Julien Noël Costantin (16 August 1857 – 17 November 1936) was a French botanist and

mycologist Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their genetic and biochemical properties, their taxonomy and their use to humans, including as a source for tinder, traditional medicine, food, and entheogens, as w ...

who was a native of

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

. He studied at

École Normale Supérieure École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education sca ...

on the Rue d'Ulm. In 1881 he received his license in natural history and two years later earned his doctorate. In 1883 he was appointed adjunct professor at

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture ...

, and through influence from Philippe Van Tieghem (1839-1914), became an assistant naturalist at the

Muséum national d'histoire naturelle The French National Museum of Natural History, known in French as the ' (abbreviation MNHN), is the national natural history museum of France and a ' of higher education part of Sorbonne Universities. The main museum, with four galleries, is loca ...

shortly afterwards. In 1887 Costantin became a lecturer of botany at Ecole Normale Superieure. In 1901 he succeeded

Marie Maxime Cornu Marie Maxime Cornu (July 16, 1843, in Orléans – April 3, 1901 in Paris) was a French botanist and mycologist. He was a younger brother of physicist Alfred Cornu (1841-1902). He studied at the École normale supérieure, and in 1872 received hi ...

(1843-1901) as chair of

horticulture Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

at the museum of natural history. Along with these duties, he taught classes at the École nationale d’horticulture in

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, ...

and at the École supérieure coloniale in

Nogent-sur-Marne Nogent-sur-Marne () is a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Nogent-sur-Marne is a ''sous-préfecture'' of the Val-de-Marne ''département'', being the seat of the Arrondissement of Nogent-sur ...

. In 1912 he became a member of the

French Academy of Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (French: ''Académie des sciences'') is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research. It was at th ...

. Costantin defended

Lamarckian Lamarckism, also known as Lamarckian inheritance or neo-Lamarckism, is the notion that an organism can pass on to its offspring physical characteristics that the parent organism acquired through use or disuse during its lifetime. It is also calle ...

evolution until his death in 1936.Loison, Laurent. (2011). ''French Roots of French Neo-Lamarckisms, 1879-1985''. ''

Journal of the History of Biology The ''Journal of the History of Biology'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering the history of biology as well as philosophical and social issues confronting biology. It is published by Springer Science+Business Media and the edito ...

'' 44 (4): 713-744.

Publications

* ''Atlas en couleurs des orchidées cultivées'' (E. Orlhac, Paris) – Color atlas of cultivated

orchids Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

. * ''Les Mucédinées simples. Histoire, classification, culture et rôle des champignons inférieurs dans les maladies des végétaux et des animaux'' (P. Klincksieck, Paris, 1888). * ''Nouvelle flore des champignons, pour la détermination facile de toutes les espèces de France et de la plupart des espèces européennes'' (P. Dupont, Paris, 1891, re-edited in 1895, 1904, 1967 et 1997) — In the series of "''Nouvelle Flore''" by

Gaston Bonnier Gaston Eugène Marie Bonnier (9 April 1853 in Paris – 2 January 1922) was a French botanist and plant ecologist. Biography Bonnier first studied at École Normale Supérieure in Paris from 1873 to 1876. Together with Charles Flahault, he ...

(1851-1922) and

Georges de Layens Georges de Layens (January 6, 1834 in Lille - October 23, 1897 in Nice) was a French botanist and apiculturalist. He was the creator of a popular mobile beehive called the "Layens hive". Layens was a member of the Académie des sciences. Fr ...

(1834-1897). * ''Atlas des champignons comestibles et vénéneux'' (P. Dupont, Paris, 1895) – Atlas of

edible An edible item is any item that is safe for humans to eat. "Edible" is differentiated from "eatable" because it does not indicate how an item tastes, only whether it is fit to be eaten. Nonpoisonous items found in nature – such as some mushro ...

and

poisonous mushroom Mushroom poisoning is poisoning resulting from the ingestion of mushrooms that contain toxic substances. Its symptoms can vary from slight gastrointestinal discomfort to death in about 10 days. Mushroom toxins are secondary metabolites pro ...

s. * ''Petite flore des champignons comestibles et vénéneux, pour la détermination rapide des principales espèces de France'' (P. Dupont, Paris, 1895). with

Léon Jean Marie Dufour Léon Jean Marie (or Jean-Marie Léon) Dufour (10 April 1780, Saint-Sever – 18 April 1865) was a French medical doctor and naturalist. Between 1799 and 1806 he studied medicine in Paris then returned to Saint-Sever in the Landes. He participate ...

(1862-1942), * ''Les végétaux et les milieux cosmiques'' (F. Alcan, Paris, 1898). * ''Le Mythe du chêne marin'' (E. Leroux, Paris, 1899). * ''La nature tropicale'' ( F. Alcan, Paris, 1899). * ''L'Hérédité acquise, ses conséquences horticoles, agricoles et médicales'' (Durand, Chartres, 1901) – Acquired heredity, its horticultural, agricultural and medical consequences. * ''Le transformisme appliqué à l'agriculture'' (F. Alcan, Paris, 1906) – Transformism applied to agriculture. * ''La Vie des orchidées'' (Flammarion, Paris, 1917). * ''Éléments de botanique'' with Philippe Van Tieghem (1839-1914) ( Masson, Paris, 1918). * ''Atlas des orchidées cultivées'' (Paris, 1927) – Atlas of cultivated orchids.

References

* ''This article is based on a translation of an article from the

French Wikipedia The French Wikipedia (french: Wikipédia en français) is the French-language edition of Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia. This edition was started on 23 March 2001, two months after the official creation of Wikipedia. It has article ...

'', listed as: Philippe & Edward R. Jaussaud Brygoo, From the Garden to the Museum in 516 biographies, National Museum of Natural History in Paris, 2004, 630 p. {{DEFAULTSORT:Costantin, Julien Noel 1857 births 1936 deaths 19th-century French botanists French mycologists Lamarckism Members of the French Academy of Sciences Scientists from Paris 20th-century French botanists