traditional subfamily of trees, herbs, lianas, and shrubs in the pea family (Fabaceae) that mostly grow in tropical and subtropical climates. They are typically characterized by having radially symmetric flowers, with petal ...

***'' Newtonia aubrevillei'' (Pellegr.) Keay (basionym: ''Piptadenia aubrevillei'' Pellegr.) ***'' Calpocalyx aubrevillei'' Pellegr. **

Caesalpinioideae Caesalpinioideae is a botanical name at the rank of subfamily, placed in the large family Fabaceae or Leguminosae. Its name is formed from the generic name '' Caesalpinia''. It is known also as the peacock flower subfamily. The Caesalpinioideae a ...

***'' Cassia aubrevillei'' Pellegr. ***'' Dialium aubrevillei'' Pellegr. ***'' Hymenostegia aubrevillei'' Pellegr. ***'' Hymenostegia neoaubrevillei'' J.Léonard (replacement name for ''Cynometra aubrevillei'' Pellegr. *

Meliaceae Meliaceae, the mahogany family, is a flowering plant family of mostly trees and shrubs (and a few herbaceous plants, mangroves) in the order Sapindales. They are characterised by alternate, usually pinnate leaves without stipules, and by syncarp ...

**'' Swietenia aubrevilleana'' Stehlé & Cusin *

Orchidaceae Orchids are plants that belong to the family (biology), family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Orchids are cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan plants that ...

**'' Bulbophyllum aubrevillei'' Bosser *

Santalaceae The Santalaceae, sandalwoods, are a widely distributed family of flowering plants (including small trees, shrubs, perennial plants, perennial herbs, and epiphyte, epiphytic climbersHewson & George t al.'Santalaceae'' taxonomy, 1984, pp. 191-1 ...

**'' Okoubaka aubrevillei'' Pellegr. & Normand *

Sapotaceae 240px, '' Madhuca longifolia'' var. ''latifolia'' in Narsapur, Medak district, India The Sapotaceae are a family of flowering plants belonging to the order (biology)">order Ericales">family (biology)">family of flowering plants belonging to th ...

**'' Manilkara aubrevillei'' Sillans **'' Pouteria aubrevillei'' Bernardi **'' Synsepalum aubrevillei'' (Pellegr.) Aubrév. & Pellegr. (basionym : ''Sideroxylon aubrevillei'' Pellegr.) *

Sterculiaceae Sterculiaceae was a family of flowering plant based on the genus '' Sterculia''. Genera formerly included in Sterculiaceae are now placed in the family Malvaceae, in the subfamilies: Byttnerioideae, Dombeyoideae, Helicteroideae and Sterculioide ...

**'' Pterygota aubrevillei'' Pellegr.Bulletin de la Société botanique de France 78: 441. 1931

References

External links

André Aubréville: publications listed by BnF
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aubréville, André 20th-century French botanists 1897 births 1982 deaths École Polytechnique alumni