André Michaux (' → ahn- mee-; sometimes

anglicised Anglicisation or anglicization is a form of cultural assimilation whereby something non-English becomes assimilated into or influenced by the culture of England. It can be sociocultural, in which a non-English place adopts the English language ...

as Andrew Michaud; 8 March 174611 October 1802) was a French botanist and explorer. He is most noted for his study of North American

flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

. In addition Michaux collected specimens in England, Spain, France, and even Persia. His work was part of a larger European effort to gather knowledge about the natural world. Michaux's contributions include ''Histoire des chênes de l'Amérique'' (1801; "The Oaks of North America") and ''Flora Boreali-Americana'' (1803; "The Flora of North America") which continued to be botanical references well into the 19th century. His son,

François André Michaux François André Michaux (16 August 1770 – 23 October 1855) was a French people, French botany, botanist, son of André Michaux and the namesake of Michaux State Forest in Pennsylvania. Michaux ''père'' botanized in North America for nearl ...

, also became an authoritative botanist.

Biography

Andre Michaux North Charleston South Carolina

Michaux was born in Satory, part of

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

Yvelines Yvelines () is a department in the western part of the Île-de-France region in Northern France. In 2019, it had a population of 1,448,207.Bernard de Jussieu. In 1779 he spent time studying botany in England, and in 1780 he explored Auvergne, the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees are a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. They extend nearly from their union with the Cantabrian Mountains to Cap de Creus on the Mediterranean coast, reaching a maximum elevation of at the peak of Aneto. ...

and northern Spain. In 1782 he was sent by the French government as secretary to the French consul on a botanical mission to

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. His journey began unfavourably, as he was robbed of all his equipment except his books; but he gained influential support in Persia after curing the shah of a dangerous illness. After two years he returned to France with a fine herbarium, and also introduced numerous Eastern plants into the botanical gardens of France. Flora Boreali-Americana

André Michaux was appointed by

Louis XVI Louis XVI (Louis-Auguste; ; 23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) was the last king of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. The son of Louis, Dauphin of France (1729–1765), Louis, Dauphin of France (son and heir- ...

as Royal botanist under the General Director of the

Bâtiments du Roi The Bâtiments du Roi (, 'King's Buildings') was a division of the Maison du Roi ('King's Household') in France under the Ancien Régime. It was responsible for building works at the King's residences in and around Paris. History The Bâtiments ...

and sent to the United States in 1785 with an annual salary of 2000 ''livres'', to make the first organized investigation of plants that could be of value in French building and carpentry, medicine and agriculture. He traveled with his son François André Michaux (1770–1855) through Canada and the United States. In 1786, Michaux attempted to establish a horticultural garden of thirty acres in Bergen's Wood on the

Hudson Palisades The Palisades, also called the New Jersey Palisades or the Hudson River Palisades, are a line of steep cliffs along the west side of the lower Hudson River in Northeastern New Jersey and Southeastern New York in the United States. The cliffs s ...

near

Hackensack, New Jersey Hackensack is the most populous municipality in and the county seat of Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.

. The garden, overseen by Pierre-Paul Saunier from the

Jardin des Plantes The Jardin des Plantes (, ), also known as the Jardin des Plantes de Paris () when distinguished from other ''jardins des plantes'' in other cities, is the main botanical garden in France. Jardin des Plantes is the official name in the present da ...

, Paris, who had emigrated with Michaux, failed because of the harsh winters. In 1787, Michaux established and maintained for a decade a botanical garden of 111 acres near what is now Aviation Avenue in

North Charleston, South Carolina North Charleston is a city in Berkeley, Charleston, and Dorchester counties in the U.S. state of South Carolina.City Planning Department (2008-07)City of North Charleston boundary map. City of North Charleston. Retrieved January 21, 2011. As ...

, from which he made many expeditions to various parts of North America. Michaux described and named many North American species during this time. Between 1785 and 1791 he shipped ninety cases of plants and many seeds to France. At the same time he introduced many species to America from various parts of the world, including ''

Camellia ''Camellia'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in tropical and subtropical areas in East Asia, eastern and South Asia, southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia. There are ...

'', tea-olive, and crepe myrtle.

Proposed expedition that almost happened

After the collapse of the French monarchy, Michaux, who was a royal botanist, lost his source of income. He solicited support for an American-funded exploration under the auspices of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

. In 1793, a decade before the

Lewis and Clark Expedition The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the United States expedition to cross the newly acquired western portion of the country after the Louisiana Purchase. The Corps of Discovery was a select gro ...

, with no federal funding available, David Rittenhouse (1732–1796), President of the

asked

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

to draft a "subscription list" to raise funds to Explore the interior of North America, from the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

along the

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

, and westward to the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

. Jefferson personally drew it up and secured 30 signatures, himself included, of influential, wealthy supporters, pledging various amounts to finance it:

U.S. President
George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...
(1789–1797)
Vice President
John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before Presidency of John Adams, his presidency, he was a leader of ...
(1797–1801)
U.S. Senator from North Carolina Benjamin Hawkins (1754–1816)
U.S. Senator from South Carolina Ralph Izard (1741–1804)
Former U.S. Senator from North Carolina James Johnston (1742–1805)
U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania Robert Morris (1734–1806)
U.S. Senator from Maryland John Henry (Maryland politician) (1750–1798)
U.S. Senator from Massachusetts George Cabot (1751–1823)
U.S. Senator from New Jersey John Rutherford (born around 1760–1840)
U.S. Secretary of War
Henry Knox Henry Knox (July 25, 1750 – October 25, 1806) was an American military officer, politician, bookseller, and a Founding Father of the United States. Knox, born in Boston, became a senior general of the Continental Army during the Revolutionar ...
(1750–1806)
U.S. Secretary of State
Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...
(1801–1809)
U.S. Treasury Secretary
Alexander Hamilton Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757July 12, 1804) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the first U.S. secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795 dur ...
(1757–1804)
U.S. Senator from New York
Rufus King Rufus King (March 24, 1755April 29, 1827) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father, lawyer, politician, and diplomat. He was a delegate from Massachusetts to the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convent ...
(1755–1827)
Former New Hampshire President John Langdon (1741–1819)
U.S. Senator from Kentucky
John Edwards Johnny Reid Edwards (born June 10, 1953) is an American lawyer and former politician who represented North Carolina in the United States Senate from 1999 to 2005. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the vice presidential nominee under ...
(1748–1837)
U.S. Senator from Kentucky John Brown (1757–1837)
1st Governor of Pennsylvania
Thomas Mifflin Thomas Mifflin (January 10, 1744January 20, 1800) was an American merchant, soldier, and politician from Pennsylvania, who is regarded as a Founding Father of the United States for his roles during and after the American Revolution. Mifflin sig ...
(1744–1800)
U.S. Congressman from Connecticut Jonathan Trumbull, Jr. (1740–1809)
U.S. Congressman from Virginia
James Madison James Madison (June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison was popularly acclaimed as the ...
(1809–1817)
Former Delegate for South Carolina to the
Confederation Congress The Congress of the Confederation, or the Confederation Congress, formally referred to as the United States in Congress Assembled, was the governing body of the United States from March 1, 1781, until March 3, 1789, during the Confederation ...
John Parker (1759–1832)
U.S. Congressman from Virginia Alexander White (1738–1804)
U.S. Congressman from Virginia John Page (1743–1808)
U.S. Congressman from North Carolina
John Baptista Ashe John Baptista Ashe (1810December 29, 1857), was an American lawyer and the nephew of the Revolutionary War veteran John Baptista Ashe, who served as a U.S. Congressman for Tennessee for one term (1843–1845). Biography Ashe was born in Rock ...
(1748–1802)
Former U.S. Congressman from Maryland William Smith (1728–1814)
U.S. Congressman from Connecticut Jeremiah Wadsworth (1743–1804)
U.S. Congressman from Virginia Richard Bland Lee (1761–1827)
Pennsylvania State Representative Thomas Fitzsimons (1741–1811)
U.S. Congressman from Virginia
Samuel Griffin Samuel Griffin (April 20, 1746November 23, 1810) was an American lawyer, soldier and politician from Virginia. Following his service during the American Revolutionary War as a Continental Army officer, Griffin served as mayor of Williamsburg, ...
(1746–1810)
U.S. Congressman from Virginia
William Branch Giles William Branch Giles (August 12, 1762December 4, 1830) was an American statesman, long-term United States Senate, Senator from Virginia, and the List of governors of Virginia, 24th Governor of Virginia. He served in the United States House of R ...
(1762–1830)
U.S. Congressman from Pennsylvania John Wilkes Kittera (1752–1801)

Jefferson personally drafted the instructions (''aka'' prospectus) for Michaux to lead the project. At the time Michaux's exploration was proposed,

Meriwether Lewis Meriwether Lewis (August 18, 1774 – October 11, 1809) was an American explorer, soldier, politician, and public administrator, best known for his role as the leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery, with ...

(1774–1809) – an 18-year-old protégé of Jefferson – asked to be included, but was turned down by Jefferson. According to presidential historian Michael Edward Purdy (1954–2023), the "subscription list" stands as the only document of any kind signed by the first four presidents: Washington, Jefferson, Adams, and Madison. Before Michaux was scheduled to begin, however, he volunteered to assist the French Minister to America, Edmond-Charles Genet. Genet was promoting American support for France's wars with Britain and Spain, aggravating relations between all four nations.

George Rogers Clark George Rogers Clark (November 19, 1752 – February 13, 1818) was an American military officer and surveyor from Virginia who became the highest-ranking Patriot (American Revolution), Patriot military officer on the American frontier, nort ...

offered to organize and lead a militia force to capture

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

from the Spanish. Michaux's mission was to evaluate Clark's plan and coordinate between Clark's actions and Genet's. Michaux went to Kentucky, but, without adequate funds, Clark was unable to raise the militia and the plan eventually folded. Ultimately, the expedition never took place. It is not true, as sometimes reported, that Thomas Jefferson ordered Michaux to leave the United States after he learned of his involvement with Genet. Though Jefferson did not support Genet's actions, he was aware of Genet's instructions for Michaux and even provided Michaux with letters of introduction to the Governor of Kentucky. On his return to France in 1796 he was shipwrecked, however most of his specimens survived. His two American gardens declined. Saunier, his salary unpaid, cultivated potatoes and hay and paid taxes on the New Jersey property, which is now still remembered as "The Frenchman's Garden", part of Machpelah Cemetery in North Bergen. In 1800, Michaux sailed with Nicolas Baudin's expedition to Australia, but left the ship in

Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...

. During the expedition, Michaux was accompanied by an African slave he owned named Merlot. Michaux then went to

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

to investigate the flora of that island. Michaux died at Tamatave in Madagascar of a tropical fever at around 9 a.m. on 11 October 1802. His work as a botanist was chiefly done in the field, and he added largely to what was previously known of the botany of the East and of America. In 1800, on his visit to the United States,

Pierre Samuel Du Pont de Nemours Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours ( , ; 14 December 1739 – 7 August 1817) was a French-American writer, economist, publisher and government official. During the French Revolution, he, his two sons and their families migrated to the United ...

, concerned about the abandoned botanical gardens, wrote to the

Institut de France The ; ) is a French learned society, grouping five , including the . It was established in 1795 at the direction of the National Convention. Located on the Quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the institute manages approximately ...

, who sent over Michaux's son

to sell the properties. He sold the garden near Charleston, but the concern expressed by Du Pont and his son Eleuthère Irénée du Pont preserved the New Jersey garden in Saunier's care and continued to support it. Saunier continued to send seeds to France for the rest of his life, and is credited with introducing into gardens the chinquapin (''Castanea pumila'') and the smoking bean tree ('' Catalpa bignonioides'').

Aaron Burr Aaron Burr Jr. (February 6, 1756 – September 14, 1836) was an American politician, businessman, lawyer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third vice president of the United States from 1801 to 1805 d ...

recorded meeting with his son, François André Michaux in Paris on September 17, 1810. According to Burr he went "to Michaux's, the botanist, who was many years in the United States, and has written a valuable little book of his travels. He is now publishing his account of our trees, which will be extremely interesting. It demonstrates that we (not the whole continent, but the United States alone) have three times the number of useful trees that Europe can boast..." Burr's cited quote would apply equally to both Michaux', father and son, and perhaps more to the son, who had been in America a total of some 6 years, and had recently (1804) written about his travels in America, and was subsequently working on his later opus on American trees. Caillou Michaux CdM

Legacy

* Carolina lily (''Lilium michauxii''), Michaux's saxifrage (''Saxifraga michauxii''), and several other plants are named for him. * Michaux State Forest in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

(U.S.), which protects over 344 square kilometers (over 85,000 acres), is named for him. *

André-Michaux Ecological Reserve The André-Michaux Ecological Reserve, or Réserve écologique André-Michaux, is an Ecological reserves of Quebec, ecological reserve in Quebec, Canada. It protects a variety of vegetation types typically of the Canadian Shield. Location The R� ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Canada, which protects 450 hectares, is named for him. *His son

published an ''Histoire des arbres forestiers de l'Amérique septentrionale''. 3 vols. C. d'Hautel; 1810–1813 (Charles-Louis d'Hautel; 1780–1843) with 156 plates, of which an English translation appeared in 1817–1819 as ''The North American Sylva''. *Michaux Stone — Michaux brought a boundary stone or ''

kudurru A kudurru was a type of stone document used as a boundary stone and as a record of land grants to vassals by the Kassites and later dynasties in ancient Babylonia between the 16th and 7th centuries BC. The original kudurru would typically be stor ...

'' back from his Near Eastern trip. It was originally found by a French physician living in Baghdad, near the site of a 12th-century BCE Babylonian town named Bak-da-du. On a small part of an embankment on the Tigris—near the Al-Karkh end of the Baab El-Maudham Bridge—is another archeological site attributed to the second Babylonian period, circa 600 BCE. Michaux sold the ''kudurru'' to the "Institute Constituting the Commission for Scientific Travel and the Custodians of the Museum of Antiquities in France in 1800, for 1200 francs. The 'Michaux stone' or ''Caillou Michaux'' was then placed in the Cabinet des Médailles of the

Bibliothèque Nationale A library is a collection of books, and possibly other materials and media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or digital (soft copies) materials, and may be a p ...

at that time.

Writings

Michaux wrote two valuable works on North American plants: * Retrieved July 11, 2024. .

* Retrieved July 11, 2024. .

''Flora Boreali-Americana'' was first published on March 19, 1803 – after Michaux's death. Given that it was published posthumously, scholars had expressed doubt over whether Michaux was the only author – some suspected that French botanist Louis Claude Marie Richard (1754–1821) and the younger Michaux should have been credited. In 2004, American botanist James Lauritz Reveal (1941–2015) asserted:

Illustrators and engravers

''Flora Boreali-Americana'' has 36 engraved plates (numbered 1–36). Thirty-two are from drawings by Pierre Joseph Redouté (

wikidata Wikidata is a collaboratively edited multilingual knowledge graph hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation. It is a common source of open data that Wikimedia projects such as Wikipedia, and anyone else, are able to use under the CC0 public domain ...

Q551638) (

Austrian Netherlands The Austrian Netherlands was the territory of the Burgundian Circle of the Holy Roman Empire between 1714 and 1797. The period began with the acquisition by the Austrian Habsburg monarchy of the former Spanish Netherlands under the Treaty of Ras ...

→ present-day

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

; 1759–1840) and 4 are from drawings by his younger brother, Henry Joseph Redouté (fr) (

→ present-day

; 1766–1852). Auguste Plée (1787–1825) engraved 33 of the plates and Louis Sellier (1757–c.1835) engraved 3. Auguste was the father of engravers Victoire Plée and François P. Plée (1800–1864). Louis was the son of engraver François Noël Sellier (1737–1782). ( LCCN; )

Bibliography

Annotations

Notes

Inline references

* Retrieved August 25, 2024. .

* ; ; .

The author, Cothran, was a landscape architect, urban planner, and garden historian, and a native South Carolinian.

* Retrieved August 23, 2024.

* Retrieved August 23, 2024. (journal); , and , (article).

* .

* ; (print); (web); ; ; .

The author, Pluchet, is a great-great-great nephew of André Michaux

* , LCCN: , ; (journal; print); (journal; web); (article).

JSTOR JSTOR ( ; short for ''Journal Storage'') is a digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources founded in 1994. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now encompasses books and other primary source ...
:
doi:

* (journal); (journal); (article); (article). * (journal). * ; ; .

* ; . * (ebook), ; ; . * * (print); (web); (journal); (article); (article).

General references

* Retrieved August 25, 2024. ; (acid-free paper); (2017 e-book ed.); ; . * Retrieved November 11, 2015. (regular ed.; Vols. 1–11); (Vol. 5); (print).

'' See Dictionary of Canadian Biography''. Hoeniger was a scholar who, among other things, researched this history of natural science, especially 19th century botany and exploration. She was a faculty member of the Department of Microbiology,

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

* ; . * ; . * ; .

More sources

* *

External links

Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden: André Michaux

Biodiversity Heritage Library: books by André Michaux
{{DEFAULTSORT:Michaux, Andre French taxonomists 1746 births 1802 deaths French bryologists French pteridologists Botanists active in North America Botanists with author abbreviations People from colonial New Jersey North Charleston, South Carolina People from Versailles 18th-century French botanists 18th-century French writers 18th-century French male writers French slave owners