Joseph-Marie-Philippe Lévêque de Vilmorin (21 May 1872 – 29 June 1917), generally known as Philippe de Vilmorin, was a noted 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 plant collector, and a member of the celebrated Vilmorin family of

horticulturists Horticulture (from ) is the art and science of growing fruits, vegetables, flowers, trees, shrubs and ornamental plants. Horticulture is commonly associated with the more professional and technical aspects of plant cultivation on a smaller and mo ...

. In 1903 Vilmorin began the Arboretum de Pézanin, an

arboretum An arboretum (: arboreta) is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees and shrubs of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, many modern arbor ...

located in Dompierre-les-Ormes,

Saône-et-Loire Saône-et-Loire (; Arpitan: ''Sona-et-Lêre'') is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in France. It is named after the rivers Saône and Loire, between which it lies, in the country's central-eastern part. Saône-et-Loire is B ...

Bourgogne Burgundy ( ; ; Burgundian: ''Bregogne'') is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. T ...

, France. He also collected plants in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

and

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

that now form part of the

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 ...

of the

National Botanic Garden of Belgium Meise Botanic Garden (; ), until 2014 called the National Botanic Garden of Belgium (; ), is a botanical garden located in the grounds of Bouchout Castle in Meise, Flemish Brabant, just north of Brussels. It is one of the world's largest botan ...

. He took a keen interest in flower gardening, and was responsible for three important publications of the firm: ''Les Fleurs de Pleine Terre,'' ''Le Manuel de Floriculture,'' and the ''Hortus Vilmorinianus''. One of Philippe de Vilmorin's great services to genetics was the organization of the Fourth International Conference on Genetics, held in Paris, September 18–23, 1911. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, as a reserve officer in the French Army, Vilmorin was for a time attached to the Anglo-Indian Army in France as an interpreter, and later was a French Purchasing Agent in London.''Journal of Heredity''. (1917). 8 (8): 355–356.

Personal life

Philippe Vilmorin married Mélanie Gaufridy de Dortan; they raised six children: *

Mapie de Toulouse-Lautrec Marie Pierre "Mapie" de Toulouse-Lautrec (1901–1972) was a French journalist and food writer, born Marie Pierre Adélaïde Lévêque de Vilmorin in Verrières-le-Buisson, scion of the Vilmorin seed company. Her horticulturalist father was Philipp ...

(1901–1972) * Louise de Vilmorin (1902–1969) * Henry de Vilmorin (1903–1961) * Olivier de Vilmorin (1904–1962) * Roger de Vilmorin (1905–1980), fathered by

Alfonso XIII of Spain Alfonso XIII ( Spanish: ''Alfonso León Fernando María Jaime Isidro Pascual Antonio de Borbón y Habsburgo-Lorena''; French: ''Alphonse Léon Ferdinand Marie Jacques Isidore Pascal Antoine de Bourbon''; 17 May 1886 – 28 February 1941), also ...

but recognized by Philippe. * André de Vilmorin (1907–1987)Louise de Vilmorin, la machine à plaire
''created'' 21-03-2008

Death

Philippe de Vilmorin died on 29 June 1917 aged 45. He had been ill in southern France for some months, exhausted by his missions between Paris and London.

Selected works

* Vilmorin, Philippe Lévêque de, ''Hortus Vilmorianus, catalogue des plantes ligneuses et herbacées existant en 1905 dans les collections de Vilmorin et dans les cultures de Vilmorin-Andrieux et cie à Verrieres le Buisson'', Verrières, 1906.

References

Aluka entry

Wikispecies entry

Dompierre-les-Ormes bulletin, 2006

National Botanic Garden of Belgium: Herbarium
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vilmorin, Joseph-Marie-Philippe Leveque De 20th-century French botanists 1872 births 1917 deaths Botanists active in Africa French military personnel of World War I

Personal life

Death

Selected works

See also

References