Augustin Abel Hector Léveillé (13 March 1864, in

Le Mans Le Mans (; ) is a Communes of France, city in Northwestern France on the Sarthe (river), Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the Provinces of France, province of Maine (province), Maine, it is now the capital of ...

– 25 November 1918) was a French

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

and clergyman. He attended medical school prior to entering into the priesthood. In 1887 he traveled to India as a missionary, being appointed as a professor of

natural history Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

at the College of

Pondicherry Pondicherry, officially known as Puducherry, is the Capital city, capital and most populous city of the Puducherry (union territory), Union Territory of Puducherry in India. The city is in the Puducherry district on the southeast coast of Indi ...

. In 1891 he returned to France for health reasons, settling in his hometown of

.JSTOR Global Plants
biography Following a meeting with botanist

Adrien René Franchet Adrien René Franchet (21 April 1834 in Pezou – 15 February 1900 in Paris) was a French botanist, based at the Paris Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle. He is noted for his extensive work describing the flora of China and Japan, base ...

in 1900, he agreed to perform studies on the many thousands of plant specimens sent by collectors from the

Far East The Far East is the geographical region that encompasses the easternmost portion of the Asian continent, including North Asia, North, East Asia, East and Southeast Asia. South Asia is sometimes also included in the definition of the term. In mod ...

. From these shipments Léveillé is credited with describing around 2000 new species, with many of the plants being co-described along with Father Eugène Vaniot (1846–1913). In 1892 he founded the magazine ''Le Monde des Plantes'', serving as its director until his death. During the same year he founded the ''Académie internationale de géographie botanique'' (International Academy of Botanical Geography). His

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant biological specimen, specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sh ...

was acquired by Scottish botanist

George Forrest George Forrest may refer to: *G. Topham Forrest (George Topham Forrest, 1872–1945), principal architect for the London County Council *George Forrest (author) (1915–1999), American author and musician *George Forrest (botanist) (1873–1932), S ...

, a collector in

Yunnan Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...

. Numerous species are named in his honor, as well as the genus ''Leveillea'' (family

Asteraceae Asteraceae () is a large family (biology), family of flowering plants that consists of over 32,000 known species in over 1,900 genera within the Order (biology), order Asterales. The number of species in Asteraceae is rivaled only by the Orchi ...

), described by Eugène Vaniot in 1903.

Published works

* ''Les Carex du Japon'', (with Eugène Vaniot), 1901 -

Carex ''Carex'' is a vast genus of over 2,000 species of grass-like plants in the family (biology), family Cyperaceae, commonly known as sedges (or seg, in older books). Other members of the family Cyperaceae are also called sedges, however those of ge ...

of Japan. * ''Les Rhododendrons de la Chine'', 1903 -

Rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; : ''rhododendra'') is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the Ericaceae, heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are native to eastern Asia and the Himalayan ...

s of China. * ''Tableau analytique de la flore française'', 1906 - Analytic tableau of French flora. * ''Les Épilobes du Japon'', 1907 - Epilobium from Japan. * ''Iconographie du genre epilobium'', 1910 (with Gonzalve de Cordoue) - Iconography of the genus Epilobium.¨ * ''Flore du Kouy Tcheou'', 1915 - Flora of

Guizhou ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = , image_map = Guizhou in China (+all claims hatched).svg , mapsize = 275px , map_alt = Map showing the location of Guizhou Province , map_caption = Map s ...

* ''Dictionnaire inventoriel de la flore française'', 1916 - Inventorial dictionary of French flora. * ''Catalogue illustré et alphabetique des plantes du Seu Tchouen /par Hector Léveillé'', 1918 - Illustrated and alphabetized catalog of plants from Seu Tchouen.WorldCat Search
Publications)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leveille, Augustin Abel Hector 1864 births 1918 deaths People from Le Mans 20th-century French botanists 19th-century French Roman Catholic priests French Roman Catholic missionaries Roman Catholic missionaries in India French expatriates in India Missionary botanists 19th-century French botanists