Jacques Cambessèdes (26 August 1799 – 19 October 1863) 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 ...

born in

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

. In March – June 1825, prompted by suggestions of Jaques Étienne Gay and

Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 1769 – 6 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, natural history, naturalist, List of explorers, explorer, and proponent of Romanticism, Romantic philosophy and Romanticism ...

, Cambessèdes performed investigations involving flora of the

Balearic Islands The Balearic Islands are an archipelago in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago forms a Provinces of Spain, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain, ...

. From this expedition he published the informal ''Excursions dans les îles Baléares'' (1826) and the first floristic inventory of the Balearics, ''Enumeratio plantarum quas in insulis Balearibus collegit'' (1827). In 1851, he married the botanical illustrator Marie Eulalie Ledoux, widow of Alire Raffeneau Delile, known as Mme. Eulalie Delile.A. Lombard-Dumas. La Botanique dans le Gard de Pouzolz et son Oeuvre. in Bulletin. Société d'étude des sciences naturelles de Nîmes. volume 27. pages 111-118. 189

He has several botanical species named after him, including '' Paeonia cambessedesii'', a

peony The peony or paeony () is any flowering plant in the genus ''Paeonia'', the only genus in the family Paeoniaceae. Peonies are native to Asia, Europe, and Western North America. Scientists differ on the number of species that can be distinguish ...

native to

Majorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...

References

19th-century French botanists Scientists from Montpellier 1799 births 1863 deaths {{France-botanist-stub