François André Michaux (16 August 1770 – 23 October 1855) 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 ...
, son of
André Michaux
André Michaux (' → ahn- mee-; sometimes Anglicisation, anglicised 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. In addition Michaux collected specime ...
and the namesake of
Michaux State Forest
Michaux State Forest is a Pennsylvania State Forest in Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry District #1. The main offices are located in Fayetteville in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, USA.
The Michaux State Forest is in several tracts covering ...
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 ...
. Michaux ''père'' botanized in North America for nearly a dozen years (1785–96) as royal collector for France.
Travels
Michaux accompanied his father,
André Michaux
André Michaux (' → ahn- mee-; sometimes Anglicisation, anglicised 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. In addition Michaux collected specime ...
(1746–1802), to the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, and his ''Histoire des arbres forestiers de l'Amérique septentrionale'' (three volumes, 1810–13) contains the results of his explorations, giving an account of the distribution and the scientific classification of the principal American timber trees north of
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
and east of the
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...
. Michaux trekked the
Allegheny Mountains
The Allegheny Mountain Range ( ) — also spelled Alleghany or Allegany, less formally the Alleghenies — is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the Eastern United States and Canada. Historically it represented a significant barr ...
in 1789 when trans-Allegheny travel was limited to
indigenous peoples' trails and one military trail,
Braddock Road, built in 1751. He travelled with friend and botanist
John Fraser to the summit of the
Great Roan.
[Brendel, Frederick]
Historical Sketch of the Science of Botany in North America from 1635 to 1840
''The American Naturalist'', 13:12 (Dec. 1879), pp. 754-771, ''The University of Chicago Press''. Accessed 31 July 2012.
Work
Under the title ''The North American Sylva'' Michaux's work was translated by Augustus Lucas Hillhouse. The work was reissued in 1852 by Robert Smith of Philadelphia, again in three quarto volumes, and again with 156 hand colored lithographs of American trees and shrubs. A supplement of three additional volumes, trees, "...not Described in the Work of F. Andrew Michaux" was issued by Smith in 1853, in the same quarto format and with 121 additional hand colored plates. The later work, by
Thomas Nuttall
Thomas Nuttall (5 January 1786 – 10 September 1859) was an English botanist and zoologist who lived and worked in America from 1808 until 1841.
Nuttall was born in the village of Long Preston, near Settle in the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...
, describes trees of the Rockies and Pacific Coast.
In 1809, Michaux was elected as a member to 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 ...
.
François André Michaux published this monumental work
[Michaux Sylva Plates](_blank)
NYPL Digital Gallery, digitalgallery.nypl.org. Accessed 2012-8-4. first in French and then in English translation, between 1811 and 1819. With illustrations by
Pierre-Joseph Redouté
Pierre-Joseph Redouté (, 10 July 1759 – 19 June 1840), was a Painting, painter and botanist from the Austrian Netherlands, known for his watercolours of roses, lily, lilies and other flowers at the Château de Malmaison, many of which we ...
and
Pancrace Bessa
Pancrace Bessa (1 January 1772 – 11 June 1846) was a French natural history artist, best known for his botanical illustrations. Bessa was a student of the great engraver Gerard van Spaendonck and worked alongside Pierre-Joseph Redouté, some of ...
, two masters of botanical art, his opus rapidly became a landmark in American literature and the foundation of American forestry. His work was augmented by the British botanist, Thomas Nuttall, whose work added 121 hand-colored plates to the 156 originally published with Michaux's ''Sylva''. His additions cover eastern species overlooked by Michaux, and new species that he had gathered on his excursions in the Midwest and West.
The nutshell
NNGA, vol.65, No. 1, March 2011, p.8.
References
Notes
Further reading
*
*
External links
*
''North American sylva''
- digital facsimiles from Linda Hall Library
The Linda Hall Library is a privately endowed American library of science, engineering and technology located in Kansas City, Missouri, on the grounds of a urban arboretum. It claims to be the "largest independently funded public library of sc ...
''North American sylva''
– Michaux and Smith 1853, 3 volumes, Biodiversity Heritage Library
The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) is the world’s largest open-access digital library for biodiversity literature and archives. BHL operates as a worldwide consortium of natural history, botanical, research, and national libraries working ...
(digital)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Michaux, Francois Andre
French explorers of North America
1770 births
1855 deaths
Explorers of the United States
History of forestry in the United States
19th-century French explorers
19th-century French botanists